I was hoping for a little advice.
Who: Elsa, Aria and Miranda What: Elsa needs some more notes and is easily embarrassed When: Today Where: Afterlife Status: Complete Rating: PG-13
Maybe she should have come by when it wasn’t busy, but Elsa wanted to take some notes while it was busy and she wasn’t generally expected. But she thought it would be helpful to get an idea of the way the business worked under normal circumstances.
Not that she wanted to stare at mostly naked women or anything. Well she did, but it was for work.
She took one of the side entrances to avoid paparazzi catching her, and got herself a table to watch and take notes. More than once someone propositioned her and she jumped five feet. Each time.
Aria was unaware of Elsa being in the club, largely because she was busy elsewhere. Miranda, however, was backstage putting the finishing touches on her hair and make-up before she was to do her dance. Once it was time, she came out on cue, moving to the music as she strutted over to the pole and began to do her pole dance.
There were a lot of people intensely watching Miranda, and she was a master at pole dancing. Despite being tall, she moved gracefully, practically wrapping herself around the pole, and showing off her strength and her muscles while doing so.
To her credit, Elsa did immediately notice she had to make a small change to the pole design, but after that she was just a little bit distracted. Miranda’s legs were amazing and not for the first time Elsa realized she was really into legs. Even if those weren’t the legs she was interested in at the moment.
“Want a dance?” A woman touched her shoulder again and she jumped.
“I uhm.. I’m good..!”
Miranda did put a lot of work into her body to stay fit enough to pole dance the way she was. She also just liked staying fit. Of course, she got some added toned muscles thanks to her dreams, but by and large her physique was due to the work she’d done in this world.
She did her dance, more than exciting the crowd while at it. And of course, there was some disappointment once she was finished and left the stage. She touched herself up before she came back out and started making the rounds. It didn’t take long before she spotted Elsa, who was clearly taking notes. She headed over to her.
“Aren’t you the sight to behold here?” Miranda asked, a smile on her face.
“I think you’re the sight,” Elsa replied. “I don’t think I could ever move like that.” But the thought had occurred to her. It would be kind of naughty, and she didn’t think she’d do it with an audience. Well, more than an audience of one. “But I’m glad I came, I realized that I wasn’t leaving you enough room to uhm, spin. In one of my designs.”
“Everyone can move like that if they put the work into it, of course.” Miranda commented. Pole dancing could be used for so much more than just a striptease act. And it was one hell of a workout. “Ah, yes, room to spin is kind of essential. But I hope that you are enjoying yourself here and not just doing work.”
“I won’t admit to that,” Elsa retorted, though from the twinkle in her eye and the flush on her face, she’d certainly had a good time. “My sister would never let me hear the end of it.”
She wondered if Miranda would be a good person to get advice from. Unlike her sister she probably would let her hear the end of that.
“I completely understand that. I have a sister myself, I know how they can be.” Of course, sometimes Miranda felt more like a mother than a sister to Oriana, but it was better now that they were both adults. And Oriana was about to graduate from college and have her own life, the way Miranda wanted it to be.
“A little crazy?” Elsa asked. Anna was a little crazy but she meant that out of love.
At least talking was easing most of Elsa’s nerves, and Miranda wasn’t wearing anything scandalous, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to, well, speak.
“But do you enjoy it?”
“Perhaps a little bit, though I think my sister would say I’m the crazy one.” Well, she’d probably say that Miranda worked too hard and needed to do more things for herself, but that was a bit besides the point.
“Yes, I do.” Oriana was the most important thing in her life. And Miranda was extremely protective of her.
Elsa had meant the stripping, but honestly the sister thing was way more important in general. She nodded at her, then decided to ask, “Do you… this is going to sound… are you seeing someone?”
Elsa’s question took her a little by surprise, not because it had been asked, but because of what her response to it would be. It was complicated. “No, I’m not. I’d like to be, but they aren’t the type for relationships. And I can’t do no strings where they are concerned, so I’m hopelessly single. Why do you ask?” Miranda didn’t think Elsa was propositioning her, she didn’t seem the type to do that sort of thing.
Tilting her head, Elsa thought about that, “I… actually get that. My first girlfriend couldn’t do the monogamous thing. I knew that going in, but I eventually had to end it because we wanted different things.”
Which didn’t explain why she’d asked, but that she did emphasize. “Mostly I was hoping for a little advice.”
“At least you recognized that you both wanted different things and stopped it instead of trying to continue doing something that wouldn’t ultimately work for either of you.” Miranda was trying to settle to just being friends with Isabela, but it wasn’t all that easy. But she’d rather be friends than nothing at all.
“I could probably give some advice. I’ve had a few relationships in the past. What do you need advice on?”
“I don’t really know how to act in a relationship. How much flirting is too much. And it’s made more complicated because she can’t really be… open … about herself. Her family wouldn’t understand, and she has a public image to maintain.”
Miranda quirked a brow at Elsa. “Ironically, I can relate to her.” Her father would’ve shit himself if she came out as being attracted to women, let alone taking an interest in one. Though in her case as it currently stood, Miranda didn’t give a rat’s ass about what her father thought of her. “As it stands, I don’t think I can say how much flirting is too much because it depends on the person. Some people are perfectly fine to be flirted with all day. Others aren’t so comfortable with it. So I think you should just read how she reacts, and if it seems like she’s uncomfortable or doesn’t respond that strongly to your flirting, maybe back off a little bit.”
She brushed some hair behind an ear. “As for the family and public image, that will take time. Ultimately, she will probably decide whether she cares what her family thinks or not. I know I no longer care what my father would think, though I’m trying to avoid being in the news at all for reasons unrelated to my sexuality.” She then smirked a bit. “Though by now, after recent events, he clearly knows I work as a stripper so he’s probably shitting himself over that.”
Elsa nodded. She’d been very careful in public, and flirted a little more in public. It made Weiss blush but, “I think she’s been..okay with it so far.”
And honestly, Elsa walking into strip club at all would get tongues wagging. “Though I’m pretty sure I could kiss her on national tv and people would still think we’re just friends.”
Miranda had to chuckle softly and shake her head at the last comment. “Seriously, people just don’t want to actually believe that women kissing each other is romantic.” She then turned back to the first comment. “Then that’s good. Hopefully she’s the type where you can tell where the limit of flirting is, if she’s not the type to outright say it.”
“She’s.. stubborn and demanding,” Elsa replied, with a tone that indicated she didn’t really mind. “But I think she’s getting better the more she opens up, and the more she asserts her own personality.”
It was the most she’d give about Weiss’s issues, but Miranda would probably understand.
“Sometimes that’s all it takes, someone willing to let a person open up.” Miranda knew that from experience. She tended to be rather severe herself until she let herself open up. She just had intense trust issues because she never knew who could be a spy for her father.
“I do build walls, I guess that makes me good for listening like one,” Elsa decided. “And the offer stands for you, if you ever need it.” She grinned cheekily, “Maybe I could trade it for dance lessons.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” At least it seemed that Elsa wouldn’t tease her relentlessly like Shepard did if she needed to talk about Isabela or something. Or so Miranda hoped. There were times she didn’t talk to Shepard because she didn’t have the patience to deal with being teased. “I think that would be a fair trade,” she said with a smile.
Elsa finished her drink and got up, “I should pay Aria a visit before I leave. Thank you for talking with me. And for the uhm, show.”
“You’re welcome, on both counts.” Miranda responded with a warm smile. She should probably get back to work anyways. There were probably several people who wanted a lap dance from her before the night was done.
One of those people was Elsa but she’d already decided that would end up being weird. So she smiled and got up, then headed to Aria’s office. The door was open, but she knocked anyway.
Once Elsa got up and left, Miranda then went to do the other part of her job. It wasn’t always her favorite, especially of late when she had Isabela on her mind more often than not, but she liked keeping her job, so she’d do it.
Aria was sitting at her desk going over some paperwork when she heard the knock. “Come in,” she said without looking up. She had gotten word that Elsa was in the club, so when she finally did look up to see the young architect, she had to smirk a little. “Did you enjoy the show?”
“Yes, but I’ll never admit it,” Elsa joked. She closed the door behind her, “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that, but I can see some important changes to make. The current design would cramp Miranda’s legs. And I thought I was being generous in length, but it’s a lot different with everything else going on.”
Her smirk widening, Aria set her paperwork aside to give Elsa her undivided attention. “That is true, you only really know these things when you can see it in person. Plus, Miranda is taller than one might expect.” Miranda did have legs that went on forever.
“Well, yes. I should have expected that, she has the second longest legs I’ve ever seen. Besides my own.” Elsa’s hips don’t lie, and she did have legs that went on for days. “But rest assured I was only here for research.”
Aria chuckled softly. “Indeed you do,” she commented. Of course she’d noticed. It was hard not to. “You are more than welcome to come here for pleasure. Besides, isn’t it a bit tempting?” Aria did have some very attractive dancers working for her. Miranda just so happened to be the star.
Though if only Miranda was a succubus, that would definitely help in competing with Logan’s star bartender.
“It’s...yes. A little.” Elsa tucked her hair behind her ear, “I think a...friend.. might get jealous, though.”
Aria eyed Elsa for a few moments. “I see. Well, I’d say bring them along, but I’m going to guess it’s not quite their thing.”
“I’ll bring that up with her if only to see the look on her face,” Elsa replied. She was more worried if paparazzi caught them. Elsa knew how to come in without being too obvious but they tended to follow Weiss like bloodhounds.
Aria could do something about the paparazzi if asked. After all, she kept them off of Miranda. Though Aria was debating just plain hiring some more muscle that was specifically designed to keep the paparazzi away from Afterlife altogether. “At least that look would provide some amusement for you, no doubt?”
“It would, definitely. It would just be a bad look if it got out in public,” Elsa explained.
“If you need the paparazzi kept away from here, I can do that. I’m already keeping them off of Miranda. I’ve been debating hiring some more security for the sole purpose of plain keeping paparazzi out of here.” Aria was all about having a safe zone. Even if it was more out of a wish to make this more like the Omega of her dreams, only cleaner. She really did miss her space station some days.
“I.. Really?” Elsa looked thoughtful, “Maybe I can convince her then. I think it might help her get over some of her personal issues.”
Or it might just piss her off, but it was worth asking. “I’ll let you know.”
“Yes, really. I take privacy here very seriously.” And Aria protected her own, even if it was odd to consider Miranda one of her own since they had never been allies in the dreams. Especially while the woman had been part of Cerberus. “Nothing happens in or around this establishment without my knowing about it, and if I don’t like it, it gets stopped. Immediately.”
“I knew I liked working with you,” Elsa decided. “And I’ll let you know what she looked like when I ask.”