Bring On the Men [Halloween 2017]
Written part of the dainty group's Halloween 2017 contest. I made it to the special mention list with this + the art piece! Caspian belongs to octosqueesh and Robert to Banmon
Author's Notes
Laurel works in a bar/cabaret as a performer in order to pay his debt, and as such what he can and can’t do is sometimes very limited. He originally came to the city to study acting, but he was robbed and dainties are outside of legal help due to their bad reputation, so he had no way to reclaim his life back really. Musicals and acting are his biggest passion in life, and I imagine to him Halloween means a chance to dress up as a character from a musical and perform and show his love for that kind of stuff! Unfortunately though it’s not really up to him to decide who to dress up as when it comes to Halloween performances of their bar.
The song referenced here is Bring On The Men from Wildhorn's musical Jekyll and Hyde, which I think as a musical is pretty halloween-y! The song is sung by Lucy the prostitute and it's actually one of my favourite parts of the musical - I even went to see the Finnish version of it a few years back! I figured given the context of Laurel's work he wouldn't be allowed to do anything "proper" like he wanted to but instead had to do something more sexy and teasing to appeal to the customers, so as a smart guy he figured this is the closest thing to a musical performance he can get - and he will make it a performance to be remembered!
... although he really would have wanted to play Jekyll or Hyde rather than Lucy :'')
Laurel had been waiting for the Halloween special of his bar for months: finally an excuse to perform an actual musical number on stage! So, as to make sure everything would go according to his plans, Laurel had started to soften up Lady Adalia months in advance.
“There are plenty of Halloween-appropriate musicals!” he had explained enthusiastically while holding old musical posters he had collected throughout the year. “We could do Frankenstein,” Laurel continued, “or The Count of Monte Cristo, or maybe Jekyll and Hyde! I remember them all by heart!”
But his employer had not been quite as excited and enthusiastic as Laurel himself was. Rather, she had crossed her arms and sighed. “Sweetie,” she looked at Laurel with an apologetic smile, “You do know the people coming to this bar are not looking for high culture?”
“Well, yes, but,” Laurel tried, but was silenced before he could continue further
“No buts, Laurel. You’re a darling, and I understand your passion for the musical theater, but you need to understand if people wanted to see a musical, they’d go to see a real one on the stage,” she sighed. “As things stand, if you really want to perform something, it must be what you’d expect from a place like this - do you understand?”
“I understand,” the young man replied, ears drooping a little in defeat.
But that wasn’t going to stop him.
----------------------------------
“It was nice of Laurel to give us free tickets to this midnight Halloween show,” Robert smiled and emptied his glass of whiskey, now putting the the empty container on the waitress's’ tray as she passed by.
“... it was difficult to make this fit my schedule,” Caspian replied somewhat dryly, but couldn’t entirely hide the excited glances they gave at the stage, where some other dancers were still performing before Laurel’s big show.
“Sometimes you have to take it easy!” Robert laughed and grinned, flashing his pearly whites. “Besides, when Laurel is one day gonna be on the real big stage we’ll be fondly remembering these things, ain’t that right?”
“I suppose…” Caspian responded, thoughtfully, and at this moment the dancers stopped and Laurel’s performance was announced to be next.
Laurel and the background dancers stepped on the stage, eyes momentarily illuminated by the light of the stage, but soon he could see the anticipating expressions of the audience. His heart was beating faster and he could the all so familiar sensation of excitement take over his body as the first tunes of the familiar melody started to play.
“I might not be able to perform the main role,” he thought and smiled at the customers. “But I was allowed to perform a musical number, and I’m going to show everyone just how much it means to me!”
Soft and breathy, Laurel started singing:
There was a time, I don't know when
I didn't have much time for men
But this is now and that was then, I'm learning…
He walked sensually around the stage, the long ribbon on his costume's back touching the ground, and his hooves hit against the wooden floor, giving more rhythm to the song with each tap. Slowly, carefully, the melody of the song started catching up on speed:
So let's bring on the men
And let the fun begin
A little touch of sin
Why wait another minute
Laurel winked at the audience and posed in a tastefully suggesting manner - that was expected of him in this cabaret.
Step this way, it's time for us to play
They say we may not pass this way again
So let's waste no more time
Bring on the men!
He hadn’t felt this alive in a long time. The whistles of the audience, the excited smiles and grins, and the warmth of the colorful lights all around the room that made him feel dizzy and momentarily forget himself: right now he was not Laurel, but Lucy, the prostitute from the musical version of Jekyll and Hyde; the sensual femme fatale made up for the musical in particular to add more drama into it.
Laurel jumped off the stage, this was normal for his shows, and approached the table where his friends were sitting.
With a soft jump he was soon on top of the round table with a red cloth, and leaning over Robert, who happened to be sitting right there in front of him - Caspian was positioned more on the right. When Laurel then reached his hand towards Robert’s face while still singing, he could notice the blush on the other dainty’s face, and Cas next to him could do naught to his surprise of seeing Laurel like this; he was different, more aggressive, more suggestive - he was Lucy.
And there, at that moment, a realization struck him:
“... this is a first time they're seeing me put on a show like this, isn't it?”
Although he couldn't do it on stage, internally Laurel laughed in the most nervous way: he’d have a lot to explain after the show was over.