"...Miss Fogo, I'm not trying to be funny, but I don't have all day," Mr. Kingsley insisted impatiently as he raised an eyebrow at her as Aria just stood there with the worst case of stage fright she'd ever experienced as she frantically tried to remember what she'd picked as a show piece as her murder kept popping up in gruesome detail in her mind every time she looked at the cat demon.
"I...um...," Aria tried to say, but she realized with a growing sense of panic that she could not for the life of her remember what she'd picked to do! "I was...I was going to sing and dance to...um..."
"What my lady friend is trying to say, my handsome friend, is that we're performing together!" Damian suddenly chimed in, saving her in the nick of time as he swept up onto the stage with a flurry of cherry blossoms and sparkle that showcased them both nicely as Aria noticed the digital backdrop change into a cherry blossom field with a blood red sky and a blackened sun, making Aria wonder how the heck he managed to do that!
"And you are?" Mr. Kingsley asked pointedly, his disinterest in Damian's dramatic entrance making Aria even more nervous as the robed figure dashingly struck a pose.
"I am Damian Undertow, a former employee of Valentino in the past seeking to gain the great Overlord's attention and good graces once again," Damian stated roguishly, his smile both mysterious and silly as Aria had to ruffle her feathers to get the incessant glitter off her, but it seemed to naturally spawn around the fish demon as she felt a growing sense of futility in her efforts. "Miss Fogo and I will be performing an original song and dance number that will cascade from our very beings like the luscious, romantic waterfalls of old!"
"Ha! You just fucked it all up, ya ugly sack of fish guts!" Angel Dust suddenly cried out in wicked glee as he pointed two hands at Damian as one fist slammed into the table, making the tea set shake enough for Mr. Kingsley to reach out a hand to steady it. "You're clearly piggy-backing onto this bitch just so you can get in to see Valentino, since I know you're completely talentless! This is clearly against the rules and I for one will gladly kick you out for breaking 'em! Now, where's that bomb that Cherry left for me just for this occasion..."
"That won't be necessary, Angel Dust," Mr. Kingsley commented dismissively, his right hand adjusting his glasses as he perused a few notes he had pinned to his clipboard before clearing his throat as his ears twitched in thought. "Valentino lost a lot more people this year than he'd like to admit, so he's eased up on the group auditions for now to help fill in some spots quickly. It states here that any number of candidates can perform together, but that all will be eliminated if the performance is not up to current expectations. Damian can indeed perform with Miss Fogo, here, but if one or both of them lack what we require, then they'll have to try their luck next year, if they're still alive to make the attempt."
"What the fuck!? That's a load of bullshit! The last time we tried doing that, my payroll got cut in half because someone thought it'd be more fun to just let everyone in to see Valentino last year to audition during last years Hellraiser so he could go and fuck around and steal my clients!" Angel Dust groused vehemently as he pointed three hands at Damian, while one pointed at Mr. Kingsley for emphasis, but Mr. Kingsley refused to react to Angel's outburst as he took off his glasses and cleaned them before putting them back on his face, again.
"If I remember the reports correctly, Angel Dust, you went along with that plan with Mr. Undertow, here, and neglected your duties as a judge in favor of going out with a girl named Cherry Bomb to help her out with wiping out a rival gang trying to take her territory during the last Hellraiser, so I hardly think you're innocent of any wrongdoing, here. Besides, things change, and this time, I'm here to make sure everything is kept in order, so if you're done faffing around, I've got work to do," Mr. Kingsley commented with an air of arrogant sophistication as Angel Dust sneered down at the cat demon as he made a very rude up and down stroking gesture in front of his waist before flipping the cat demon off and sitting back in his chair as he lit up a cigarette and put his shoes on the table, making the cat demon frown and cough in irritation from the smoke before clearing his throat and looking at Aria and Damian once more. "Charming as always, Angel Dust. Very well, Mr. Undertow. I don't see your name on my list of demons banned from auditioning this year, so you and Miss Fogo can begin when you're ready."
Without so much as a warning, Damian grabbed Aria by her waist and pulled her in close as an Asian-style tune started to float through the theater as Aria realized with embarrassment that their outfit styles kind of matched. Aria wasn't sure if this was a stroke of luck or a very bad sign. Had she subconsciously known she would fail her audition and would need Damian's help, she wondered to herself in alarm as the beat that dropped in the Asian tune turned into a bouncy, fast pop number as Damian suddenly got incredibly frisky?
"Why don't I see see what your hiding hiding from me?" Damian started as he pulled up her skirt, revealing her orange panties for all to see, making the crowd of demons auditions cheer as Aria blushed scarlet and slapped him hard across the face, making the sparkles fly in all directions!
"Why don't you see see that I'm fighting fighting to flee!?" Aria sang very loudly in vehemence as she felt him get way too close behind her as he actually groped her chest with both hands in front of the audience, making them whistle!
"Here's something soft soft that I know I know you want squeezed!" Damian goaded with a lecherous grin as Aria used her telekinesis and arms together to throw him over her shoulder as she protected her chest with her massive wing hands, making the crowd boo and laugh as Damian landed with a heavy thud and a poof of glitter!
"Hell no, I don't don't want those to to ever be squeezed!" Aria sang out in alarm as her blush grew incredulous as Damian jumped back onto his feet with practiced ease, while the audience called out and jeered at Aria as she dared to take a look at Mr. Kingsley, who looked intrigued as Damian pushed at her boundaries.
"You want me!" Damian sang as he lunged for her!
"No!" Aria sang out as she dodged him.
"You want me!" Damian sang with added glee as his blade at the end of his tail cut up her skirt, making her panties appear, which made the crowd whistle and cheer with wicked delight.
"No!" Aria cried out, no longer singing as she used her wing hands to cover her now exposed panties as Damian danced and stalked her all over the stage as she tried to get some distance from him and failed miserably!
"You want me, want me, want me, want me!" Damian sang as his tail whipped out in front of her just after she'd thought she'd gotten out of reach as she turned around to face him and found the blade of his tail coming for her, splitting her dress right down the middle, exposing her orange bra and underwear as he danced and did a pelvic thrust at the end, making the crowd go absolutely wild!
"Ahhh!" Aria screamed, completely mortified as she felt her whole body blush as she fought to keep a hand over her privates and chest, while Damian started to do a strip tease for her.
"Let's make it hotter, baby, hotter, hotter, hotter, baby!" Damian sang out louder as the bass of the pop song dropped as Aria felt her whole body tingle as he playfully started to remove his robes, revealing his perfect abs in all its glory, along with some puffy pants that barely contained an obvious tent pointed directly at her!
As Aria spotted Angel staring at Damian in a reluctant way that was obvious that he secretly liked what he saw, Mr. Kingsley kept his green eyes on her. Fighting the urge to constantly mend her clothing and make a run for it, Aria felt the cat demon's eyes on her as though questioning why she was just standing there. Swallowing down the immense desire to just bolt and not look back, her body went cold with dread at what she had to do as she pretended to slowly yield to Damian as the song and dance number continued.
Her blush just got worse and worse as Damian caught and caressed her almost naked body, using his sharp tail to trim a little more off her costume as she pushed away from him to keep the chase on stage going. Arousal was already starting to affect her thoughts as Aria now fought to not give into the desire Damian was slowly building up inside of her as she suddenly lost her bra! Aria wasn't pretending anymore as she pushed his hands away from her now naked breasts as Aria convincingly played the victim while she fled from Damian, but was stopped at every turn! With each little nick and cut Damian did to her poor panties, the harder it was to move around without the potential loss of her only viable piece of clothing! Damian kept up the heat and pinned her body to the stripping pole as the bass of the beat began to match the erratic rhythm of her heartbeat!
"Stop! I've seen enough," Mr. Kingsley said as he cleared his throat and adjusted his papers before looking at both Aria and Damian with those sharp, green eyes of his. "I'm afraid one of you has a lot of work to do before they'll be good enough to work for Mr. Valentino. Miss Fogo, please step through the lobby doors and wait for my assistant to escort you back to the front of Porn Studios. As for Mr. Undertow, you show enough promise to audition for Mr. Valentino himself. Congratulations."
"The fuck!?" Angel Dust cried out in dismay, wondering how this could be legal as Aria just stood there, feeling oddly unsatisfied, incredibly relieved, and completely beside herself as she realized that she'd completely failed her audition! "Ya just fucking said that if one of them messed up, they'd both be kicked out of the auditions altogether! Not to mention that the bird bitch ain't that bad, if you want a more innocent, reluctant sex toy added to Valentino's collection! I personally think that the fucking fish flopped bigtime, if we're going to just pick fucking sides, so what the hell was all that bullshit about group auditions, if you're just going to do whatever the hell you want?!"
"As much as I admire your consistency in holding a grudge, Angel Dust, I lied about the rules about group auditions," Mr. Kingsley said with a smarmy smile that sent chills down Aria's spine as she could almost see the human face behind it as she sent a thought to her choker to replace her damaged underwear and outfit with the flapper outfit Alastor had picked out for her as she made her way off stage while Mr. Kingsley gave Angel a paper and pointed to it smugly. "I just made that up on a whim to wind you up a little. Bob's your uncle. Anyway, anyone who auditions in a group is being judged individually, not collectively, so bear that in mind the next time a group decides to perform."
"I fucking hate working with ya," Angel growled under his breath loud enough for everyone to hear as Mr. Kingsley only chuckled as he turned and shooed Aria away.
"Go on, Miss Fogo! The doors are right behind you, so don't let them hit you on the way out!" Mr. Kingsley said briskly as he looked at her before smiling that cold, cruel smile she knew all too well before turning away from her nonchalantly as he picked up a black and red walkie talkie she hadn't noticed strapped to his hip under his impeccable sweater as he talked into it briskly. "Miss Elbright! This is Kingsley! Please escort Miss Fogo back, will you? She's the bird with the orange face and creamy feathers. Yes, her. Oh, and bring some more Earl Grey with you. I'm starting to feel a bit sleepy. Over!"
"Right away, Mr. Kingsley! Over!" a petite, womanly voice in a British accent chirped pleasantly on the other end, making Aria wonder who she was as she also wondered why she had to be escorted out.
"I can see myself out, thanks," Aria insisted coldly, her gut feeling uneasy at the insistence of being escorted out of the building, but the tutting sound coming from Mr. Kingsley filled her with the feeling that he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"I'm afraid we've already had a few cases of vandalism in the building from those who failed the auditions, Miss Fogo, so forgive me if I don't trust you roaming the building on your own," Mr. Kingsley answered briskly, waving her off once more as he turned back to the auditions without a second glance. "I must insist that you meet up with Miss Elbright and leave under her escort, or do I have to be more forceful about your removal, Miss Fogo?
"No, that won't be necessary," Aria managed icily as she tried to ignore the unease she felt as she sauntered towards the big double doors behind her with their staring, yellow demon eyes embedded into the dark wood before she was stopped by Damian, who'd rushed off stage to catch up to her before she left.
"I'll make it up to you, I promise," Damian whispered apologetically as he struggled to put his robe on while he spoke to her as she shook her head at him in disappointment and frustration that was all too genuine as she scowled at him because of what he'd gotten away with on that stage because of her own incompetence.
"You took advantage of the situation and went too far!" Aria hissed out as quietly as she could, wishing that she was pretending to feel angry, mortified, and desperate as she struggled to find a solution to the mess she'd gotten herself into as the auditions went on behind them. "I had no idea you'd pull that kind of abject hanky panky right off the bat! Do you have any idea how inept I looked on that stage!? Sigh...look, I get it! I'm not being fair about this, since I should just be thankful we had an audition at all because of my stupid bout of stage fright, but how could I have known that one of my murderers would be judging the auditions!?"
"Wait, what?" Damian cried out in alarm, his voice rising before Aria shushed him and looked at Mr. Kingsley, who only indicated he'd heard the cry by rotating his ears towards them before coughing and turning his full attention back to the auditions. "He's one of your murderers, too!? My lady, forgive my bluntness, but what in the nine Hells were you doing that you have more than one murderer?"
"Long story short, I was a convenient person to torture to death by a group of anti-christian terrorists," Aria answered softly and coldly as she just shook her head and sighed as she quickly summoned a notepad and a pen as she wrote a note and passed it to Damian before dismissing them back into her emergency storage space before laughing softly and helplessly to herself to hide her self-contempt at having failed so miserably, but it didn't work very well as Damian looked at her with genuine concern. "Forget it. Take this and give it to Angel Dust if you can or our other contacts. You can read it if you want to. I don't care at this point. I'll find a way to get to Valentino one way or another, but just so we're clear, you better keep your hands to yourself next time, Casanova, or I'll make sure you never get to dance like that ever again."
Angry at herself for her failure, at Damian for his lasciviousness that got her all hot and bothered on stage, and feeling both guilty and angry at herself for being unprepared for it, Aria stepped out into the foyer as she worked hard not to burst into tears where she stood as she fought to get a grip on herself. Aria took a deep breath before putting on a stoic, cold expression for the few demons that walked past as she thought over what had happened again and again on stage as her face flushed again with embarrassment. No matter how she looked at it, the outcome would've been the same. With British suddenly appearing in his demonic form right before her eyes, everything she'd planned to do had fallen apart in an instant. She really should've been grateful Damian had intervened at all, making her feel guilty for being so hard on him despite doing what she knew needed to happen despite her own discomfort.
Her surroundings didn't help, much, as glamorous, seductive posters featuring scantily clad women and what Aria realized in shock had to be Angel Dust in a blonde wig and smutty, feminine attire were on full display on the walls. It felt so surreal to Aria to see such lascivious content be so boldly out on display as she read the titles on them, making her blush as one featured a blue haired demon with big, red eyes and heavy, black eyeliner sexually ride a huge piece of cake with only frosting to hide her nipples and mound that was titled, "You Can Have My Cake and Eat it, too." The one with Angel Dust looking incredibly sexy with a blonde wig and a very revealing, pink dress made her feel incredibly gender confused as the title read, "Bang Off Ball: A Tale of Two Cocks." At least they're honest about their content, Aria thought glumly as she tried to ignore the black, thorny picture frames and the luxurious, dark purple carpet that complimented the wine colored wallpaper featuring "v" shapes that looked suspiciously like open women's legs.
As she stood there for a moment to think about the rest of her note, Aria just hoped it would get to Angel Dust so he could get in contact with Arackniss or Alastor. It detailed what had happened at the audition and that she'd wait in the foyer for an hour in hopes of getting an update on what she should do without having to leave the building. If she didn't hear from anyone by that time, however, she'd have to leave the building and try to get in contact with Alastor or Arackniss directly. She just hoped that something else would come her way to make this plan still work as she hoped she hadn't just destroyed her only means to move around Porn Studios without being arrested or worse.
The thought made Aria wonder if cops even did their jobs here in Hell as she looked around the foyer to find a short, brown quail demoness in a tight-fitting, low-cut, black and red business suit begin to make a beeline for her, along with two wolf bodyguards in simple, black suits that looked like they could bench press buildings without breaking a sweat. The lady quail demon had very large, round spectacles on and kept on dropping things, much to her embarrassment as she apologized profusely every time she did. Aria watched and hid her chagrin as the quail demoness kept struggling not to show her bright red panties every time she bent over, but it didn't help that her skirt was way too short. Aria wondered what sick bastard insisted the poor girl wear something so revealing, but knowing where the poor thing worked, it didn't take a genius to figure out who chose the dress code in this particular building.
"Excuse me! I'm so sorry I'm late, but are you Miss Fogo?" the bespectacled quail demon asked in an apologetic, British accent as she dropped a pen about the hundredth time as it rolled over to Aria, who picked it up and gave it back to the quail demoness, much to her relief. "Oh, thank you! I'm Miss Mable Elbright, Mr. Kingsley's personal assistant! I was told I should show you back to the entrance to Porn Studios, since our arrow signs were stolen by some angry demons who didn't manage to make the cut in the auditions. It seems to be a reoccurring problem, despite the guards we hired to stop this kind of shit! Sorry! Excuse my language! So, are you ready to go?"
"I'd hoped to wait for my colleague," Aria answered primly as she looked down at the quail demon with what she hoped was an indifferent expression as that uneasy feeling kept nagging her, making her feel cautious and uneasy. "I left him a message and I'd hate to lose track of him, especially since he's going to get to audition for Valentino, the lucky bastard."
"Those auditions are closed to the public, Miss Fogo, so I'm afraid you're going to have to wait for him elsewhere," Miss Mable said in a cheery, but apologetic tone as she waved Aria over to her, while the two wolves on either side of Mable stepped close to Aria menacingly, implying that they'd escort her out if she made any trouble, making Aria sigh as she waved them off before she reluctantly walked next to Mable towards a hallway Aria knew led back to the lobby. "We do have a lovely bar near the entrance of Porn Studios where you can grab a drink and relax! Too bad you won't get to try their new Pina Colada drink, though, which is a shame, since that lovely Hawaiian demon is so dishy, too! Mmm!"
"What do you me-OW!" Aria yelped as a sharp pain suddenly stabbed into her side, making Aria stumble away from Mable as she spotted too late the tiny gun in the little quail's hand that her military grade analysis tech marked as a tranquilizer gun.
"Welcome to Porn Studios, Miss Fogo! Hehehe! You must be very special if Mr. Kingsley wants you! Grab her, boys, and take her back to the Desire lab! Mr. Kingsley's picked out his plus one for the night!" Mable giggled wickedly as her eyes and smile glowed red as she watched Aria lose her balance and fall to the ground as the tranquilizer took effect quickly, making Aria black out.