Most people that would head to a hostess club, a cabaret hall, or anything of that sort, were men looking to enjoy a wonderful night of drinking with eye candy on their arms. Or people looking to share a party together with a high end atmosphere to keep the mood together.

As Lorelei walked her way into the cabaret district of hosenka, she was more interested in these places over the various bars or gambling halls. She didn't like alcohol too much, she never recalled anything about drinking in her past (not that she had any sort of past to remember). And gambling was a gateway to owing more money than you could manage to scrounge up, so nuts to that.

No, she was here to visit one of the clubs, she liked the company of other women, and she was looking to see if she could line up someone to get a job at one of these clubs or cabarets. It might lead to meeting more people, it might lead to jogging her memory.

As she meandered her way through the swathes of people, her body twisted to the left or contorted to the right to avoid bumping shoulders with anyone. She had learned a valuable lesson about keeping an eye on the look of people, and to avoid bumping into them. She had enough with Yakuza in this city already.

As the pink-haired amnesiac found her way to one of the clubs, aptly named The Grand, she cleared her throat, before slapping her cheeks, psyching herself up!

"Okay, let's see what this is all about!" She declared before seeing herself inside, pulling her hood down.

She wasn't the most well dressed, but she didn't have much wardrobe, she did have plenty of money to throw here though, and money talks.

The workers here wore plenty of fancy yukata, and all had a different look about them, catering to the various clientele that came in. Lorelei found herself turning a bright red just at the thought of sitting down in one of these booths for five minutes!

The sounds of swishing mugs of various liquor and the footsteps of patrons wondering around the stage struck a nerve of fear within her. The beauty appeared to seem calm to the wondering eye, but inside her was a storm of anxiety and nerves. It had been a long time since she had performed for anyone, five long years trapped in a sort of stasis, frozen in time and hidden from her friends as life flew past her. She sighed as she stood up from her desk backstage, ready to perform, hoping to make some money to survive.

The beauty was a sight to behold as the spotlight lacrima shined upon her. The stage light up up and illuminated her frame. Men hoot and hollered as they noticed the exquisite woman walking towards the mic. Her small stature only dwarfed by her voluptuous curves and ample breasts, only covered by a tight black leotard and fishnets. She looked like something out of a fantasy novel. her long rose tinted hair flowing to the ground below her. Her eyes shimmered with the radiance of rubies as she scanned the room, trying to make a connection with every last patron there. She gripped the mic with such an intensity almost like it was her partner in a sultry waltz. She tapped her nails against the mic softly, causing the men to quiet down, as the music started to play.

"My heart, shatter like the wings of an angel, washing my sins clean from my heart so painful. Please, free me from these chains abound, I need a hero to free my frown." Her siren like voice sung as she closed her eyes and twirled slightly on the stage sending her hair flying in a wave of pink. It was clear she was used to performing but the more she sung, the more her confidence boosted. Her skin glistened as the lights grazed it, almost like the light was hers to command. The song continued for what seemed like an eternity of paradise, and by the end of it, it was clear that the patrons adored her. Loud cheers and claps exploded throughout the club and patrons asking the staff what it would cost to get her to their table.

The girl opened her eyes as she finished and smiled weakly at the crowd before doing something unexpected and back-flipped off the stage, landing gracefully and heading to the bar, taking a seat on one of the stools. "Hey Mitch, may I have a drink please." She said to the bartender.

"Anything for you songbird." He replied as he sent her a flask of some sweet smelling liquor. The girl did her best to smile and not dwell on the term, songbird, a bird caged only to perform. She sighed as took a sip of her drink.

Well, live entertainment was always something she liked to see, especially when it was such a pretty thing like the woman up on stage. At least, she thought she liked it, she didn't remember a thing about liking anything like that, she couldn't remember anything at all. This woman up on stage could be her best friend, or her blood relative, and she didn't recognize them at all!

As the song came to an end and she got off stage, she headed over for the bar, something that was for standing customers waiting to be seated at one of the booths.

With the Songbird being given her drink, she was pretty much off the clock, Lorelei still had no hostess at her booth to keep her company, so she just picked up the menu to peruse the various drinks she could order or dishes of food to snack upon. For such a place like this, she felt she was slightly snubbed for her money's worth, these cabarets were about putting a hostess with a customer and keeping them company!

Then again, there was a yakuza-ish party up on the second floor hogging a few of the girls, she couldn't help but shudder at the thought that they were related to the guys that had been harassing her since she came to Hosenka City.

"Excuse me, Songbird, you just singing tonight or you looking to sit and chat with people?" Asked the bartender, making a little sly point over to the table where Lorelei sat by her lonesome. "People think she's a hostess, a foreigner, or just here to take a look around. I've been in the business long enough to tell when a customer's in. You wanna go keep her company while we try to find one of the hostesses to sit with her?"

Raina sighed at the comments from the bartender. He knew she only sings at the club, she was not one of these girls quick to fawn and flirt over anyone with a little jewel. She tucked her hair out of her face and glared at the bartender. "You know damn well I do not do that. Where are the girls at? Leila, Sidney, or even Alisa, surely they have the patience and drive to sit with some girl and flirt. I am not in the mood." She said as she glared at the bartender.

"Look, just do me a favor okay? We are too busy and are short handed, plus you know most of our customers would pay millions to spend time with you. So suck it up." Mitch said almost bossy. Raina stood up and slammed her fist into the wood bar top, splintering and breaking pieces off as her hand sparkled with a radiating rainbow light.

"This is the only time I do this, you hear me?" She said as she walked towards the table where the girl sat alone. Her hips swayed as she moved towards the table and her hair waved and danced along side her as she moved. She sighed as she spoke to the girl, "Would you like some company? You seem to be alone, do not worry I am not cruising for a tip or anything." She chuckled as she sat down.

As the beautiful woman strode over, Lorelei felt her heart do a little skip. And she visibly gulped. She was quite taken aback by the sexiness of this woman who came right up to her and asked if she would want some company? "I uh, I am, I have the thing and the. Seat, here. I, yes!" She said while petting the booth seat.

If Raina sat down, Lorelei would look away at first, before clearing her throat, trying to maintain a sense of calm, relatively speaking at least. "My name's Lorelei, Lorelei Laguna Lakefield, what's yours?"

She did have a cuteness to her, and she didn't seem like she was here just for eye candy, what was the story of this girl?

"I'm pleased to meet you, unless we already met before. Sorry, I've been having some problems lately, ever since I had a little tumble down the side of a mountain." She commented offhand to the woman.

"Tell me a bit about you, please. I'd love to hear what it's like working here, for some reason the service industry really calls to me." Of course, the girl had no recollection of being a personal maid to one a roaming noblewoman.

Raina almost sighed as she heard the girl speak, she was pretty cute in her stammering and shyness. Raina felt almost bad, that this girl would come to a place like this and would be taken advantage of by this place. The women and men strutting the the tables of the lonely, just made Raina's blood boil. She hated it.

The girl continued to speak, asking Raina a bunch of questions before she even had a chance to answer. "I am sorry, how rude of me not to introduce myself." Raina said as the girl finally took a breathe. "I am Raina, Raina Lynna Vanille Scylar, and I am pretty sure we have not met. As for what it is like here, honestly this place is not for someone so sweet and innocent. Trust me. I sing, that is my place, so my life is simple, but for the others who handle the customers, it is an ugly life. "

Raina shifted in the chair a little crossing her legs as she took a sip of her drink. She may have to sit here but she refused to play the manager's game. She will not be forced to hold a customer's hand or be a bit of pleasant company. She could feel the eyes of the manager glare at her and she smiled slightly. Nothing made her happier then pissing that man off. She turned her head slightly so the man could see her face and winked wickedly at him and she heard was a crash as it appeared he crushed his drink.

She kept glancing away from the woman, Lorelei fancied ladies, but always had a bit of a trouble with them, or, at least she forgot her own suave nature from her tumble down a mountain. C'est la vie, non? Alas, she would have to get that strength back again someday.

"Oh, I'm...sorry to hear that. I'm trying to remember bits of myself, and I'm checking out everything once to see if it jogs my memory a bit." SHe said while casting her gaze down at the floor, twiddling her thumbs. "I don't think there's anyone or anything here that remembers me or could help me remember." She sighed, rubbing her wrists as if washing her hands, but it was just a nervous habit.

"OH! I'm sorry, I kind of brought the mood down. Do you want anything to eat? I could order off the menu? Though, normally the cabaret girls do that. But you aren't one of them. You're the really pretty singer. and I'm talking too fast aren't I? I'll just, I'll just, yeah. Um, yeah!" Coughing again, she brought a hand up to cover her mouth.

Of course while all of this was happening the party upstairs was getting rowdy, there was plenty of noise and arguing that anyone could hear. It wasn't anyone's problem though. It was just a regular party which was taking all of the best bottles of booze in the house, it was just drunks having fun!

That was, until one of them was thrown from the balcony to one of the tables below, not far enough to kill the man, but enough to leave some lasting pain. At the balcony was a man dressed in a kimono and with the look of arrogance about him, on his lapel was a special pin, indicating his allegiance to something or other.

"That can't be good." She commented while remaining in her seat.

Raina smiled as the girl stumbled to hold a conversation. It was clear that she was having an affect on the girl. not that this was the first time. Lorelei went on about how she was trying to jog her memories and even seemed flushed when trying to play off the somber mood that the conversation brought. "There is nothing to apologize for, I promise. I have had my fair share of past trauma and issues, I would not be here if I haven't. I would still be there.." She said as she seemed to space out glancing at her left hand, almost looking for something missing.

As the spoke a ruckus seemed to break out on the higher floor and a man was launched over a balcony landing through a table sending it to pieces. Raina stood up quickly knocking over a chair as she moved. She noticed the man in the kimono from the balcony look down and she was filled with righteous fury. She never used to be one itching for a fight, and truly she still hated it, but this man was in her place of employment hurting others. Her hands and feet started to illuminate with sparkles of different colors forming a beautiful rainbow cloud as two angelic wings formed around her ankles. "Take Flight my Heart! Gratia!" She chanted before pushing herself off the floor and jumping into the air towards the balcony.

While in the air she swung her leg out in a swift kick knocking the kimono man backwards. before landing gracefully on the second floor. She flipped her hair behind her as she readied her stance for a fight. She has no idea who this man was, but she really did not like the arrogance of the smirk he gave earlier. "Coming into this business and starting a fight really was not a smart idea. I do not care who you are, or what that man did to start this, but leave now or your opponent will be me, and believe me, I can be as mean as I am pretty." She said with a slight confident smile.

Lorelei was too enamored with the words that Raina spoke and the look of beauty upon her face to really take note of what was going on with that hand. She really was a hopeless girl with the puppy-dog syndrome like a high schooler trying to stumble through looking cool and winding up a bigger dork for the effort.

Though the monotony of the gathering was brought to an abrupt halt by someone being tossed from the balcony on the second floor, the entire floor which had been bought out by some sort of 'benefactor'. That didn't seem to stop Raina who went up to give a piece of her mind to the people up there.

Who was up there was a brought man, with dark tanned skin fit for a Joyan, and yellow blonde hair, sideburns coming down to his jawline. "Oh? Yeah, I'm sorry about that, my boys can get a little rough when they think I'm in a piss poor mood. Even to one of our own. Shinji down there's new with us, we're just calling it a little hazing. Now, you gonna sit down and enjoy us? Or reimburse us for this little upset you gave the girls we got up here?"

There were easily a dozen men here, all of them rather menacing looking, and they were part of some local crime outfit. Their leader didn't seem intimidated one bit, in fact, he slowly stood up, an aura of darkness coming off of him, leaving the four hostesses sitting around him to back up as he exuded a magic aura.

Meanwhile one of his cronies started to ready something with a special set of rings and a bracelet, water magic!

Lorelei's nostrils flared up as she sniffed the air. Quickly getting to her feet she jumped from the booth and made a quick bee-line for the stairs, shoving the attendant out of the way. Her eyes narrow, pupils like slits now.

Just as she hit the cusp to the second floor, the water attack was unleashed for Raina, a spear made from rushing green water! "Leave Aniki alone!" Shouted the man.

Lorelei made a quick dash for it, ready to intercept the attack, and when it looked like she was hit, taking some sort of a blow for Raina, she skidded to a halt on the floor, pushing up to her hands and knees. That watery spear was clutched in between her teeth, her very sharp looking teeth.

As she slowly stood up to her feet, she dug her teeth into it and tore it apart like warm taffy, she was clearly not a normal person. After all, she just ate magic.

This was not her first experience with someone attacking her. It was something she was used to. It also was not her first time witnessing a wizard eating someone's elemental magic. She smiled as the girl, once timid and nervous, almost ready to jump out of her skin if Raina made as much as a quick move, jumped in to assist her. "Seem's like I have a dance partner now, doesn't it boys?" Raina said as she prepared herself for battle. Before she let the men even make another move or step, she lunged forward towards the nearest man and sucker punched him, hitting him straight in the jaw and knocking him to the ground.

She flipped her hair backwards sending it flowing behind her like a wave of rose petals. "Care to join me in this dance, lil Lorelai?" She said with a small hint of teasing in her voice, almost like she did not have a care in the world, not even worried that she was mid battle. Like she obviously did not care about herself anymore.

She did her best to push thoughts of her past straight out of her mind as the battle progressed.

"Like I said lady, I'm sorry my boys had to do that to Shinji down there. And they can be pretty damn rowdy, but come on, calm down. I don't want to have to hurt either of you." He said while that aura started to form into what looked like a dark warped version of a man that hovered behind him. As he folded his arms, this dark man effigy readied to fight.

Meanwhile Lorelei was faced with trying to defend the woman who caught her eye from the various goons who were readying their own little specialized weapons and more magic.

"Sorry, but, I think we should be seeing ourselves out of here. They're actually kind of equipped to the teeth." She said while glancing to and fro from the men who were all trying to make a step forward. Lorelei just rolled over and put her back on one of the nearby tables.

Spinning around in a little break dance fashion, she cast out water, nothing that was damaging or anything that was really a high end spell! But it was enough for a distraction. Lorelei would scramble to her feet, looking to grab a hold of Raina's arm and tug her toward the balcony Shinji had been thrown from.

If she let Lorelei, she'd hoist the woman into her arms bridal style and make a little jump down to the floor below. Either way, they needed to get out of here, they were dealing with serious yakuza, she had been harassed by them enough. Now she was dealing with higher ranked ones. She was already hating this!!!

Raina had always hated retreating. If there was a battle she was part in, she was determined to win. After she came out of stasis that determination became even more reckless. Her life clearly had no value to whoever cast her in that spell, which seemed to make her value herself the same as well. Except Lorelei did not seem to think that about her. Lorelei grabbed her wrist and pulled her into her arms, picking her up and leaping from the balcony. "What the hell are you doing!" She said as she fell from the balcony, carried bridal style in Lorelei's arms.

She hated this. Hated her whole life and the situations she keeps finding herself in. She pushes herself out of Lorelei's arms and falls to the ground, hitting the floor hard and rolling forward. She picked herself up and dashed out the door, not paying attention to whether the girl followed her or not. She ran through the street as tears swelled in her eyes. She blamed her magic for where her life has ended up. If she never acquired this power, she never would of joined that guild. She never would of ended up taken for over 5 years, frozen in time. "Damnit." She said out loud before ducking into a nearby alley.

"Getting us out of here!" She gave a rebuttal to Raina as she made the jump, only yo be pushed away after landing, Raina fled the scene, with Lorelei witness to the blast of black and green speckled darkness that followed after they leaped down from the balcony above. Yeah that would have been pretty bad to get hit by.

As Raina made a run for it, so did Lorelei, bolting out for the door. SHe was cut off by a couple of grunts that wanted to keep her and introduce her properly to their boss. She just charged them and reared back, delivering one haymaker to the jaw of one, toppling him over as she got herself up into a flip, and dodged right past the second one!

As she made it outside she quickly sniffed the air a couple of times. Making her way toward something in particular she smelled, she found herself at the entrance of the alleyway that Raina was in. Lorelei had a look of concern on her face.

She maintained her distance, not wanting to cause the woman any more grief or disturb her. "Hey, are you....no bad thing to ask. I'm just...I wanted to say that...Ugh why is this so hard?"

Sitting herself down on the floor, she folded her hands over her knees, twiddling her thumbs together while she tried to think of what to say, "Sorry for grabbing you like that, but he blasted a hole clean through the wall of the place. Whoever that guy is he's got firepower. I sensed danger and...I just reacted?"

Raina sighed as the girl caught up to her and fumbled at talking to her. It was almost endearing. She leaned against the wall of the building behind and pressed one foot against the wall as she leaned in an almost seductive pose, like the girl couldn't help herself with how she looked. The strands of her striking pink hair fell in front of her face as she looked towards the ground. "Don't.... do not worry about it. I overreacted. No.. I am not okay. I have not been for a while." She said as her fists clenched.

"I guess... it is obvious I am a wizard, or whatever you call someone who was abandoned by their guild, left in the clutches of some unknown evil, frozen in time for five years. I don't know what I am anymore, but it is like my life has no meaning, or is still frozen in that place. I should not of got you involved in my trauma. Forgive me." She continued as she looked at the girl on the ground, tears swelling in her eyes. "Thank you for getting me out of there, as much as I seem eager to fight, I really was no match for them."

"I, yeah, you...we weren't a match for that guy, let alone all of them. They've been giving me grief since I got her. I think it's my eyes or magic, but I don't remember doing anything to them before coming to this city. Though I don't remember anything at all." She mumbled that last part, looking off to the side while tugging on her collar.

The way the woman before her posed, she was trying not to stare and just ogle the goods. But it was hard to resist when it was put out like that. Nevertheless, Lorelei had to remain the gentleman here, for lack of a better term.

"L-lorelei! My name. It's Lorelei by the way. Lorelei Laguna Lakefield. Some people call me Trip-L, like Triple L? I'm talking way too much again, aren't I?" She chuckled a bit, clearing her throat for a moment to catch herself.

Meanwhile on the streets, the voices of the angry men could be heard, rushing back and forth to try and find them. Lore would take a moment to dip her way under that little road block of a leg and motion toward the other end of the alleyway, "Let's move and talk a bit? That way they won't find us sitting here."

It was up to Raina if she wanted to follow along with the girl or not at this point.

if she did, Lorelei would continue to talk, "So as far as I know, they are some big organized crime family, and they're much more open about it now, with whatever the rune knights are being gone, right? They like to collect protection money from businesses and stuff?"

"So when I first came to this town, the first town I came to since I woke up that is, I stumbled across some, they wanted money from me, I may have shown off my dragon slayer magic a bit and trounced them publicly...And now I'm essentially an open hunting target for them. I'm so sorry I dragged you into this."

[exit]