"This again?" Leo asked, groaning."I don"t see why you are opposed to it brother. It"s great income," Lessa tried to convince her brother, but he seemed hesitant. Looking around, Leo saw that Laz was looking on as though somewhat interested and figured he would ask his opinion.
"Laz. What do you think?"
"About...?"
"Having a night dedicated to the LGBT community?"
"Why not? Money is money. The more customers you have the more money you make. Why not cater to a larger crowd? You have a couple nights during the week were you don"t have anything going on right?" Laz didn"t know what was happening as it seemed like Leo had some concerns he wasn"t voicing.
"Yes..." Leo responded.
"Then?" Laz asked back. It seemed like a simple thing to him. Lessa was also looking on with a smile. She liked how the young man Laz didn"t show any hesitation in agreeing. She even caught him sneaking a few looks at her, although she didn"t point it out. Lessa was actually a bit surprised by Laz in general. She knew what her brother had meant when he said Laz was ranked, but it was clear to her that not only was Laz young, but he also seemed to be a bit innocent. It wasn"t like trans genders were a rare thing these days.
In truth, Laz was looking at Lessa in wonder. He totally had thought she was actually a rather attractive woman when she had walked past earlier, not even once thinking she might have been born a man. Looking closely, Laz couldn"t help but appreciate her ability to use makeup, style hair, and even dress in a way that was super flattering. Although Laz sometimes got fashion advice from Vivi, that was still based entirely on her preference. Laz had a bit of curiosity towards learning how to use makeup and dress to dupe others and hide his appearance. So he couldn"t help but look closely as Lessa in praise and wonder if he could get her to teach him a few things.
Leo, seeing Laz take more than one or two glances at Lessa, was hesitant to voice out his opinion for fear of offending his brother. It wasn"t as though Lessa was sensitive or anything, it was that she could be super scary when she got angry. He finally tried to divert the conversation by point out Laz"s starring.
"Is this the first time you"ve met a trans before Laz?"
"No."
"Then why do you keep starring honey. You"re making this girl a little hot under the collar," Lessa finished up since Leo had already pointed it out.
"I"m just admiring your makeup and style choices."
"Um...?"
"Oh?"
"Yeah. If i didn"t look closely enough at your bone structure, there is no way I could tell that you were anything but an attractive woman," Laz said in appreciation. Laz hadn"t grown up with people with prejudices so he himself didn"t have any. To him, a person is whoever a person wishes to be. Who is he to judge? Due to that, he just answered the question head on without thinking too much.
Leo and Lessa both gave him a strange look. Leo had accepted his brother a long time ago, despite the fact that their dad had cut off ties with her. He had met lots of people like his dad who wouldn"t be able to deal with the kind of person his brother was, including some of his own staff. That why he was surprised by the way Laz acted like it was no big deal. Maybe all of the people who are ranked by the family have this kind of att.i.tude?
As for Lessa"s thoughts, she was confused. She wasn"t sure if the young man was complimenting her or what he meant. It sounded like he was, but then also pointing out her gender at the same time seemed to lead to a conflicting message. So she couldn"t help but look at him and try to figure it out.
Seeing them both give Laz a weird look, Laz took a moment to think about what he said before feeling a bit embarra.s.sed.
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"Ok. What I mean is that I would love to learn about makeup and styling from you, for disguise purposes."
"Oh!"
"Ah!"
Both Lessa and Leo finally understood Laz"s interest. They both had thoughts on what he would need to use that for, but it would make sense that someone who needed to go around undetected would benefit from learning how to use makeup and wigs corrected. Lessa couldn"t help but smile at Laz"s honesty.
"I would be happy to show you sometime darling. You"re pretty cute after all," was Lessa response back.
"But back to my original question..." Lessa turned her head back to Leo. Leo knew he had no choice and decided to just be straightforward like Laz.
"It"s not that I don"t want to, but I don"t want to limit the club by turning it into a place for only LGBT customers..." Although Leo tried to be straightforward, he also tried to be gentle. Sadly for him, Lessa took offense to that.
"So you think that would be a bad thing?" Lessa said while starting to get angry.
Laz could only laugh at Leo"s answer, causing both of them to look at him.
"What?" Leo asked.
"Have you looked at your normal crowd down there?" Laz asked while still chuckling.
"What about them?" Leo asked while looking at the lower floor. At some point in the conversation, Leo"s eye candy had walked away, leaving them to talk alone. The other patrons on the top floor had been involved in their own things so it was basically just the three of them conversing.
"Well, remember when I said that I was impressed with Lessa"s use of makeup and such and the thing about bones structure?"
"Yes." Leo replied. At this point, even Lessa was looking down at the crowd, not sure what Laz was getting at.
"Well, that"s because I have seen quite a few lesbian and gay couples going around tonight, including several trans... people? If that"s the right wording?" Laz asked, looking over at Lessa. Lessa shook her head to give affirmation that it was ok.
"Really?" Leo asked, looking over at Laz.
"Yes. I would say that around one fifth of your current crowd fits into that category, give or take. And that"s just those who are noticeable," Laz added.
"Hmm... If that"s the case..."
"I don"t think there would be any problem with doing what your brother wants. It"s another draw and another potentially busy night. Money is money."
"You have a point," Leo said, finally seeing the truth. In fact, he was beginning to think that maybe he had been closed minded, probably something he had gotten from learning business from his father. In the end, you needed to target where the money was. At the same time, this would also be a fun thing for Lessa to arrange, giving Leo a good income with minimal work. Lessa, who realized that her hard headed brother had finally been convinced by this young man, couldn"t help but smile brightly at him.
Laz took off soon after and returned to the floor, leaving Lessa and Leo to hash out the details. As he was walking around, the athletic girl from before slide over to him from where she was dancing with a couple guys and girls, waving by to them as she left.
"You"re back," she simply said, smiling.
"Yeah. Weren"t you in the cage?" Laz asked, wondering why she was down and around.
"My time was up. We start in the cage before coming onto the dance floor. This lets the people who were admiring us to have a chance to ask us to dance and such. It helps keep the party going and gets us some tips from guys and girls who want to get to know us better," The athletic girl said while still smiling. She pulled a wad of bills out from the top of her dress to show him how much she had already made.
"They pay you to dance with them?" Laz asked, somewhat amazed by this situation.
"Of course. It makes them feel special. Otherwise, we would just be hounded by h.o.r.n.y guys all night if we tried to dance normally. Plus, it gives them some pleasant memories they can then brag about later," she responded.
"Uh, ok." Laz didn"t really get it, but it seemed to make sense. If anything, it seemed more like paying a stripper for a lap dance, except with slightly more clothing.
"Anyway, Laz seems like a pretty unique name," the girl commented while still dancing. It was actually somewhat weird to watch since she was dancing but Laz was not. There were other guys who were clearing eyeing her, but seeing her close to Laz made them too scared to approach. It seemed like his fight outside had circulated rather quickly once the ones outside got in and everyone knew not to mess with the seemly weak looking young man.
"It is. Actually, I don"t even know your name yet," Laz commented, thinking about all the times he had interacted with this athletic brunette. It actually seemed like she had gone out of her way to get his attention although he had no idea why.
"It"s Ruby. I was wondering when you would ask," she said, getting a bit closer to him as though she was actually dancing with him.
"Ruby? That"s a nice name."
"Oh, come on and come dance with me. You"re allowed to do that right?" She finally said, grabbing his hand and trying to drag him. It"s worth noting that the girl was actually a bit shorter than Laz, but not by much. Despite that, she couldn"t move him an inch, which caused her a bit of surprise.
"I, uh... I don"t know how to dance," Laz finally got out. There was no rule saying he couldn"t and in fact, he probably should be dancing on the floor on occasion. It was hard to see through the ma.s.s of people otherwise and it didn"t feel right to just walk through the dance floor without doing so.
"Ha, so that"s the problem. Come on and just follow me." Ruby said while taking his hand. As they moved the crowd of people seemed to open up in front of them leaving them room to move. This was actually something Laz was doing. He was basically using his spiritual sense to give the people around him a little nudge, making them move in the way he wanted. It wasn"t mind control, more like a hypnotic suggestion.
When they finally arrived in a spot, Ruby stopped and turned around, placing her arms around Laz"s neck while shaking her hips in tune with the music. The DJ had just started up some slower yet intense trap music which was a perfect cool down from the last set.
"Just move with how you feel. You know how to fight right? It"s all about matching your movement with your partners. Sometimes you move with them, sometimes you move against them," Ruby instructed as she continued on. Laz felt something was a bit off with her suggestion.
"How did she know i knew how to fight?"
Laz didn"t display a thing when fighting with Jimmy except some strength. Realizing this point, Laz started paying more attention to Ruby. As she moved, he started using his sense to follow her movements. At times it was sensual and slow while at other times it was quick and piercing based on the rhythm. After the song was over, Laz was now fully on alert. The entire dance while seeming to be innocent, was more like an intense fight. And her footwork was astounding. She could move so fast she could escape his visual perception while at other times her moves with parts of her body naturally distracted him from what she was doing with other parts. If he was a normal person, she could have killed him dozens of times over, just during one dance.
As the music came to a close and another one began, neither of them moved. They just stood there looking each other in the eyes. Had either Laz or Ruby moved half a step forward, they would be touching each other. But for this moment, the half step was the only thing keeping Laz from attacking her.
Looking at this girl"s eyes that were almost at the same level as his, Laz took a breath and calmed down. Since she hadn"t attacked, there must be a reason for it. But he didn"t like the feeling of being played. So he took that half step forward and came in real close, as though he was going to kiss her, but froze right as his lips were about to touch hers. At the same time, she didn"t move once.
Laz"s eyes started glowing, changing from their deep blue color to a dark blood red. Due to the various lights and movement around them, the only person who noticed this change was Ruby, but she still didn"t move, even when Laz brought his hand up to her neck and wrapped it around it. Although Ruby hadn"t made a single move back, Laz could sense her increased heart rate combined with a slight shaking from her legs. He knew she was feeling fearful, even if she was hiding it.
"Who are you?" Laz asked, all of the gentleness of a 16 year old"s voice was gone, replaced by something that could only be described as a low growl.
"Mistress Jade sends her regards."