She pressed her chin to her chest to protect her head from the impact just before she hit the padded floor hard. The training room wasn't very big, it was in the basement of Rogers night club. Bruno and his security team trained here, and now she got training too. As in most sports places the smell of cold sweat hung in the air, but the mats which covered the floor had their very own variation of sweaty feet.

  Dancing with Stan on stage had been a mistake. Not a mistake, like actually a wrong thing to do, they had been a great show and Roger had appreciated it. But now Roger was worried the next guy she chose to dance with wouldn't be so nice and she had to learn self defense. Self defense without claws and teeth, in particular.

  Now though, she was just so done and simply stayed where Bruno had slammed her down.

  Then she felt a digitgrade foot on her stomach and Bruno put some weight on it.

  "Playing dead won't help you, night cat. They'll just turn you into a life sex show on stage until security arrives", he let her know.

  She hissed and grabbed Bruno's lower leg, twisted herself and tried to lever him off balance. He actually broke into a knee.

  "Good move night cat. So you can do it. Alright, get up and we try it again", he growled.

  She hissed a little and got up, face to face with the mountain of a wolf who was called Bruno and today her personal trainer.

  "Remember night cat. You have to put everything into the move. There are people in the audience with augmented bodies like mine, and if they get funny thoughts with you on stage, you must be able to keep them off you till security arrives. And if here is a problem elsewhere that can be a while", he impressed on her.

  She stood up and nodded, "I get it."

  Then she had his hand at her throat again, "Grab my wrist with both hands. Twist. Put your weight against my elbow. Don't hold back. They won't hold back either."

  She grabbed, tried to twist, was lifted and slammed down again.

  "I said put everything into it! These guys want your body. You want to defend yourself before they can do shit to you while everyone watches", he shouted.

  He reached down and offered a hand to help her up.

  She took a breath and nodded while she got up, "And so far everyone was scared of my claws and fangs."

  He shrugged, "Police won't like it if you draw blood. They are alright if you break their arm. That's why we practice this. So, next try. Grab, twist, lever. No hesitation."

  This time she didn't wait a second. The moment he touched her throat she had his wrist with both hands, twisted and tried to put all her weight against his elbow while she pulled his forearm to her chest to increase the strain.

  He grunted and tapped her thigh three times. She let go.

  "Not bad. So, you can do it. Now I'll randomly use my left and right, and you must react accordingly", he instructed her.

  Just a minute later, she hit the ground again with a furious hiss. He had tricked her, made her think he'll use his right, but used his left and she had twisted in the wrong direction and got no leverage.

  "I hate this game!" She shouted, was grabbed by a wrist and pulled up into a standing position again.

  "You'll hate it much more if they touch you and everyone can see what they do. Some might even cheer them on!" He sounded serious.

  "I hate that game too", she hissed again.

  "Next lesson. If someone tries to touch your boobs. You hit their right forearm with you right palm and push it to your left, away from your body. Then hit their left forearm with your left palm and push that one to your right. Next, kick them in the stomach. Or crotch. We'll practice all slowly."

  "You can't be serious", she tried to protest.

  "I'm very serious to touch your boobs each time you fail. Best way to teach you how important it is to learn some self defense. Better it happens here in the training room than up there on stage. But we will start slow", he explained in a frightening calm manner.

  An hour later she sat with Bruno on a bench in the training room, sweaty, battered and torn between hating Bruno or appreciating that he actually tried to teach her some self defense which was more acceptable than biting and scratching. But even that she had gotten better to keep Bruno's paws off her body during their session, she was just done now when she heard him speak up, "We'll do this three times a week till you have the basics down. The boss wants to be sure nothing bad will happen to you on stage."

  Despite her exhaustion she rose her snout to look at him, "Three times a week?"

  He nodded, "Three times a week. Not always self defense, we'll do some cardio as well. A talented dancer like you needs to work on stamina too."

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "And when do I get trained in strip tease?" There was anger in her voice.

  Bruno laughed, "Don't give the boss funny ideas."

  She hissed a sigh. Of course he was right, better not mention something like that, it could backfire way too easily. Hopefully Bruno kept his snout shut. He wasn't the chatty type, so there was some actual hope.

  A little later, freshly showered, fluffy and smelling nice she had returned to her 'night cat' podium on the bar, today wearing her purple outfit. It was strange to see the club brightly lit with the cleaning crew was at work. Such a contrast to how the club looked at night, so mundane in the bright light, just a big, boring hall.

  At first she had not liked the podium at all. Exposed to everyone's looks, still separated from the people. The first point didn't bother her anymore, the second one still did. Each time she wanted to talk to someone she had to sit in a sphinx like position if she wanted to be roughly eye level or she had to speak to them from half a meter above their head, even more if she was standing. She liked neither approach.

  Someone had started to clean the bar top to her left and was now slowly working their way towards her podium. A human woman, average stature, brown hair, dark eyes, well tanned skin.

  She watched her for a while before she looked over the club again. The empty dance floor, the booths and tables and the gallery above for the important patrons, to be separated from the crowd and still able to see everything. But unlike her on her podium, they were hidden from the other peoples sight.

  "Hey, night cat", she heard a woman's gentle voice.

  She shook her head briefly and looked at the woman who had spoken to her, granting a smile "Hello there, the name's Vivian."

  Big letters on her podium told, 'Night Cat' and so everyone approached her like this since she worked here. She didn't like the designation, but it was better than when she had just been called beast.

  "Hey Vivian, why do you sit up there all dressed so early? Show's not up for another three hours?" The woman asked before she returned to wipe and polish the counter top.

  She shrugged, "It just felt right to sit here for a while. Maybe I'm a territorial night cat and this is my turf?" She laughed at the idea, "No really, I have no idea. I just finished training and wanted some time for myself."

  The woman grinned, "I'm not sure if I wanted to sit there if I could be elsewhere, knowing I have to be up there for hours later."

  She smirked, "Don't got a lot of places to go to, really. Well I could probably hide up there in the gallery, but then Bruno or Roger would soon start to wonder where I am and call me up. Here I actually have a chance to have some time for myself. Kinda, hiding in plain sight. If I'm here, they can see me easily and think things are fine."

  "So, why do you do this at all? And what sort of training was that?" The woman asked her.

  She got into her sphinx pose, tail slowly swaying and rested her snout on crossed arms, "Don't got a lot of choices actually. Roger wants me to do this, and so I have to. And training was self defense, if patrons try to do indecent things to me."

  "Hey night cat, it's time to get some photos of you!", Bruno's voice hollered over the club before the woman could respond and she folded her ears down to protect her hearing.

  "I thought you were busy with something!" She shouted back.

  "Yeah, I was, but boss got a new idea. He wants new flyers for the club with you on them." Bruno was approaching and not shouting quite as loudly anymore.

  "Hiding in plain sight didn't really work, did it?" The cleaning woman was speaking up with a grin.

  She shrugged, "They'll find me anywhere if they have to", and shouted back to Bruno, "And you think right after you slammed me into the mats like fifty times is a good moment to take photos?"

  Meanwhile he had made his way over to them, "Bad timing I guess, but boss won't listen. More work for the makeup artist. Just be yourself and look pretty."

  "Be myself and makeup artist in the same sentence, right, that will work", she wrinkled her snout.

  Bruno shrugged, "You won't get stripes or spots dyed or anything. Just to make sure your fur is smooth and shiny, and your hair's looking good. Manicure too and the silver fangs. Has to be the real you on the flyers, well, kinda. How you look on stage."

  She nodded with a sour expression, "Very much 'be myself'."

  He offered a hand to help her down from the podium, "Your 'night cat' self. Now, come. Car's waiting."

  With a little hiss she followed him and he opened the hovercar's door for her to get in and she slid into the seat. One of the models where driver and co-driver sat side by side. Bruno closed the door once she was in the car, walked around and got into the driver seat.

  "Is that your car, Bruno?" She asked.

  He nodded and worked on the autopilot menu, apparently not interested in driving by himself, "Ya, it's mine. Boss is somewhere with his own car, business stuff he said, so I had to get mine. Hope you won't miss the luxury." He laughed at the last comment and confirmed some setting on the navigation panel.

  "First we'll drive to your home, so you can get your best looking outfit, or outfits if you want to try several for the photo shooting. And then we'll drive to the photo studio. So you can relax a little while we drive."

  She smirked, "Very relaxing to be rushed from one job to the next. But you also never seem to get time off?"

  Bruno growled a bit, "Security work never ends. But I need the money. You've got it good as the boss' pet."

  She looked at him, trying to find out if that had been meant as joke, "At least you can say no to a lot of things which I just have to accept."

  He nodded, but suddenly smiled at her, "Almost. Can't say no often if I want to keep the job. But hey, Vivian, I've got an idea."

  Her ears perked up, "So you know my name!"

  He laughed, "Sure do. But in public you're the night cat. Vivian, that's just between the two of us. But the point. You want some time for yourself, I want some time for myself too. And I heard you like to run. I could tell the boss, we go doing sports for an hour or two, and well, we can go jogging in the park, the forest or something. That's close enough, and we'll be out of the treadmill for a while. What do you think?"

  She nodded slowly, "A little escape, almost licit." She had to laugh now too.

  Then she smiled at him, "Sounds good to me. Bruno, have you have ever considered to play fetch?"

  He looked at her, "Play fetch? You mean like with a dog? You want to throw stuff and I shall fetch?"

  She smirked, "Only if you want. I meant, you throw and I fetch. I know it's a dog thing and I'm technically a cat, but it's still fun to run, jump and fetch. Roger's promised me once to play fetch with me, but he never has time."

  He ran a hand over his snout and then grinned at her, "No problem there, if you like that. The park has a large grass field. How about that?"

  She nodded, "We need something bite resistant though."

  He looked at her, a bit incredulous, "You want to bite the thing?"

  She nodded again, "Yes, it's much more satisfying to catch with a bite than with the hands. Learned that when I tried to catch a rugby ball. But it just went ... bang."

  He laughed, "Must have been good fun. Alright, let's do that. I'll tell the boss we do outdoor sports, so we get out of the treadmill for a while and it's not even a lie."

  The car slowed down and Bruno let her know, "Almost there. Already made up your mind what you want to wear for the photos? Boss wants some club scenery in the background if that helps."