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La beauté nue had a number of strippers. Their looks had to be approved by Monsieur Thénardier and their dancing/seducing ability had to be approved by Madame Thénardier. The two aforementioned adults ran the strip club. They got as much profit as they could.
They took 45% of the dancers income that they earned in performances.
Anyone was allowed in and there was something for everyone. They had theme nights. People loved the theme nights.
They pimped out the willing dancers on the side.
They charged a $20 entry fee.
The alcohol was ridiculously priced.
The place was barely ever cleaned.
They believed in reusing costumes as much a physically possible.
The last and most profitable trick was to hire people who had an addiction.
Addictions
You could be addicted to drugs like Vanessa, John, or Andrew. Drug addicts who lived for their next fix and didn’t have any sense to be ashamed of what they were doing.
You could be addicted to Alcohol like Grantaire. A man who had given up on life a long time ago. A man who had lost everything including his dignity.
You could be addicted to a person like Jehan. Who was so desperate to please his abusive boyfriend that he became a stripper.
You could be addicted to attention like David, Olivia, and Sebastian. Individuals with self esteem so low they thought stripping was the way to get the recognition they so desperately craved.
You could be addicted to family like Alyssa and Cosette. Two people who supported their families by slumming it up as a stripper. Or like Éponine who fell into the family business to appease her parents.
There were many different kinds of addictions. No one knew that better than Madame Thénardier. She’s seen them all first hand. She remembers every stripper’s first time.
Éponine.
Her beautiful daughter. It had been expected that Éponine would become a stripper and then, eventually run the business just as her mother had. The same was going to be expected of Azelma. As for the men in her family. They were free to do whatever they wished. Most of them would probably end up in prison. Just like their father’s family. Éponine was a natural at stripping. She started at the age of eighteen. She quickly became one of their best dancers. She became the most popular with the customers. She received many offers for paid sex. Madame Thénardier turned down every one. She chose the strip name Champagne because it sounded classy. Even as a stripper Éponine still managed to act classy. She could have been more. Everyone said it. She was intelligent. She was business savvy. She was gorgeous. She was trapped in this life because of her parents. Madame Thénardier could see the resentment in her daughters eyes every day.
Grantaire
The moment that boy stepped through the door Madame Thénardier could tell he was broken. He reeked of alcohol, had a split lip, and his blue eyes radiated a painful past. She later found out that his seven year old brother had been killed three years ago. He was taken from some street corner where he was waiting for Grantaire to come pick him up. When they found the body, two weeks later in a dumpster, the boy had been raped and his body mutilated. The father left, the mother blamed Grantaire, and Grantaire blamed himself. Grantaire turned to the drink for compassion. Éponine brought him in one morning saying he needed a job. The boy was 19 years old, attractive, desperate, and with the right amount of training he could move nicely. He had striking blue eyes that later came to give him his strip name: Blue. Madame Thénardier accepted him on sight. His first night he stripped was successful, the ladies and gay men loved him.
Jean Prouvaire
Jean Prouvaire, who preferred to be called Jehan walked into the club with a black eye and a split lip. He was attractive in an exoctic way. He was 20 years of age. His long red locks made his strip name easy enough to decide: Ginger. The redhead dance like a ballerina. Hardly stripper material, but it held a certain appeal. It was his sad green eyes that got him the job. Madame Thénardier recognize that haunted look. It was a look she herself wore for the first couple of years of her marriage. The boy was being abused. The suspicion was proved to be true. Montparnasse, a hulk of a man, came to the club quite often. He leered at the dancers and complained about the price of alcohol. The first time he hit Jehan while in the club. Madame Thénardier got Bahorel, an equally large man, to beat him to a pulp. The little shit never came to the club again. Jehan’s first night as Ginger was almost disastrous. He was so nervous that he forgot half of the steps, it was Grantaire that saved him. The two did an impromptu dance that turned out quite well. Monsieur Thénardier grumbled about the mess up but Madame Thénardier was secretly proud of her little Ginger.
Alyssa
Alyssa was a simple girl. She got along well with the other dancers and was Éponine’s best friend since high school. She was another one of Ponine’s strays. She had needed a job to support her two younger siblings and couldn’t work during the day because she had to care for them. Her mother had killed herself when Alyssa was thirteen and her younger siblings just four. The father was gone all of the time and did nothing to support or acknowledge his children. She was a pretty young thing with dark blue eyes, light brown hair, and a pale complexion. She reminded Madame Thénardier of a broken porcelain doll, hence her strip name: Porcelain. Her first night went without a hitch. Éponine had insisting on training the girl herself. Éponine’s smiled more with Alyssa around. So that made her good in Madame Thénardier’s book.
Cosette
Fantine was a stripper back when Madame Thénardier was one. The two got along rather well and when she heard about the attack on Fantine she was shocked. However, she wasn’t shocked when Fantine’s baby faced daughter walked in the club looking for a job. The girl was seventeen, turning eighteen in a month. The medical bills were stacking up and she needed money. She begged for a job, tears falling freely. Cosette was the opposite of Éponine appearance wise and personality wise. She had long straight blonde hair, large cartoon blue-greyish eyes, and a timid nature. Madame Thénardier thought about refusing her. The girl practically screamed jail bait. But she was desperate and broken, so she gave her a chance.
Madame Thénardier had a knack for ripping people off, running a shifty business, and scamming. She also had a soft spot for broken things.