Under the Shining Lights

Pink Elephant

*Warning! Mentions of abuse and non-consensual touching*

Aoi Tsuki hated it here.

The stage was far too low and the pole too close to the edge. There was nothing and no one keeping the inebriated yokai from grabbing at him, or trying to climb on the stage. He had to kick faces to keep them back. The atmosphere encouraged the behavior Aoi was fighting against, sluggish scuffles breaking out all over the place. Alcohol flowed like water, and every yokai drank like they were on the verge of dehydration.

The only rule was to never cross Vittoriano.

He was sitting in the 'VIP' section reclined with a cigarette. If a fight got too close, or someone dared to bump into him, the spectres were there in an instant, tugging away the offenders. He was staring forward, watching Aoi dance, tongue slipping out to dance across his lips. Aoi glared at him.

It was far from a good performance, he didn't really feel the urge to give them one, but the crowd loved it anyway, drunkenly swaying against the tune of the music. He was up there for longer than he was used to, his mucles aching and knee groaning in pain. Finally, Vittoriano nodded and the music stopped, the spectres guiding Aoi off the stage. He was led to the changing room he waited in before being dragged to the stage.

"Aoi! Baby!" Vittoriano greeted, walking into the changing room, "Beautiful! Wonderful! I can see why you're considered one of the best!" Aoi huffed, turning to the mirror to fix his eye-liner, "Oh, baby, don't be like that! You're amazing! I mean that!"

"I don't need your compliments," Aoi said curtly, "And that pole's too old, I almost cut my hands,"

"Oh, is that why you're so upset?" Vittoriano purred, grabbing Aoi's shoulder from behind. A shiver ran up his spine and his sickly sweet scent made Aoi nauseous, "I'll tell ya what, I'll get that pole replaced, yeah? And your room is awfully muggy at times, so let's get ya a fan too. Don't want my best stripper to overheat on stage!"

Vittoriano grinned at him in the mirror, his sinister smile holding just as many threats as he had teeth. Even when he was being 'nice' he still made Aoi feel trapped. His fingers dug into Aoi's skin and threatened to leave bruises, every part of his suave facade promising violence in every action.

Drawing from his experience, Aoi pouted and nodded, letting out a silent sigh of relief when Vittoriano grinned and let go, snapping his fingers. The spectres took Aoi back to his cell.

.

Raph had never stepped foot in this part of the city, mostly because he was more concerned about keeping his brothers out of trouble. Donny had called it 'the red light district', a place where you could buy sex. Raph doesn't know why you'd want to buy that, but who was he to judge? 

April and Splinter were with them, having been informed of Leo's kidnapping and the circumstances surrounding it. Surprisingly, Splinter didn't have much to say about his job, nothing more than surprise that 'a job with such security' had something like that happen. Raph didn't know what that meant, but he wasn't really in the mood to ask. 

The atmosphere in the club was nervous and jittery, with the staff murmuring amongst one another. Raph heard a few, who he thought were dancers, wonder how 'Aoi' and 'Aries' out of all of them were captured. It seemed to make them uneasy that those two specifically were taken. 

"Aurora!" A white rabbit rushed by Raph, heading straight to a spider yokai nearby, "What happened? Where is Le-Aoi Tsuki? Aries?"

Aurora bit their lip. They wrapped their fur coat tighter around their body, opening and closing their mouth. The rabbit waited as patiently as he could, but Raph saw the way his foot was tapping the ground.