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It was once again a stormy dusk in Dancity, making many stay inside their homes and cozy up but some braved the storm to go to Scarlet’s Palace. It’s inside a very welcomed shelter for coaches as they happily watched performances and had drinks to warm themselves up. In fact they were being extra warmed up by Luke Cypher. He finished his performance with a final blast of harmless flames making the crowd cheer and go wild as he gave a final wink, vanishing in an inferno taking him backstage. He dusted off some ash when he felt a strange yet familiar sinking feeling. His brows furrowed but he shook the feeling off.
“Not till tomorrow,” He mumbled to himself as he went towards the dressing rooms. Just outside them was the owner Scarlet Gold in all their red and gold glory conversing with Fuchsia Blue.
“....my neighbor Lysander headed out this morning the minute he heard about the storms hitting us. Last I heard he was able to get a good spot with Mihaly and their girlfriend over in Crystal’s forests.” Scarlet said as Fuchsia did a final spray of hairspray before her performance.
“Wait Mihaly got a girlfriend-“ the pink haired coach started before Luke came up to them.
“Where are they going?” He acquired making the two coaches take notice of him.
“Oh you didn’t know? Tonight’s the blood moon! Lysander and Mihaly love to practice their flow during it. It’s also why Johnny isn’t here, poor thing’s zombieness gets so bad.” Fuchsia sighed sadly before waving to the two as she went to perform. Not that Luke noticed. His face had gone blank with his eyes big with panic. That sinking feeling came back but now brought with it a dose of pain that made his legs shake and his breathing to quicken.
“N-No, that’s tomorrow. Right?” He looked over at Scarlett who gave him a confused and slightly concerned look.
“No, it’s tonight. More importantly, are you okay sweetie? You don’t look so good.” They went to feel Luke’s forehead but he dodged their arm.
“Oh yeah! I mean,” The demideity chuckled nervously, going around Scarlett and holding his gloved wrist tightly, “Gotta go! I promised Ann I’d call her after my performance and don’t wanna keep her waiting. Bye!.” He then ran off leaving the club’s owner to stand in the hallway alone until being called away by a customer. Though they gave another look at where Luke was, a seed of worry started to take root in their stomach from his reaction to Fuchsia’s words.
Luke stumbled down the hall trying to ignore the growing pain in his spine, cursing under his breath as he finally got to his room. He went inside and slammed the door closed, leaning against the door to catch his breath till the pain got so bad the coach cried out in pain and took off his vest in a flash. Luke somehow made his way to his vanity, using it to help him remain standing as a cacophony of pops and cracks filled the air soon to be joined by the coach's screams.
I really got to setting a reminder for these things.
*******
Scarlet practically ran backstage sliding to a stop (which was quite the feat due to them being in heeled boots) in front of Luke’s door. Thank Selios that the customer just needed help finding something on the menu, now the club owner was finally able to reach out to the horned coach.
“Luke sweetie? Is everything okay? You got really tense when Fuchsia mentioned the blood moon.” They knocked gently on the door only to be met by loud clattering, swishing, and some mix of curses and growling. Scarlet stepped back before their drag mom instinct kicked in, making them kick down the door in a panic.
“LUKE ARE YOU- WHAT IN BELACUS’ BLUE BELUGAS??” Scarlet froze as they were able to see the dressing room for the first time that night and the door swung shut behind them from the force of the kick.
The dressing rooms for each performer were quite a bit larger than one would think, due to Scarlet worrying and wanting her drag kids to have somewhere to stay as a home away from home. Resulting in a small bed in the far left corner of the room complete with a nightstand and a vanity about four feet from it. From light casted from warm colored string lights at the top of the walls scorch and claw marks could be made out on the dark wooden floor with bottles laying on it haven been thrown off their spots on the vanity’s shelf.
The most mind boggling thing in the room though was Luke Cypher himself, well he didn’t look exactly like himself.
Luke’s vest and glove were thrown carelessly on the floor as the coach was standing at the also scratched/scorched vanity. A long pointed tail swished wildly around his legs like an angry cat’s and large bat-like wings had sprouted from his back. His veins glowed as if they were magma peeking through the cracks in volcanic rock with the area around his eyes burned to a pitch black making his eyes (now looking like real fire was trapped behind them) truly stand out as his gaze bore into Scarlet’s soul.
“Luke?” Scarlet took a step closer to the demideity only for him to flitch away.
“NO!” Luke froze and covered his mouth, his voice now a deep echo of what it was. He slid down sitting on the floor and covering his body with his wings, his tail curling up around his ankle.
“I-I’m sorry…” He turned his head so he wouldn’t have to see Scarlet’s shocked expression.
The club owner slowly kneeled down in front of him, now seeing the near transparent smoke coming from Luke’s mouth as he breathed out.
“Sweetie what happened?” They scooted over next to Luke as he finally got the courage to look them in the eyes, “Is this because of the blood moon?”
Luke took a deep breath obviously trying to not cry, “Y-Yes…It’s from my demon side.”
Scarlet tilted their head, silently asking him to continue.
“It usually isn’t this crazy for normal demons, maybe they just get a tail or horns. But for me….my deity side makes it ten times horrendous,” He glared at his tail and growled under his breath, “The first time it happened it was in front of Wanderlust and other nymphs, they were all so horrified and one even tried to shove me into a lake.” Luke squeezed his shoulder remembering the fury and horror from that night, and the fear of being shoved into something that could kill him in less than an hour.
Scarlet’s face fell and they looked at the demideity with much empathy. Deciding to take a risk they reached out and patted his hand. It was like holding a hot plate fresh out of the microwave but they held on to try and calm him down.
Luke’s wings uncurled his wings with one laying against the back of Scarlet with the club owner continuing to rub his hand.
“Why didn’t you tell me before? I mean I’ve stared down coaches who are ten times worse than you, like Anton and Freddy on a Monday without coffee.” They couldn’t help but snort at their joke as Luke chuckled slightly at the sight of the traveler and the showman acting like grumpy teenagers before his face fell again.
“Mostly because aside from Wanderlust everyone who saw me like this treated me like some wild beast. Even my mother is disgusted by this.” When Luke wasn’t looking, Scarlet's eye twitched with their mama bear gene being triggered by that last sentence. But they put their anger aside to hug Luke, causing him to flinch then relax at their touch.
“Luke, I could never be disgusted by the amazing coach I see.” They said softly alerting Luke and making his tail perk up.
“Amazing?? I’m not amazing like this! I’m just a scary ugly demon!” Luke put his hand on the floor producing another scorch mark and more smoke to flow from his mouth.
“Nope,” Scarlet crossed their legs to be more comfortable as they continued, “You are who you always were. The hot, sassy, and expressive Luke Cypher! Now with just some wings and a tail.” The coach booped Luke’s tail as he took that in.
“I could never see you any less just because of-are you okay?” Scarlet couldn’t stop the concern from coming back as magma-like liquid started to flow from Luke’s eyes.
The demideity tried to wipe his magma tears but more just fell. He opened his mouth to say something but all that came out was a small sob and soon more came as he curled up again. Scarlett wrapped their arms around him again, taking care to avoid his tears. (They may not care about Luke looking more demotic but they would like to avoid getting magma on their normal coach skin)
“Thank you….thank you so much.” Luke mumbled.
“Anytime Luke,” Scarlet’s phone started to buzz ruining the mood so the nightclub owner had to answer it.
“K I gotta go help Fuchsia clean up but once I’m done would you like to watch something together?” Scarlet stood looking sad at having to leave Luke, but the demideity just gave a small smile.
“Maybe we could catch up on the great witch bake off?” He suggested resulting with Scarlet sharing his smile.
“Of course sweetie, be right back!” Scarlet closed the door behind them leaving Luke to stand up and start picking up all the bottles and doodads his tail had knocked off his vanity. After straightening things up he caught his reflection in the mirror, his wings flapping occasionally and his eyes shining so they could be seen even when lightning flashed outside.
Maybe Scarlet was right about him not being disgusting.
……maybe?