Applause

Story by ArufaOrime on SoFurry

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#3 of A Tale of Lives

A performance is to be put on! Another show, another day for Grey. As he walks down the street and readies himself for his next performance he wonders where his life turned and led him down this road.


*Briiiiiiing... Briiiiing!*

Rolling about I slap my phone and bring it to my ear. "Hullo?" I reply groggily.

"Where in the fuck are you Grey! Show started fifteen minutes ago and people are waiting for you! I had to pull Rain and Tome ahead of you. You were supposed to come up after Hidden's startup!"

"Holy fuck Grace, you are loud." I look to my clock. Shit... 9:30. I was late. "Alright alright. I'll be there, and I'll be sure to give 'em a show. Don't worry, they'll all forget it after this one." I hung up, not allowing her to speak and pushed myself out of the bed.

Naked, I scour around my closet, grabbing a black tank-top and a dark gray tee-shirt. Moving on to my drawer I grab a fresh pair of boxers and my black and green track button pants.

Swiftly I move along to my shower, twisting the knob and hopping in. A full hand of shampoo goes into my palm and I'm scrubbing every inch of my body. Fur standing up in places and then being washed down. The water goes off and I shake myself partly dry before hoping out onto a towel and picking another out of the closet. Quickly I soak up as much water as I can and the shake myself off once more for good measure. My clothes go on in a hurry and I dash, grabbing my headphones and MP3 player. Music goes on as I jump out my window, landing on the metal staircase and sprinting down.

"Move your body baby!" I laugh, tail rounding the corner of my building right after I do. Streaks of black and green flowing through the city. As I run my mind wanders, I wonder why I do this, why I like it, why it gives me such a rush.

I remember when I was younger. I don't even know why I was able to get into that club, let alone become a member.

I had the week to myself, and I decided that I wanted to explore the city I lived in. The darker, more interesting places. I heard music, deep and full of the bass. Rhythmatic and flowing, the place made my eyes light up. I approached, and I remember seeing a line, but no one stopped me as I walked past and straight through the doors. I was around thirteen or fourteen at the time and had no clue as to what I was getting into. Turns out the entire place was an underground rave joint. One that also seemed to hold a strip club for both genders. Of course, at my age, and so unexposed as I was, I knew not a thing about what I'd found.

I knew the beat, the rhythm and the dance. I wandered about, caught in other people, and soon found myself being pushed onto the stage. Not knowing what to do, all I knew was that there were two other guys bigger than me standing up and dancing on the stage, so I followed in, copying their movements and following like just another member.

Then someone actually noticed me. I was way too young to be here. The rabbit dashed up and hauled me off stage, bringing me to a back room where two large wolves stood in black, guards or bouncers I'd assume. She sat me down on a nice couch and pulled a chair up in front of me.

"Son, what are you doing here? I don't know how you got in, but bud, you aren't allowed here. This place is for grown-ups." She said. Looking at her then, I assumed her to be my father's age, around late twenties. "Listen, where are your parents? Are they near-by in the city?"

"My dad is on a trip. He works for the university in town and I got to stay home by myself. I went to go explore the city, 'cause I don't get to go out much, then I found this cool place with bright lights and music and it's so cool here. Why am I not allowed to be here?" I'd asked upset. I liked the music and all the people and I loved being able to dance.

"Listen... I don't know your life, but kid. You are an amazing dancer. I'mma keep you at my house for a few days and teach you a few things." She smiled, "Then maybe when you're older you can come back and apply to work here, if you still want to by that time."

Ecstatic I nodded, I wanted to be a part of this entire thing, music, lights, cheers and dancing.

She took me into her home for three days. Half of my week alone was spent in this woman's house. She explained things to me. The... Birds and the Bees if you will. My father never had explained it to me, so I got my talk from her, though it was odd. She explained everything about the place I'd been and what exactly they did. After I'd accepted these things, learned what exactly I'd be getting into she brought in the two guys from before, the ones I'd danced with, and they quickly became my other mentors. I now knew them as Rick and Jake. They taught me to dance, how to go along with different songs and how to match your body to the flow of a lot of music. The rabbit, who had taught me my life skills, unlike my father who only worried about academics, I now knew her as Grace. These people would teach me for the rest of my life.

Week days would be spent with my father as I furthered my education into phycology and physics, and the weekends would be spent with Grace, Rick and Jake as they taught me how to become a dancer.

So now here I was, pushing past people as I showed our bouncer my ID. Pushing around people I escape into our rooms and wait for Tome to finish his dance. He sprinted off the stage naked, holding a pile of fabric, most likely his own clothes mixed with others thrown at him. I was up.

I smiled and slipped out, leaning down to the DJ. "Heya babe." I kiss her. "How ya doing Kari?" I ask, smiling and receiving another kiss.

"You're late hun, what song do you want?" She asked, flipping the table and opening my song bin. "Let's go for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--lrhq3h2ag, sound good?"

She laughed, shaking her head. "Always a crowd pleaser isn't it? You'd better hurry and start dancing if you want them to pay you in full."

I nod and stand up, shaking out my body. "Who all is ready?" I ask myself, people cheer and my song begins.

Slowly I ease in, making slow wave-like movements. My eyes are closed and I shift along, tail swishing about, left and right. "I live for the applause..." Slide to the left, my head bobbing as I reach for the bottom of my shirt. Slowly it comes off, and I toss it aside. Now I stand in my pants and the tank-top.

"Way that you cheer and scream for me..." My hands lift under the tank now, and my hips dash left and right, as the shirt comes off, leaving my upper body bare now.

Now I keep going on normally, waiting for the last chorus beat. My hands begin to move to my pants. Something isn't right, but there is no stopping. I have to keep going.

"I live for the applause applause applause, I live for the applause-plause live for the applause-plause." The first button comes undone and more go. Only after it's too late, half the buttons are gone and my arms wont stop. My pants are flung off and tossed onto the stage with the rest of my clothes.

"Make it real loud, put your hands up in the air, make them touch, touch." Now I'm there dancing, completely naked. I'd left my boxers on the bathroom sink when I got dressed out of the shower, and now I stand here, crowd quiet for a moment, when then erupts into cheers as the song finishes.

I quickly grab all my clothes, tail covering my behind as clothing is thrown up on top of myself as I dash off the stage into the back. I hop on the couch and another dancer takes my place. I sigh, covering my lower body only barely with my clothing on my lap.

"Well, you did say you'd make them forget, didn't you. Did not expect you to actually get naked though." Grace walks up and plops down next to me. "Very nice by the way. Shame you found someone before I actually tried my luck with you. Ah, if only you were a bit older. Then again, I do love the young ones."

I shook my head, laughing. "Funny. You know I've got someone. Wonder how she's gonna take this one. Well I hope, she's pretty lenient."

Only another day, one of many in my life.