A Gothic Seduction

Arabella had come to the city not long after her mother's funeral. Her death from the cancer that had consumed her, had given both mother and daughter a merciful release from the misery that had plagued both their lives. The move to the city had been a decision on her part to get away from the sadness and pitying glances that she received from neighbours and friends around her. She had needed desperately to get away from all that emotional baggage. So, very much on a whim, she had packed a bag and caught a bus and had ended up in high summer in a hot and sticky city by the sea.

After a week of furious job seeking, she had successfully interviewed for a job as a shop assistant at a big CD emporium. The pay was okay and for the first month all she really was required to do was to stack CD's on the various racks.

Back where she came from, the notion of sub-culture was unheard of. But her new job, as a shelf packer at had begun to expose her to customers from all walks of life. She had come across this strange looking girl with long purple extensions in the alternative music aisle, slipping club flyers in between the CD's. The flyers had a picture of a green fairy on it and her interest was immediately peaked, she liked fairies. But she was puzzled by the references to Goth, Industrial and EBM, so she had approached the girl. Coolly the black-clad had appraised this slight brunette, looking somewhat awkward in blue jeans, white sneakers and a turquoize "CD-Shrine" T-shirt.

"Wow" the Gothette had exclaimed, "What planet did you just fly in from?". She seemed amazed that anyone should not know this terminology, and having introduced herself as Dagmar, she volunteered to tell Arabella more at a nearby coffee shop during her break.

When she arrived at the Java Junction, Dagmar was seated at a table waiting for her. She was wearing a high- wasted biker jacket, with a black baby doll T-shirt that said "Darkchilde" and a cute purpley Tartan skirt over fishnet stockings that put her long legs to good use. A pair of black combat ankle boots completed the ensemble. Arabella, in the store T-shirt, felt very underdressed.

"I ordered you a cappuccino, coz every working girl needs her caffeine fix"

"Thanks" said Arabella, sitting down, "what do I owe you?"

"Nothing," Dagmar smiled her teeth scarily white, between blackened lips "I owed you for not reporting me to your store manager"

"Yeah, well he's an arsehole anyway."

"Amen to that sister."

Dagmar took a sip on her coffee and leaned forward, a tiny bit of foam resting on her upper lip," So what can I tell you?"

"Gee I don't know, um I've seen the Gothic music section, but I really haven't had a chance to listen to any of it, its not requested very often"

"Well there's quite a lot to it, there are different genres of music within the scene. "Some like Darkwave are slow and hauntingly beautiful, whilst others like EBM