ic Death To All But Metal

[Supercape]

GM

 

Friday night, 8th August...

 

The Beaudrie Opera House

 

The famous Beaudrie Opera House did not often play Rock Concerts. 

 

But it did tonight. 

 

For one night only, Freedom City Beaudrie Opera House presents:

Valerie Cain!

 

Support Act: Aw3s0m3

 

Aw3s0m3 were not doing well. This was primarily because they were not very good, and their lead singer, Joe "Superstar" Billings had his charisma surgically removed at birth. The band was trying to wrap up its set whilst dodging things the audience were throwing at them. 

 

The crowd was wild for Valerie Cane, and getting impatient. 

 

Valerie Cane's Dressing Room....

 

"Oh my GOD!!!!"

 

Amanda Adams burst into Valeries dressing room and shrieked, half collapsing from excitement. 

 

Somehow, Valerie Cane's number one fan had bought her way into the backstage, and into Valeries dressing room. 

 

She dropped a whole folders worth of photographs, articles, and scholarly works, all pertaining to Valerie, and they scattered like leaves over the floor. 

 

Amanda was a borderline obsessive fan. She had every single thing every produced or made by Valerie or featuring her. Valerie was her heroine. When Amanda was growing up, struggling with her homosexual identity, Valerie's positive role model was her everything. Every night she went to sleep dreaming of a romance with her star. 

 

And, to be fair, she was a good catch. Amanda had very close cut blonde hair, a few piercings, a few tattoos, enough to send out a strong hint about her orientation. She was also rather beautiful and, to be blunt, sexy. 

 

"I am your number one fan! I know everything about you!" she gushed, dropping to her knees and cryinging at Valeries feet...

 

 

 

[Blue Rose]

In that moment, Valerie is in a truly rare state. Alone. Her fashion adviser left from his last-second assessments and alterations an hour ago. Her makeup artist left a few minutes ago. Other than a runner letting her know Aw3s0m3 was tanking and she'd have to go out early, she's had the time to herself, to prepare. As much of a wild child as she tries to appear, she's worked her whole life to come here, and she's learned the hard way; music is about instinct and emotion, sure, but it's still a discipline. Forget that, and you're going to go downhill fast.

So, she warms up with the basics. Deep breathing exercises for lung capacity. Simple practice notes. "Do re mi fa so la ti do..." Down an octave. "Do re mi fa so la ti do..." And down again; this performance is going to test her lower register.

Then, company bursts into her door. and not the authorized kind. "Not that I'm entirely averse to beautiful women throwing themselves at my feet," she jokes to cover up her surprise, "but..."

She looks around. No, there really isn't any need to finish that sentence. Instead, Val joins the girl on her knees and starts gathering up the scattered papers and pictures, easily noting the theme. Some of them even signed; best treat these carefully. After a few quiet moments' work, she returns everything to the folder and passes it back, meeting the girl's adoring stare with a gentle smile. For the moment, she doesn't speak, letting actions do that for her instead as she lifts a hand to wipe a tear from her biggest fan's eye.

"I know you," she realizes. "From my last Freedom City concert. And Boston. And Miami..." She gets to her feet and offers the girl a hand. No... not a girl, this is a woman. "And then San Diego, Tokyo, and Sydney back-to-back? That was impressive."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Oh"

 

"My"

 

"God!"

 

Amanda didn't know whether to faint or jump into Valeries arms and kiss her. Or do both. She ended up standing there in stunned silence, her gathered information on Valerie dropping out of her hands again!

 

"You saw me! you saw me!" she said, enraptured. 

 

At that moment, a big burly fat man with a pony tail and a large suit knocked and entered. He was Gavin Dibbons, stage manager. 

 

"Ms. Vale...Ms. Vale we need you on now! The Support Band have been crucified out there! Its going to be a riot!" he blubted, before seeing Amanda. 

 

"Oh...ah....I see... begging you pardon miss...and er...miss" he said bowing to them both. "I dind't know you had a group...errr...company back here. Sorry to disturb you in ....err...whatever you were doing..." he gulped, averting his eyes to study his clip board furiously (even though there was nothing on it). 

 

"Still, we need you now before they wreck the Opera!"

[Tiffany Korta]

Dancia hadn’t really had a chance in last few months to catch up with any pop culture, apart from what trickled down from her work, even if she could do things at super speeds she just didn’t have the time between her reporting and her hero work.

 

In truth she didn’t know much about Valerie, beyond a quick Google search, but she was here as a favour to Kat on the Entertainment desk who had babysitting problems. She’d been in the crowd for a little while but even dressed down in her casual jeans and tee she felt a bit out of place among Valerie’s hard core fan, so for now she’d retreated to the green room clutching her press pass to ensure she was granted access.

[Blue Rose]

Val's face lights up as her guest drops the folder again, but she has the discipline to not bust out laughing in her face. There's a fine line between good cheer and something that could be perceived as laughing.

"I can't keep Marianne waiting," she informs the blonde. Any self-respecting 'biggest fan' would know the name of her guitar.

She reaches to her vanity and grabs something, placing it in her guest's hand, still held in the warmth of her own. A black silk choker, with a small silver padlock in the front, engraved with an elaborate script 'V.' Something else any self-respecting biggest fan would recognize. She'd always goes out on stage with one of those on, and never says a word while wearing it. It comes on right before she starts singing, and she'll throw it out into the crowd. Catching it is a huge deal among hardcore fans, and most of the time, Val meets with whoever catches the lock.

This young lady has never managed to catch one, or they would have met before now. Maybe it's about time she did. But right now, it's time to put it on, not take it off. She guides the hand with the choker in it to her neck, and places a hand on her biggest fan's hip to pull her a little bit closer. "Would you, please?"

Edited August 12, 2014 by Blue Rose

[Raveled]

"Gimmie a Coke." Rachel Coletta met the bartender's raised eyebrow with a level gaze. "I can ask for milk in a clean glass if you want to try that joke." She didn't feel like explaining that she was on the clock, and that her psychometric powers burned enough calories that even one beer would make her a bad reporter. So instead she would indulge her endless sweet tooth.

She wandered the edges of the crowd as they milled and catcalled the opening act, which had the presence of mind to spell their name with leet speak so it would catch her spellchecker throughout the entire article. Rachel was already working out how to describe them in as few words as possible without mentioning the band's name, and words like 'screeching,' 'banshee,' and 'ear-murder' were going to feature prominently.

She jumped back from a sudden surge in the crowd. She hoped Valerie Cain came on stage soon, or she would be reporting on the riot at the opera house.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Gavin turned purple with embaressment at the two ladies intimacy. 

 

"Groupiess....I'll never get used to the backstage!" he mumbled under his breath. 

 

Amanda was swooning, quite literrally closing her eyes in shock and ecstasy at merely being in the same room as her icon. 

 

*Ahem*

 

Came the loud cough from Gavin. At this point, both of them could feel the chant for Valerie...

 

One swoon and smooch later....

 

"VAL-ER-RIE....VAL-ER-RIE....VAL-ER-RIE..."

 

As she walked on, she caught Aw3s0m3, red faced and humiliated, leaving the stage. Their lead singer was shaking his heads in in his hands. 

 

"It wasn't meant to happen like this! This was gonna be our big break! He told me so!"

 

When Valerie came on stage, with the rest of her band, the crowd went ballistic!

 

And then , Valerie took hold of her famous guitar....

[Blue Rose]

Valerie walks out on stage, in front of the curtain, calm and orderly. She takes Marianne in hand, the familiar heft comforting, and lets the raw emotion of the crowd pour over her and through her, overwhelming in its intensity. This is it. This is what she lives for. She's causing this; her music, her art, her passion is what brings these people together, brings them this joy, and lets her ride this wave of euphoria. And it's only getting started.

She raises her hand high into the air, then brings it down to strike the first chord, opening for a song she's never played before, and will never play again. The opening guitar solo is always improv, riding purely off of her own skills and the rush of the audience's raw emotion, reading and playing to it directly as only she can. It's never been something she's consciously tried to do. She just has to cut loose and let it happen.

And when she cuts loose, she has to move. When she plays, her people never let her stage be flat. There are always steps and boxes and ledges, so she can jump and slide and climb as she plays, bringing more energy than most full bands. It's a good thing she has the stamina of an Olympian athlete, the way she goes at it, because anything less would leave her too exhausted to hold a note between the exertion and the heat of the spotlights.

Conventional wisdom is that a lady doesn't sweat; she glistens. Well, either Valerie is no lady, or that line is a load of crap. She sweats sheets. Once upon a time, her people were trying an endless stream of stronger and stronger antiperspirants for a while, until they realized the fans liked it. Now, it's led into her usual concert setup. White tank top, black bra, camo cargo pants, and combat boots. She can soak through that tank top easily, and by half way through the concert, it is inevitably sheer and clinging tight to her body, giving that extra raw, sexual edge without seeming slutty, forced, or fake. The opening guitar solo is always a good head start.

Next, is another standard in all her concerts. The only song she's ever still for. She'll get a headset mike after this, but for this one piece, she plants herself in front of the microphone stand. She takes out a key, unlocks her choker, casts it into the crowd and begins singing My First Angel, her breakout song, and her all-time greatest hit. It was never meant for the public. It was never meant for anyone, really, having been written for a dead woman. But of every song she's ever written, it's the one she's poured the most of herself into, and when she had one last shot to prove she had what it takes to make it as a star, it's the song that proved she could make the grade. A song of love, lust, and loss, about a woman who was everything to her, if only briefly, yet who she barely knew. And though her name is never mentioned, it is the song of Marianne. The public at large eats up the tragic beauty, but for the LGBT community, it's practically an anthem, because they understand the other half of the song, and why, at the end of the day, it is a song about hope. They understand what it's like to try and spend a life being "normal," only for that one special person to come along and show you a world of romance and intimacy she once thought was reserved for other people.

She stops strumming, taking the mike in hand for that final, climactic high note leading into her a capella closer...

MUHUHUHUHA!

What...?

Suddenly, Valerie sees herself. Weird... but it's not too terribly shocking. She's never had the best control over her powers. Did she sense-hop into the crowd? Riding the crest of the crowd's excitement, it's not unthinkable. Still, the show must go on.

Why aren't my lips moving...? Why can't I lift my hand?!

She keeps up the final notes flawlessly as she tries to let go of whoever's head she hopped into, tries to get settled back into her own body.

[Raveled]

Rachel usually didn’t like this part of the job. Standing in a crowded room, pressed up against folks high on hormones and less-natural mood enhancers. If the band was at all good enough or big enough to give her article a chance of appearing, the venue usually didn’t allow her enough room to escape the push of the crowd, so if she wanted recognition she was usually too focused on her own discomfort to enjoy the music.

That wasn’t the case tonight. Rachel wasn’t sure if it was due to the size or the different atmosphere of the opera house or just down to Valerie Cain’s skill, but the sound swept through her and carried her away. All of Rachel’s failed relationships bubbled to the surface and she found herself crying, mourning all the possibilities that did not happen and even more, mourning all the relationships that were locked away in her forgotten years.

And then the song ended, and the reporter came back to herself. She sniffed and dabbed at her eyes with a kleenex, paying a care not to smudge her makeup. She wasn’t sure what had just happened for those last few moments, but she knew two things; she had to get all of Valerie Cain’s albums, and she had to get the interview of her life.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Raveled

[Supercape]

GM

 

As Wayward passed from her body into the microphone, she had the ethereal sense of something crossing the other way. 

 

At last! Freedom! I live again!!!!

 

Waywards body stop, frozen for an instant. 

 

"Freedom! At last! A woman's body..pfah! Disguisting...but better than nothing...." she said, in an odd voice. It seemed to have a French Accent. 

 

Waywards body dropped Marianne with an electric clang. Her alien words had been amplified out to the whole audience, who stood in total confusion. Was this part of the act? Some rock and roll stunt? it all seemed bizzarre. A few wolf whistles, a few cheers. But mainly just confusion and anticipation. 

 

"...."

 

Waywards body opened her mouth, but nothing came out. 

 

"....Lets Rock to the Clock...?" she mumbled weakly. A line that Aw3s0me used (with complete lack of coolness) in the support act. 

 

Waywards body sort of pumped her fist in the air, and started to sidle out to the side entrance...

[Raveled]

Rachel came down from the temporary high, eyes shining and waiting for the next number. She watched with baited breath as Valerie laughed, dropped her beloved guitar, and walked off the stage! She was shocked, as was the rest of the crowd, but after a moment she recovered herself and made a beeline for the door leading to the backstage. Security made to stop her but she flashed her security badge and walked past, into the barely-controlled chaos beyond. Into a scene that was now coming apart at the seams, it seemed, since the star had just walked off the stage! Rachel swung her head this way and that, searching for Valerie Cain. She wasn't sure what she would do if she found the performer, but she had to at least find out what this was all about!

[Blue Rose]

What the heck was...?

Horrifying realization dawned as her body starts acting, speaking on its own-

Disgusting?! Why you-?

Then, Marianne hits the ground.

No. She. Didn't.

"YOU!" she cries out at the thief. Well-trained as her voice is, she can force considerable power into it, even without lungs. "IF YOU SO MUCH AS SCRATCHED HER, I SWEAR-" And to top it all off, she steals that lame catchphrase, using it even worse than the originals behind her face and just scuttles off. "GET BACK HERE YOU B!*(#!"

Seriously, she gets in her skin, then insults her body, tosses Marianne, and makes a fool of herself on-stage in her body, then just scampers off mid-concert? Inexcusable!

She digs deep, tries to get the adrenaline pumping, to chase after this cheesy wannabe in whatever body she's got, but... nothing. She can't even move.

Logically, there's not a whole lot she can do about it at this point. She has her powers, but she's never had much control over them, and they've never been very strong except the backlash. Still, she does the only thing she knows how to do, reaching out for her own mind, at least trying to get back in her own skin, see through her own eyes, even if she can't force the intruder out.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The crowd seemed to lean back as one, shocked into silence. Suddenly the idea that this was part of the show seamed to evaporate, and left beside a cool fear. 

 

One woman screamed. Then another. It was touch and go...would the dread lead to a stampede, or a riot....?

 

Wayward felt her mind slip back into her body. 

 

There was a jarring shock. It was cold, and hard. Like iron. The spirit in her body had a will like cold hard iron. It was inhuman, a paragon of psychic strength. On any other day, in any other moment, penetrating that will would be daunting at best. But right now, something let her slip in. Perhaps, because her own body was so intimately familiar to her. Perhaps because that spirit inside her was distracted....and then...she could see what her body saw...

 

 

....getting off the stage. Looking left, looking right. Embaressed, shocked faces. Some looking at her, some looking away....

 

Gavin Dibbons doing both...

 

 

"Are...are you alright, ma'am? the crowd...." he looked at the crowd "...they really want you...I don't know what will happen if you leave now...?" he spluttered, clearly afraid...

[Raveled]

There was enough confusion and Rachel's press pass bought her enough leeway that she was basically unimpeded backstage. It wasn't too hard to locate Valerie Cain storming off the stage, being petitioned by -- Gavin Dibbons, stage manager, third tour with Valerie Cain -- one of the numerous back stage people. Here was her story! Rachel put herself directly in Valerie's way, making sure the other woman would have to virtually assault her to get past. "Valerie Cain!" she shouted over the hub-bub, all vim and vigor. "Rachel Coletta, the Daily Word. Mind telling your adoring fans why you're abandoning the concert halfway through."

Edited August 17, 2014 by Raveled

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Valerie" fixed Rachel with a cold stare of pure horror. 

 

"<Vile guttersnipe, lewd and treacherous seller of bitter words and defamation! I shall rip your still beating heart from your body and make you eat it!>"

, she blurted in French, before regaining composure. 

 

"I have...personal matters to attend to" she said coldly, with a flicker of a cruel smile as she barged past Rachel. 

 

"Turn that electrical mouth piece off!" she demanded of Gavin Dibbons. "I would have no further amplification of sound by your thunderous devices!" she ordered. 

 

Gavin Gulped, and quickly made a sign to the sound engineer, who shrugged and pulled the plug. He didn't look happy about it though. 

 

"You best call 911, or some cape though" he said to Gavin. "Crowd is going to riot!"

[Tiffany Korta]

One advantage that Dancia had over the other reporters was that she could hear what was going on stage from the comfort of the Green Room. She’d had been listening to the start of Wayward’s routine and almost straight away realised that something was amiss, especially with the concerned hush among the crowd. The one disadvantage was that she couldn’t reach the stage at the speed that she could have achieved as Triakosia. So officially she only caught the last few minutes of the exchange between Wayward and her manager, though she took a second to check the young superstar for any kind of implants or mind control just instead.

She smiled at the other reporter as instead of concentrating on the star she went for the manager to try and as subtly as she could get control of the situation.

 

“If you don’t mind my opinion you’d better make some kind of announcement, and pretty quick as well. But I’d wouldn’t think of bringing that other band back on, maybe there someone else in the City you could call upon?â€

[Supercape]

GM

 

"At this notice? Are you kidding?" gibbered Gavin. "I would put Aw3s0me3 on if I thought they had a chance, but the crowd are already rioting. Those losers would get torn to shreds!"

 

"I heard that!" shouted Joe Superstar from the sides of the backstage. 

 

"And I don't mean figuratively!" he added, whispering more softly to Dancia. "So unless you have Annice Stone on speed dial, and a fast helicopter, we are going to have to make a run for it!" he said, drumming on his clip board with nerves. 

 

"Either that, or spank Valerie Cain like a naughty girl!" he said, voice rising in terror. 

 

"I heard that!" shouted the body of Valerie Cain. 

 

Gavin lowered his voice again. "Nothing short of a 'cape juggling chainsaws and playing the Land of the Free on a trumpet would stop that lot! Anyone else goes up there, they are going to be murdered!"

 

"Do you have a good singing voice?" he asked. 

[Blue Rose]

Valerie tries to call out, to wave her arms, to scream at the clueless reporter about what's really going on. The microphone manages it, but her body doesn't manage a twitch of her own volition.

Not working.

Okay, time to try something else.

Deep breaths. Well, deep metaphorical breaths. Clear the mind. Focus. Whoever this is in her body, they have a mind like a steel fortress, massive and imposing. But even then, there are windows, of a sort. The bodyless captive reaches out with a wisp of her self, reaching for the reporter's mind.

<That's not me! It's an impostor trying to steal my body! I'm trapped on the stage!>

Too outlandish a message? Nah. This is Freedom City. That's about par for the course.

[Raveled]

Rachel reached for Valerie again, and then recoiled when Valerie shouted in her head. She stared blankly at the retreating rock star. Okay, two things. First, Valerie's a psychic. News. Second, she is not in her mind, she's on the... stage? She took two steps and looked out on the stage. All she saw was the microphone stand and... Marianne. That made perfect sense, for Freedom City at least. She stepped out onto the stage and grabbed the neck of the guitar.

And then she turned and saw hundreds of fans, staring at her with bated breath. The theater went quiet, as the audience tried to digest this latest scene, this woman in a pantsuit handling Marianne with such a casual air -- mishandling Marianne, in point of fact. Rachel, for her part, felt her throat go dry at the sight of so many hundreds of eyes watching her every movement, weighing and measuring her and finding her wanting. Stage fright had bolted her feet to the floor.

[Blue Rose]

That's right, Valerie thinks to herself as the reporter heads off, and then starts focusing more through the microphone's 'eyes.' As it turns out, it's easier to split her attention between two sets of senses when she doesn't have a body of her own to pay attention to besides. Warmer. Warmer. Hot. Hotter. Cooler... cold. Ice cold. No, no, no. Don't touch Marianne! She mentally winces. No one who doesn't know how to play touches Marianne. And even then, she's very choosy.

"I'm not Marianne!" the microphone calls out. "I'm right here!" She mentally waves her arms. It doesn't actually do anything, but it makes her feel better.

Hopefully, the crowd doesn't tear her apart for this...

[Raveled]

Something about the crowd's increasing hostility shocked Rachel out of her inaction. Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was hero instincts moving her to action in the face of a riot, but she raised the microphone to her mouth and started speaking to the crowd. "Please, everyone, calm down! Valerie Cain is attending to a, uh, personal emergency right now. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that I'd rather have a clear-headed Valerie giving us her best performance possible!" A sudden bolt of genius struck her. "But if anyone wants to leave early, then I'm sure you can get a refund at the door."

[Supercape]

GM

 

The crowd rustled. Confused for a moment. The moment hung in the air, like an axe about to fall this way or that. The drumroll, to heighten the anticipation in such moments, was replaced by odd shouts, odd screams, odd cheers. Some where positive, some where negative. Some, and most, where perplexed.

 

Then, the axe fell, tipped by a final shouted comment.

 

"This is ROOOOCK!"

 

Cheers went up, raucous and joyous. Between the ad libbing of Rachel, and the powerful, unearthly performance of Valerie's guitar solo, which must have unsettled Apollo and been the envy of Hendrix, the Crowd became united once more in their love for the star.

 

"VAL-ER-REE...VAL-ER-REE...VAL-ER-REE!"

 

Whatever happened now, even if nothing, the crowd would have the story of a lifetime to tell their kids, and their grandkids. That is, if they where ever believed!

 

Fifty years from now...

 

"Oh come on grandma? There where only four hundred people at that Gig. You know how many people claimed to be at Valerie's gig of 2014? Fourty thousand! Everyone wants to say they where there, that night, and how awesome it was..."

 

The old woman smiled.

 

"Go on...laugh...but let me show you something I have kept treasured for all those years..."

 

A box was opened, and in it, a crumpled ticket, faded but legible...Valerie Cain, 2014...(Supporting act Aw3s0me3)

 

The childs eyes widened and hair stood on end...

 

Back in the Present...

 

"Valerie" stormed off, throwing assistants and producers from her side.

 

"Away with ye! I have work to do! Must time has been lost through the centuries....ah....through this day, I mean! I must work! Oui! A genius must work!" she commanded, stomping out to the back entrance of the opera house. Followed, incongruously, by Joe "Megastar" frome Aw3s0me! 

[Tiffany Korta]

Whilst everything was going on Dancia had worked her way to the edge of the stage and watched as everything unfolded, they say never make yourself part of the story but dancia couldn’t help but admire Rachel's efforts.

 

it also mean she was in the perfect position to meet Wayward as she left the stage, easily keeping up with the rapidly leaving pop star.

 

“Dancia Devon’s of the Freedom ledger. Would you care to offer a statement as to why you’ve chosen to leave you own concert?â€

 

Even with her limited research she knew that a professional like Wayward would bail on a concert without very good reasons.

[Supercape]

"Non! I would not!" said Valerie, rudely. 

 

Joe "Megastar" just shrugged and told Dancia to get out of the way too. 

 

"I must get to my carriage! Prepare the horses!" she shouted ahead at a rather confused aide and a rather confused Chauffeur. 

 

"Its...its cars these days, dude..." explained Joe Megastar...

 

"Very well then, I must get to my car! out of the way, impertinent word peddler!" shouted Valerie, trying to barge past Dancia furiously. 

 

For a moment, Valerie looked into Dancia's eyes. 

 

"There is something fiery and strange about you, witch! Your eyes are defiant! But none can defy Count N....Count N...Val-er---rie Cain!" she said coldly. 

 

"Flee! See the awful power of death!" she said, as, for one moment, her eyes turned jet black and terrible, and a horrible chill crept into Dancia...

[Tiffany Korta]

Dancia felt fear wash over her images of a thousand terrible events each one being something that personally happened to her, even though they could never have happened all at once. But she had faced these fears a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes and managed to overcome them all.

 

“I don’t think you quite who you say you are, how about you stay a while and we can talk about this?â€

 

She gently grabbed “Wayward's†arms to stop her from leaving until she could figure out what was happening.