Dance Of Whimsy

"Ugh. It's so hot," Amy Rose complained quietly to herself, wiping sweat from her brow as she stood there in a small but crowded street in the lower part of a Chun-Nan settlement. Passerby chattered away in a language that she was far from fluent in, occasionally bumping the pink hedgehog by accident as they hurried past carrying wicker baskets, rolled up tapestries and whatever else this glorified tourist trap of a marketplace was selling at every other stall. "Why did I agree to meet Sonic here of all places? I could be meeting him in beautiful snowy Holoska, giving me an excuse to show off my new winter jacket, but noooo! Instead, I'm sweltering my tail off in the most humid corner of the world in a tank top and jeans!"

With a groan that was equal parts exhausted and irritated, Amy slumped back against the stall she was standing beside, only for the human merchant running it to start shouting at her in a foreign language, waving one of his wares - a lengthy, cane-like object with some sort of silver bauble on the top - at the anthropomorphic hedgehog, prompting her to hurry away while blurting out a nervous apology over her shoulder.

"Language barriers are the worst," she muttered once she had rounded the corner, once again wiping sweat from her brow - this time due to frayed nerves. "Where's Tails and his translator doohickey when you need him?"

It was then that Amy noticed that she was standing next to a gigantic, ornate looking tent that appeared to be made out of some sort of fancy fabric or cloth, its surface patterned with masterfully embroidered imagery that depicted serpentine dragons breathing scorching flames. The artwork had a mystical, almost dreamlike quality to it, and Amy found herself momentarily enamoured by the draconic depictions.

"Oh, wow. This is…" She trailed off, unable to put into words just how the artistic imagery she was beholding made her feel. She started to move around the tent, examining the embroidery from all angles. She soon came to the entrance of the tent and, curiosity more than getting the better of her, she dared to venture inside.

It was mercifully cooler inside the tent, no doubt thanks to its interior being out of the sun. The room that Amy now found herself in appeared to be some kind of auditorium, with at least ten rows of chairs arranged neatly before her, a makeshift stage of carefully placed and arranged wooden boards complete with curtains at the far end of the tent. Perhaps a show of some sort was scheduled to take place here later? Or had Amy already missed it? She pressed forward through the tent's dimly lit exterior, soon wandering out the rear entrance, nearly walking smack-dab into the side of the trailer parked outside.

"Huh?" she said, noticing the star symbol emblazoned on the side door of the caravan. Before she could do anything else, that door suddenly swung open, someone stepping out, a cell phone held to their animalistic ear.

The anthropomorphic cheetah woman was engaged in a ranting conversation with whomever was on the other end of the line, speaking in that same foreign language Amy had been hearing all day as she marched forward, the spots prominent amidst her yellow fur, her attire consisting of a purple tank top and grey track pants - not too dissimilar to Amy's own white top and pale blue jeans. She looked familiar, this cheetah. Where had Amy seen her before…?

With one final angry shout that might as well have been in gobbledegook as far as Amy was concerned, the young cheetah woman harshly jabbed at her phone to end the call, letting out a frustrated groan as she did so, visibly sagging as she stood there, her feline ears drooping. She looked how Amy had been feeling just a short while ago - tired and exasperated.

"Ugh. Book a show in a foreign land, my agent said. It'll be good exposure, he said. He didn't say anything about some Chun-Nan native giving me a never-ending earful just because the dude's never heard of rescheduling! Honestly!"

"…Whimsy Blissclaw?" Amy asked uncertainly, her words garnering the attention of the cheetah, who turned in her direction, her orange eyes immediately lighting up at the sight of the pink hedgehog, a broad smile forming on her furry visage.

"Rosie! You little rascal!" Whimsy, for it was indeed her, greeted cheerfully, wasting no time in striding right up to Amy and pulling her into a playful headlock, leaving the pink hedgehog momentarily dumbfounded. "Didn't think I'd be running into your pretty little self again so soon!"

"H-Hey!" Amy spluttered, quickly wrenching herself free of the cheetah's grasp. "Haven't you ever heard of respecting personal space?!" Whimsy just laughed merrily at her words, however.

"Ha ha ha…! Same old Rosie - an adorable hothead to her very last breath!" she declared, prompting Amy to fold her arms and turn away, pouting slightly. "Where's that handsome blue fella who was chaperoning you at my last show? Sped off to nab something to eat, did he?"

Amy huffed at that. "I'm still waiting for him to show up for our date today, actually," she admitted somewhat begrudgingly. "He better not have stood me up again," she went on, talking more to herself than the cheetah girl right in front of her, "And if he tries to spin another wild yarn about getting sucked into a medieval fantasy world as an excuse, I'll give him a better reason than food to start running, that's for sure!"

Whimsy chuckled, her tail bobbing about behind her. "Ah, I'm sure he'll turn up. I gotta say, Rosie, you sure picked a good place to have a date; there's a little sashimi place just around the block that does a sushi and rice gruel combo that's to die for!"

"Rice gruel? Blech," Amy exclaimed childishly. "I'll bet it's to die for, as in, it'd probably make me puke my guts up until I died." Whimsy laughed uproariously at that.

"Ah, you're a riot, Rosie!" she declared, giving the hedgehog a playful slap on the back, causing Amy to again exclaim in annoyance. "Hey, listen - as long as you're here, I could use your help with something. I'm scheduled to put on a show later tonight, and I need some feedback on my new outfit from an unbiased test audience."

"New outfit, huh?" Amy repeated, glancing Whimsy up and down, taking in the details of her tank top and track pants. "Not sure I'd go on stage dressed in something so sporty, but hey, to each their own," she declared with a light shrug. For a brief moment, Whimsy looked confused, but then she laughed again.

"No, no, silly!" she exclaimed, chortling. "These are just my casual threads! The real deal's in my trailer, locked away inside my clothing trunk! Tell you what: You go take a seat in the front row in that there tent," she said, matter-of-factly pointing at the dragon-patterned shelter as though Amy had somehow missed it, "And I'll go and get my new performing duds on in two shakes of… well, my own tail, I guess. See ya in a bit!" On that note, she turned and started for her trailer.

"W-Wait a minute!" Amy cried, raising a hand in a feeble attempt to stop Whimsy in her tracks from five paces away. "I never said that I'd—!" Too late. The door of the trailer swung shut behind Whimsy, leaving Amy alone. The pink hedgehog let out an irritated growl of frustration, her face visibly turning red with anger underneath her pink fur. Then she let her breath out in a heavy sigh of an exhale. "Okay, fine," she declared with a forced air of calm. "I'm nice enough to play along. If I can put up with Sonic's malarkey on a daily basis, I can handle one hour of a jumped up cheetah magician parading around on stage in a tacky, dime-store suit."

And so…

"Ugh. Come on! What's taking her so long?" Amy complained, glancing at her wrist only to realise that she wasn't wearing a watch. She'd been sitting alone in the auditorium for what felt like forever, though in reality, it had only been about ten minutes. "Bet she's standing in front of the mirror, plastering a million different kinds of cosmetic powder all over her face. Hmph! Stage performers. When will they learn that a curled eyelash here and a brushed bang there is all you need along with a quick spritz of a nice perfume? A little goes a long way." She looked up at the sound of footstep. "Oh, finally," she muttered as whimsy stepped up onto the stage, her appearance largely shrouded from view in the dim light. The automated stage light then clicked on, illuminating the lone figure before Amy… and then the pink hedgehog's jaw dropped, and it dropped hard.

Whimsy was dressed in an emerald green costume of sublime and velvety proportions, her muzzle adorned with a transparent veil, a jade pendant around her neck. A distinctly revealing bikini top covered the cheetah's upper torso, just barely concealing her breasts, a row of ornate silver coins dangling from each half of the garment. The baggy bedlah pants she wore were just as transparent as the veil, putting the well-groomed yellow fur of Whimsy's legs on full display, only the area right between her legs properly concealed by a dark green patch, more of those silver coins bordering said area. Silver wristlets and anklets adorned her arms and legs respectively, her fingernails and toenails painted a vibrant shade of green that matched the rest of her outfit. Finally, a hexagonally cut gemstone of shining green was presented proudly in her fully exposed navel, somehow looking like the centrepiece of a great work of art.

Whimsy Blissclaw looked absolutely, drop-dead gorgeous.

"Well?" Whimsy asked, giving a slight titter of barely contained excitement as she stood there. "What d'you think?" she went on, splaying her arms out at her sides and lifting one leg off the floor, balancing on one foot in a graceful, elegant pose, a bright, happy smile on her face, her orange eyes brimming with joyous life.

"Uhhhhhhhhh…" was all Amy could say, utterly transfixed by Whimsy's beauty, which the cheetah girl herself seemed to be blissfully oblivious to. Amy sat there for several long, uncomfortably awkward seconds, still droning out that single syllable of a word before she very suddenly raised a gloved hand… and slapped herself across the face as hard as she could manage, the SMACK echoing throughout the tent's interior. "You look amazing, you're gonna have the audience eating out of the palm of your hand, can I go now?!" she babbled very, very fast, her voice shrill.

"Oh, wow," Whimsy said quietly, seeming a little taken aback. Then she grinned. "Ha ha, I knew it! I knew I picked a good outfit for the occasion! See, I wanted to mix up my act a little; magic and mesmerism are all well and good, but I wanted to try my hand at various exotic and culturally significant styles of dancing! I wanted something special to wear for my first big number, and apparently…" She gave a knowing chuckle, blushing slightly as she gazed upon a very nervous-looking Amy. "Apparently, I overdid it just a tad."

"…Whuh?" Amy struggled to string together two coherent words in her head. "Oh! Um… It's uh… No, it's fine!" she managed at last. "I mean, it's great. You look… You look really pretty, Whimsy." The pink hedgehog chuckled awkwardly. "I actually didn't think it was possible for a girl to look that pretty," she went on, starting to babble again, a distinct blush forming on her face, which she must've noticed, for she turned her head away, rubbing at the back of her neck sheepishly as she continued to sit there, smiling uncomfortably.

"Oh, wow. Steady there, Rosie," Whimsy said half-jokingly. "Don't forget about your spiky blue chaperone."

"The what now?" Amy said before suddenly remembering that she was supposed to be a heterosexual hedgehog who had eyes only for Sonic. "Oh! Right!" She exclaimed, letting out a nervous, distinctly shaky laugh that was just a little bit too loud and went on for just a little bit too long. "Yikes," she could be heard muttering, clearing her throat as she finally started to pull herself together. "Didn't expect to discover THAT about myself today. Heh, heh…"

"Oh, boy. I guess I really did overdo it," Whimsy murmured to herself. She then shook her head as if to clear it. "You alright now, Rosie? 'Cause I was kinda hoping I could show you some of the dance moves I've been practising while I've still got you here."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure, go head," Amy said, waving away Whimsy's words with a gloved hand, appearing very distracted. She then screwed her eyes shut for a moment, crossing her fingers on each hand and softly chanting "Only Sonic, only Sonic, only Sonic" to herself before opening her eyes once more and giving Whimsy her full attention, now looking a lot more composed. "Whenever you're ready."

"Okay…" Whimsy said slowly, internally wondering if this whole thing had been a bad idea. "If you say so." On that note, she straightened up at attention, brought her hands together in front of her chest and interlocked her fingers, following in Amy's example by closing her eyes for a brief moment, taking a deep breath in through her feline snout and letting it out in a slow, soft, deep exhale through her mouth. The cheetah opened her eyes… and began to do something that Amy was so unprepared for that her jaw dropped once again.

Whimsy's lower torso began to jiggle like jelly, positively wobbling in a way unlike anything Amy had ever seen. It began to move back and forth as though it had a mind of its own, seeming almost autonomous in relation to the rest of Whimsy's exotically garbed form. The way it moved, the way it rippled and curved, the way it swayed and shook, the way Whimsy's belly just… did what it was doing… Amy didn't have the words. Much like the artistic dragon designs on the tent's exterior, this display had her completely captivated in a way that left her wordless… and breathless.

Whimsy began to move the rest of her body in tandem with her borderline sentient stomach, stretching her arms out at her sides with intent and twirling gracefully back and forth, moving this way and that, making her belly roll in all manner of exotic and almost incomprehensible ways as she went, the gemstone in her navel glinting in the beam of the lone spotlight she danced under. Amy's eyes were drawn to that gem. She couldn't take her eyes off it. In fact, she probably wouldn't have been able take her eyes off of Whimsy's belly even if that jewel hadn't been there. Hell, she didn't want to take her eyes off of it; Whimsy's belly and the way it moved was, for reasons that Amy couldn't even begin to fathom, absolutely fascinating to the pink hedgehog. She could watch it all day. She wanted to watch it all day. She just wanted to stare and take in the sight of Whimsy's beautiful form, her alluring costume, her sublime navel…

Starting to grow more confident about her performance, Whimsy began to move faster and more boldly, making her twirls more bold, her arm and leg movements more precise, her belly rolls more specific. It was a spectacle. She was a spectacle, and as far as Amy was concerned, it - she - was an amazing spectacle.

A couple minutes later, Whimsy finally brought her performance to a close, coming to a stop in the same position she had started in, giving a bow to the lone member of her audience. Her eyes widened, however, as she looked up and saw the sight before her:

Amy was sitting there with her hands tightly gripping the sides of the chair, her mouth hanging open, a long strand of drool dangling down her chin. Her eyes stared straight ahead, her green irises having been inexplicably replaced by a pair of rapidly spinning black and white spirals. She groaned like a zombie as she sat there.

"What the actual…?! Oh, come on!" Whimsy exclaimed, shaking her head in exasperated disbelief. "I know I'm a mesmerist first and foremost, but I didn't think I was literally mesmerising with my dance moves! Oy…"

A few moments later…

"Amy, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Whimsy Blissclaw," Amy droned emotionlessly, still sitting still as a statue before the stage like a drooling mannequin, Whimsy standing in front of her.

"I want you to listen to me very carefully," Whimsy began, but then she looked down at herself. She was still in costume, and seeing what it, along with her belly dance, had apparently done to Amy's psyche, an idea was now occurring to her. A cheeky, mischievous idea…

Amy let out another eerie, zombie-like groan, Whimsy saying nothing as she gently took hold of the pink hedgehog's gloved left hand, soon prising the white garment from the hypnotised girl's palm and fingers.

"Amy, I'm going to place your left hand on my stomach," Whimsy said before doing just that, tenderly bringing Amy's hand to rest against her navel, the hedgehog's fingers brushing gently against the green jewel therein. "Can you tell me how this makes you feel?"

"Wonderful, Whimsy Blissclaw," Amy droned. "Your belly is so smooth and sublime - most worthy of the jewel stationed in your navel."

Whimsy allowed herself a grin at that; she'd had a feeling that her performance might've awakened something stomach-related in the pink hedgehog. Something… fetishistic. The cheetah woman reached down and carefully prised the green gem from her navel, gently pushing past Amy's ungloved fingers to do so. "How does touching my unencumbered belly make you feel? Does my navel appeal to you?"

"Oh, yes, Whimsy Blissclaw," Amy answered, starting to gently, instinctively stroke Whimsy's bare belly, causing Whimsy to feel a very light tickling sensation. She was surprised by how bold the pink hedgehog was even while hypnotised. She decided to push her entranced charge further.

"Would you like to run your fingers along the inside of it? I must ask that you be very gentle if so."

"I would love that more than anything, Whimsy Blissclaw," Amy responded after a long moment, looking up at Whimsy with those still spiralling eyes. The cheetah was taken aback to see what were unmistakably tears welling up in the hedgehog's eyes. Tears of absolute joy.

"Oh, wow," the mesmerist muttered before her orange eyes went wide. "Oh, w-wow!" she exclaimed, feeling Amy's fingers starting to tenderly caress the inside of her navel. She had never had someone touching her belly so intimately before, with the sensation being more pronounced than she had bargained for. It was like nothing she had ever felt. "A-Amy…" She struggled to speak. "A-Amy Rose…"

"Yes, Whimsy Blissclaw?" Amy asked, not letting up with her caressing. She suddenly moved her fingers out of Whimsy's navel before beginning to gently yet rhythmically rub the cheetah girl's tummy, which the mesmerist had not been expecting. It was less jarring than the sensation of Amy's fingers… well, fingering her navel, she could affirm that much. In fact, it was rather comforting, like a loving mother tenderly caressing her baby.

"Please, just call me Whimsy," the cheetah woman answered with a smile. She noticed that Amy sounded less zombie-like now, almost as though the pink hedgehog was, in some way, consciously aware of what she was doing. As if to illustrate that point, Amy suddenly leaned forward, catching Whimsy completely off guard by resting her head against the cheetah's belly, letting out a contented sigh as she did so, a relaxed smile on her face, her eyelids gently drifting shut. For a moment, Whimsy was stunned… and then she smiled warmly.

"Attagirl, Rosie," she said, a tender warmth in her voice as she reached down and began to gently stroke Amy's pink hair, prompting another contended sigh from the hypnotised hedgehog.

"Uhhh… Am I… interrupting something?"

The eyes of both Whimsy and Amy went as round as coins - or perhaps rings - at the sound of a youthful male voice, Amy instantly and inexplicably snapping out of her trance, her green irises returning and the spirals fading away into nothingness. Without moving from the awkward, compromising position they had evidently been walked in on, they both steered their gaze in the direction of the one who had spoken, seeing Sonic The Hedgehog standing at the tent's entrance, a bouquet of flowers in one gloved hand, a half-eaten chilli dog in the other.

Amy glanced up at Whimsy, still yet to have moved her head away from the cheetah's navel. "Uh…" She racked her now panicking brain to try and come up with something - anything - to alleviate the utter embarrassment of the situation. "GOTTA GO FAST!" she shouted suddenly, leaping up and taking off at a speed that would give Sonic himself a run for his money. Whimsy, on her part, chuckled nervously, a profound blush of deep crimson forming on her fur-coved cheeks.

"We were just, uh… That is, I was just showing Amy an old-fashioned Chun-Nan… headache remedy?" she tried, a smile as terrified as it was unconvincing on her face.

Sonic stared at Whimsy for several long, tense seconds… and then he shrugged. "Eh. I've seen weirder. You should see half the stuff Amy keeps at her apartment," the Blue Blur said. "Tarot cards, crystal balls, scented candles… It's a regular speciality shop, I swear," he concluded, chuckling knowingly. "Well, I better go catch her before she dies of misplaced embarrassment. Catch ya later, Whimsy." On that note, the world's fastest hedgehog took off at the speed of sound, leaving a very much relieved Whimsy to promptly collapse into the same chair Amy had been sitting in.

"Next time, I'll just put on another magic show - in Holoska," she declared aloud. "I'll have no excuse to wear something so dangerously alluring in that kind of climate. Sheesh."

The End(!)