Too long since an update. Between a flight to NY and having my wisdom teeth pulled yesterday, I've found some time. And meds. Geh. Pain. Sorry, this edition is really weak. Next installments: cherry lips parts 1-3. Yes. Cherry lips. The writing gets better after that. Promise.

become what you fear

Cahm, Jadiqa, and Shadash were drunk, they were also out of their minds on potent incense and herbs. Shadash had taken less than the other two, for he was slighter of body and faster of metabolism, but they had needed it more than he had. The other two had been scheduled for a debauched bachelor party while Shadash had been serving a small group of artists. His guests were much less demanding of him, though his body was chafed and wet in all the usual places between long drags of the water pipe.

It was only a few hours before sunrise when Jadiqa and Cahm roused Shadash from sleep in the basin they all used to bathe in. They did not particularly like one another. Cahm and Jadiqa often spent time together; they even shared a bed, but it was little more than creature comfort. Neither of them liked Shadash and Shadash actively disliked the other two, but there were moments of camaraderie. And drugs and alcohol lent them the capacity to give each other a bit of grace.

Shadash lingered in the water before falling back into a role he had taken long ago with Aisha. He took up hand towels and soaped and rinsed the other two entertainers thoroughly. They giggled amongst themselves when they stepped out of the basin and began drying themselves off. Then they tried on each others' jewelry and attempted to wear each others' clothing. This was not so strange for Shadash and Jadiqa, for they often traded clothing to keep a fresh appearance, but it was not the same with Cahm.

Cahm was not the ideal Calimshan beauty. Her hips were not wide, nor her breasts full-ripe; it was rumored the elven blood running through her veins kept her best features under-developed. Of course, it was also rumored that Shadash was of a long lost jungle tribe across the waters or that he was the offspring of a djinn. The trouble was that she was too slim and petite for well toned and muscular Jadiqa to fit in her clothes as was his wont. Instead, it had to be Shadash dressed in skirts while Cahm's bodice of sequins and crystals made Jadiqa an ungainly vest.

Jadiqa wore Shadash's sarong and Cahm wore Shadash's pants and Jadiqa's heavy gold collar which only just covered her largish nipples. None of them really cared, but smothered laughter as they looked at each other.

When Nasoos called in to them to shut up and go to bed, they laughed harder but muffled themselves better. On Shadash's suggestion, they retired to his tiny room and against his better judgment, showed them a secret. Over the course of several months the dancer had converted the bars in his window to a grate. It was removable and allowed him to escape the premises without a chaperone. It made it much easier for the boy to slip away in order to sell information to Marya's brood.

More giggling commenced as they crawled over Shadash's silk-strewn bunk and escaped into the night. For once, Shadash was not afraid to run out into the night; he had two people with him. Perhaps they were not his friends, perhaps they were not reliable, but if they were attacked, he was certain attackers would be slowed by Jadiqa and Cahm while he ran on.

Only a few hours before dawn, the streets of Dancer's Gate were desolate. All that could be found were drunks and addicts on their way home and the derelicts and drunken that had passed out in the gutters. Three dancers with nothing better to do, high as the moon and drunk enough to wear each others clothing, were not a nice thing to encounter if you were even more helpless than they.

Jadiqa was the first to see a man passed out in an alley. The moon revealed the man for the drunk he was and soon all three dancers were crouched around him, their shadows eclipsing his unsuspecting form.

Cahm proposed they steal his clothes. Jadiqa thought it might be amusing to piss in his face, except he usually got paid for doing things like that. When he stopped laughing at Jadiqa's remark, Shadash said it could be fun to beat the drunk up.

The three looked at each other under the slim light offered by the moon. Their expressions had lost all mirth as they thought over the possible enjoyment in beating a defenseless drunk.

Cahm looked down at the unsuspecting man and murmured, "How many times have bastards like this have slapped a tambourine out of my hands and torn my veil in his haste to spread my thighs?"

Her sentiment was echoed by Jadiqa's resolute tenor. "Even though I'm strong, it only makes them want to see me scream more."

"I don't care," Shadash huffed, spitting on the man. "He's on the street and the streets are not kind."

He quickly crouched down and rifled the man's clothing. There was nothing of value to be found. He opened the man's mouth and sniffed his breath; the liquor he'd imbibed was cheap. Satisfied the man was unaffiliated, Shadash's lips split in a wide smile. He stood up and then he slammed his sandaled heel down on the drunk's gut.

And thus began the furious morning three cross-dressed dancers tore through the desolate streets of Dancer's Gate, beating up drunks, throwing them down stairs, pushing them into sewers, stealing their clothes, and biting their bleeding knuckles to muffle the laughter.