Solo Flaming Ruby's

[Alric Lysane]

6th Winter - Ruby's Scarlet Sanctum Ruby had been very specific with her instructions, he was to help Nessilie with her act for the first ten days of the winter season or so. It had also been suggested that he should help her with other things, or rather ‘anything the darling Associate’ asked of him. He had looked at her very pointedly at that suggestion, causing her to laugh in the silken way she did when teasing others. She had taken him under her wing, as she had expressed it, and had decided that he was far too serious and uptight for his own good. He was, in his more quiet and wry musings, beginning to see a general pattern in his life of the fairer sex giving him ‘nudges’ of varying kinds. Still he had accepted the task, though he had little chance of doing the opposite, and the other guards had breathed sighs of relief and satisfaction, before then jesting about him at every chance they got. He had been assigned the task of helping out Nessilie, the Symenestran wire act Associate. She was known for her sharp tongue, general mockery of anything ‘inferior’ in race – Ruby exempted of course – and her ability to feel like sharp nails scraping across your skin just by being around her. She had not been too terrible to Alric so far, though he was getting quite tired of her consistent assumption that he was some kind of stupid pack animal by being human. “Remember human, you need to keep the fire going at all times during the evening, it’ll take too long to get it back again when you’re throwing the fire sticks to me” “Yes, I know, I’ve been doing this for gods know too many days now,” he said, stoking the crackling flames in the brazier and adding in a few more pieces of wood to burn, “you keep saying the same things. Do you always act so…caustic?” “Smart word for a simple animal” “Sassy words for a fragile spider” “Careful human, I have claws and fangs too sharp for you to handle” “Ruby didn’t seem to think I couldn’t handle you, in fact she seemed to suggest you needed handling” “You would desire that, wouldn’t you? All you guards do is think of such things,” she began to say as he stoked the fire and began to laugh loudly at the irony, “what? What is so funny human?” “You don’t talk to the guards much, do you? Maybe after this act you should ask them about me, see how what you just said is stupid at best” She hissed at him like a snake, her frustration vented and dagger like glare cast at him before she rounded and walked away, heading off to put on her costume for the act that would begin soon. He chuckled, despite her spiky exterior they had had many conversations about various things. She might put a veneer of superiority upon everything but she also had grown to appreciate his ability to actually do what she needed. Apparently some others had tried and had given up, not quite mastering the timings of throwing things, or not maintaining the fire, and a whole host of other complaints she had had. Staring into the glow, feeling the warmth, thoughts of nicer times and happier associations entering his mind, he sighed and stoked the wood in the brazier once more before beginning to make sure everything else was in place and ready for the act.

[Alric Lysane]

He peered over the gathered items with a frown, scratching his chin thoughtfully as he counted and assessed. The first performance of the evening would start soon, he knew, and so the last checks were a necessity. He had no desire to be left with Nessilie’s claw marks upon his body, as had happened to many of the other guards. Nothing too serious in terms of harm, she had scratched them mostly to prove a point – she was more valuable as an asset to the Scarlet Sanctum, and she should get what she wanted. Alric couldn’t disagree with her assessment, she did bring in a good amount of miza for Ruby – and that was before even laying down and opening her legs. He snorted as his fingers grasped for the torches, checking them for cracks and other wear and tear. “She doesn’t even do that too often either. Very picky. Though I suppose those who get chosen should count themselves lucky. They keep coming back, so she must be quite good” he muttered to himself as each item in turn was “Better than you’ll ever know” she said with acidic tones, appearing behind him but failing to get him to jump like the first time, though she kept trying. “Quiet steps too…bet you could empty their pouches of much more than just the agreed upon miza, no? I haven’t heard anything about people leaving this place broke in more ways than one…after all” he responded, not looking at her but grinning to himself. “Shut up. Show starts soon” “I can keep time, Nessilie” “Amusing that you’re an intelligent enough human” she said by way of dismissal, making her back backstage and behind the curtains. He watched her go from his position in the wings, hidden by a curtain, for which he was thankful. He was also thankful for the curved behind, so clad in clothing that would soon vanish piece by piece. She was quite attractive, even if he held little interest in pursuing her himself. Still, some of the perks of being a bouncer at Ruby’s were enjoyable, and he was human as she liked to incessantly point out. She knew how to perform too, and he had come to admire that as he had helped her. The fact she could take something so simple, like fire this season, and turn it into something hugely profitable showed genuine intelligence and creativity. If only she could be less creative with her insults he joked to himself privately as he performed the last of the checks and found the equipment was still sound – no cracks, chips, barbs or loose things. They were ready too, the rags soaked with oil and almost yearning to be lit. He wanted to light them too, they stank until they had been burned. He stoked the flames, adding some more wood to bring the flames higher as the chimes passed and the crowd gathered, their noise filling his senses to the point of almost overwhelming. The heat of the brazier started to become slightly uncomfortable as the heat from the bodies was added to it, the smoke from pipes creating a haze in the air that made him want to light his own, his foot tapping impatiently at the fact he was currently unable to. Ruby appeared, loving to announce the acts upon her stage and play the crowd, urging them to already start flipping miza toward the stage, or more usefully, slip them into the pots situated on the back of every seat. He snorted, the memory of his teenage years leering at him, he remembered being persuaded into doing just that himself.

[Alric Lysane]

There was no music for this performance, which was unusual and had initially soured Ruby’s opinion of whether she would allow it. She had been won over though and as Nessilie began to dance, her loose and billowing clothing enticing and entrancing, he saw the value of omitting it. Music would have shifted focus off of the actual danger of what was happening, the risk and the faux sense of impending tragedy. There were few in the watchers that did not already know what was going to happen – repeat customers were common – but the few that did not gazed on with the usual slack jaws and hungry gazes. The billowing clothing was rather quickly removed, though done so with flourishes between roaming hands suggestively exploring her form. She had changed the act a few times and, he noted, again this time without telling him, adding extra time for the build up before taking to her wires like the spider she was. It was fluid and sweeping, back and forth between balances and pauses, languid poses and dangled delights. At the right moment he took two of the sticks lit the rages at either end, twirling them between his fingers in the wings. Timing was critical with the first hand off, or two hand offs, otherwise the rhythm would be broken and the siren symenestran spell shattered. He waited and she swept towards him on the wire swing, legs holding her in place as she hung upside down. He took a breath and flung the first one up, still twirling, towards her. It hit its apex at just the right time and he snatched it away, continuing the spinning of the flames, edging it closer to her skin with each one. One…two…three…for…five he counted in his head, as he had been instructed that first day, before tossing the second one and watching it be snatched away once more. He sighed, raked his fingers back through his damp hair and cursed his own nerves as he watched Nessilie work. He would have thought he’d have grown used to the act by now but however many times he had helped her with the performance he still had that cautious nervousness when throwing the flaming sticks. He supposed it must be something primal about not wanting to burn things down, much like the primal needs on clear display now. Her skin was getting that thin sheen of sweat from the exertion, but mostly from the flames she danced around herself. He had actually caught her in a good mood once and she had explained that this part of the act was all about getting herself glistening slightly. Apparently, it was suggestive and mimicked the end of rutting state. He couldn’t argue with the results, as she got the flames ever closer to herself as she twisted, turned and rolled her hips. Once she was happy, her gyrations and swinging completed, she walked across a stationary line strung from the sides of the stage, anchored on both sides in the wings, and tossed them back to him before cartwheeling backwards, hands hitting the line then feet coming over once more. The break section had begun, and so he started to prepare the next parts that would be needed.

[Alric Lysane]

It was a clever break too, he had discovered over the days of service he had put in, the now sweat stained form largely devoid of clothing beyond some skimpy underwear shimmering as she let the angles of all of the light sources play over her skin. There were cheers and shouts of more from the crowd now, Ruby walking amongst them – also half clothed – and encouraging their participation. And their miza spending of course, drinks trays sliding this way and that, the alcohol feeding the needs of the largely male clientele. She he watched periodically he doused the two twirling sticks into a water bucket, stoked the flames of the brazier once more, and then lit items he had long forgotten the names of – but they were balls of fire on the ends of leather thongs of some kind. Nessilie was still busy glistening for her captivated lechers, though now she was back upon the stage and instead of flipping, or rolling, she was practically grinding against the floor and showing off her flexibility with splits and more adventurously seductive conversions from the realm of acrobatics, coupled with dance…and a large does of pure smut. He snorted at himself for making it sound more flowery than it was – he couldn’t help it. But if he were honest, he’d say it was basically an advertisement for her bedsheet skills and a way of getting the possible suitors to line up for her, helping her to be choosy. Her routine took her close to where he was standing and he prepared the tools upon the end of two thin stick, that way able to hold them out for her to snatch without anyone seeing his hands – no one thinking about petching her wanted to see the hands of a guard meeting her delicate digits. After she took them she started to swing then around herself, the penultimate stage of the act basically the reintroduction of the flames, the further sweating beyond the point of a glisten, instead dripping off of her for the crowd to feel upon their faces on occasion when she swept her arms around the right way. Never before had he seen anyone practically beg to be covered with the sweat of a Symenestran, but somehow, she managed it in every act, and at roughly the same time too. She knew her craft, that much was true. It was an intricate dance with the fire now, actually more dangerous than the twirling sticks as she created spirals around herself, and with the right speed could even leave trails of flame in her wake. Her hair was in disarray now, wetted and falling in ringlets that merely added to the effect of her bitten lips and sultry gazes. He hated this next bit, not because she wasn’t captivating to watch, or he hated the act but because he had to catch the damned things as she flung them at him in the wings – slowed down of course – but still it always got his back up as she always did it with a pointed, dagger like glare as if telling him that she wanted to hit him properly but she wanted her job. He watched, empty bucket in hand, and counted down silently in his mind.

[Alric Lysane]

He got the glare, could see and almost feel Ruby’s deep inhalation of breath in his peripheral vision, and moved the bucket just so. There were two solid thunks, the bucket travelling sideways to catch both projectiles before tipping and dumping the flaming tools into the water bucket. There was a cheer at the noises and Ruby visibly exhaled. Nessilie had got her glare in and kept dancing, this time moving to a hoop for the last part of the act, the flaming ring ending. Even she had laughed at their shared joke about that being a silent homage to some of the more perverted clients that the Associates had to deal with. It was his last task, the lighting the setup and he waited for the right move. They had spent some time refining it, so much so that even Ruby had been impressed with it. It had been in those moments, planning and discussing her craft, that he had been shown the nicer sides of her personality and begun to suspect that the spiky exterior was an act, at least partially. They had set up and almost invisible channel of oil, a low wooden through about a finger’s width wide and half as deep. At its ending was a black, oil soaked section of twine wrapped around the ring and would dangle when she slipped it down with an arched back, upside down and suggesting with her legs just how strongly she could wrap around a man’s hips. He waits…and waited…longer than usual. So much longer that he saw Ruby look towards where she knew eh was, as if suspecting that he had missed whatever signal was arranged. Instead Nessilie had extended her act beyond what was usual, and when the signal did come, with a look his way, he almost did miss it. He fumbled with his torch, bending down and getting an obvious laugh from the spiky Symenestran at having surprised him this time, lighting the trail and the crowd gave appreciating noises as the flames crept, slowly and ever closer, to the ring she was dangling from. At the last moment she shifted, uncurling her legs and avoiding the flames by a hair’s breadth, her nails tearing at the last shreds of her clothing so that when she landed upon her feet the flaming ring flickered light across her completely nude form, facing the crowd. They went wild, as they always did, and mize showered all over. This was the fun part for him, as a few even tried to climb the stage and he was forced to run out and bodily tackled them to jeers and boos from the crowd for even daring to share the stage with their beautiful entertainer. Nessilie was already robing up in a thin, shimmering item that left nothing to the imagination, Ruby and a few other girls surrounding her as the line of needy punters formed and they made even more miza. He caught one last glance from Nessilie as he was knocking out the few who had stormed the stage, kicking them off to the floor, there to be dragged off by a handful of other guards. She flashed him a smile, nodded at his apparent sufficient skill as she was fond of reminding him, before choosing her male and disappearing.