Riverside 21: Older than Arkh

[Zefir]

Wild Mike's

Fade first turns to Mania. Is she seriouse? Again she adds things he never said. She must seems to be the most troublesome of the bandmembers so far.

"I never said I never did it. It seems that people just assume I have to be an expert in this kind of things. They just don't care what it is I can do and assume. I can just say it needs certain condition that we don't have now.
Jaahlyn might figure that he means the light. Currently we are somewhere around noon maybe later? The concert is held in the evening so still a few hours of light.

He turns to Frigate.
"I don't know much about you, but i hear from your comments you are better suited to stay. So I think you should stay- We can't split up to much anyways. We are only three in number and we know what the enemies aim for."

"It appears our clients had to count the kills they did during their stay in the Abyss." Fade explains. For him killing means to drive a sword to someone or otherwise, not punishing their souls.
"These guys ?" he asks. "Have you brought some from below?"

[Ironsmith]

Wild Mike's

"If'n ye do ask somebody t' go out an' ensure they don't be up to trouble wi' ye, somebody should stay 'ere, just t' be on th' safe side. An' they should be obvious, too. T' dissuade any we don't follow, aye?" Frigate would probably be happier in staying with the band, since he's also quite slow and he can't bend his neck very well- if they go up or down, he'll struggle keeping track of where they went. But he's also happy to follow Tarim, if that's what the succubi want him to do. At the end of the day, they're paying him.

Wild Mike's

Jaahlyn was only vaguely familiar with Fade. For most of the time they traveled through the labyrinth underneath the city together (long story) he was either shadow or hidden from view entirely. He didn't speak much either but then again she rarely asked.

"Kill-count?" Jaahlyn wonders out loud as Fade mentions it but doesn't seem to linger on the question if the succubi don't decide to answer it. The job came first after all.

"But yeah, I can take him on." She looks to Ecstasy with a confident smile. "I can turn to something else than a goat actually." As Fade can attest. "Though, uh, what do you want me to do exactly? Just follow the guy? Confront him?" She points her thumb in the direction that she put that cage she brought with her. "Since I was going to have these guys survey the area for any intruders."

Wild Mike's

Fade first turns to Mania. Is she seriouse? Again she adds things he never said. She must seems to be the most troublesome of the bandmembers so far.

"I never said I never did it. It seems that people just assume I have to be an expert in this kind of things. They just don't care what it is I can do and assume. I can just say it needs certain condition that we don't have now.
Jaahlyn might figure that he means the light. Currently we are somewhere around noon maybe later? The concert is held in the evening so still a few hours of light.

He turns to Frigate.
"I don't know much about you, but i hear from your comments you are better suited to stay. So I think you should stay- We can't split up to much anyways. We are only three in number and we know what the enemies aim for."

"It appears our clients had to count the kills they did during their stay in the Abyss." Fade explains. For him killing means to drive a sword to someone or otherwise, not punishing their souls.
"These guys ?" he asks. "Have you brought some from below?"

[Wild Mike's]

"Yeah, some of us... you don't get to be a fifty-year-old demon without making a few moral compromises." Mania elaborates. "But that doesn't really matter here, does it? We're just here to play some music and have a good time. That's it. And I would have preferred to leave the subject untouched entirely, but someone, who shall remain nameless-"

"Hmph." Euphoria grunts.

"-thought it'd be a good idea to tell this to the demon hunter that just swang by." Mania concludes, shooting her older counterpart an angry glare. "So, yeah, that's what we're dealing with now."

Malady steps forward and puts a hand on Frigate's shoulder. "Back to the matter at hand... I think misters Frigate and Fade are right. He should stay near the stage. I know I'll feel a lot safer with him there."

"Oh yeah." "Absolutely." "Can't argue with that."

[Earl of Purple]

Wild Mike's

"Aye, I be mostly a sailor an' particularly a marine." In the original sense of the word, a soldier stationed aboard a ship to protect it from enemy boarding actions and also to counter-board enemy ships and take them- although Frigate's a bit too heavy to swing across form one sailing ship to another, so mostly he stayed put.

"Ye want me afore th' stage, 'r on it? I don't want t' be in th' way." Even though he won't suffer any hearing loss, no matter how long he stays close to the musicians and their instruments.

[Shadowcaller]

Wild Mike's

"Okay, so Frigate will be near the stage which means Fade could be around the crowd checking things out. I'll be backstage and have skelli-rats scout around the premise and then if they spot anything, or we have to have some kind of confrontation, I can come out and aid." She looks at the others. "Sounds like a plan?"

[Recaiden]

[Timekeeper]

The Timekeeper takes the rope and climbs on. He has a bit of trouble, as the windows on this particular model of van don't open very well. The driver's window partially slides back, which at least opens up the door's window frame. He'll then tie it about a lamp post, and waits to see the widget the antlered man claims to have. Hopefully this works, and isn't going to wind up with his van upside down or something.

The widget is a metal cube and rubber plate, which the adventurer wedges under the corner of the toppled van.
Then, with a touch, it elongates into a metal prism, then more of a pole, slowly and steadily pushing the van close to upright and taking slack out of the rope.
It is far too slow to flip the van over. It will leave a dent near the top of the window frame.

[Zefir]

Wild Mike's

Fade is a little confused, but didn't show it. The succubus agree on Frigate's position? How can they all know him? Guess they might share some kind of Kommunikation? Well it shuld show later.

"So we agree on not following the demon hunter unless something else happens. Fine by me."

[Earl of Purple]

Timekeeper

The van is pushed upright! Now the Timekeeper puts the gunsafe, folding tent, and other things back onto the back of the van. "So, um, do you know where I can stay? I have a few valuables I can pawn or barter, and some money too." Standard operating procedure is for the Timekeepers to be issued with antique jewellery, because fake money- no matter how good- is always a risk, particularly since it continues to circulate in the economy. Jewellery is more likely to be bought and kept, passing down one family line or otherwise avoiding notice. Although they've got to be careful and check the hallmark to make sure it's at least ten years before the destination.

[Ironsmith]

Wild Mike's

"Aye, I be mostly a sailor an' particularly a marine." In the original sense of the word, a soldier stationed aboard a ship to protect it from enemy boarding actions and also to counter-board enemy ships and take them- although Frigate's a bit too heavy to swing across form one sailing ship to another, so mostly he stayed put.

"Ye want me afore th' stage, 'r on it? I don't want t' be in th' way." Even though he won't suffer any hearing loss, no matter how long he stays close to the musicians and their instruments.

Wild Mike's

"Okay, so Frigate will be near the stage which means Fade could be around the crowd checking things out. I'll be backstage and have skelli-rats scout around the premise and then if they spot anything, or we have to have some kind of confrontation, I can come out and aid." She looks at the others. "Sounds like a plan?"

Wild Mike's

Fade is a little confused, but didn't show it. The succubus agree on Frigate's position? How can they all know him? Guess they might share some kind of Kommunikation? Well it shuld show later.

"So we agree on not following the demon hunter unless something else happens. Fine by me."

[Wild Mike's]

In fairness, the succubi can all see the obvious benefits of having Frigate near the stage; his mechanical nature, with all of its benefits and drawbacks, are readily apparent to anyone with eyes. Though if Fade looked closely, he probably would notice some low-level telepathy (or something like it) passing between the band members; a combination of that and general familiarity with each other would make it easy for them to tell what they're thinking.

"Right." Ecstacy smiles. "Sounds like a plan."
"Agreed." Malady chips in.
"Likewise." Euphoria says.
"Great." Mania claps her hands together and rubs them appreciatively. "Then we can get back to work setting things up. Daylight's burning, after all." She looks down at her watch, prompting the band and MERC members to resume their work.

[Zefir]

[Wild Mike's]

Fade nods and then turns to leave, thought after he left the room the shadow version of Fade seems to be gone. A moment later outside Fade will cast a shadow again.
With all the stuff inside he doesn't have anything to do. He's not skilled to help with the preperations of the electronics so he waits outside and patrols the area.

[Earl of Purple]

Wild Mike's

Frigate will also move, somewhere he can keep an eye on things whilst he checks over his blunderbus to make sure it's loaded and ready to be used- if he needs it. He'll also check the pistols. He's happy to help move anything, if somebody asks him to, but if not he'll draw his brass cutlass and wipe it with a cloth. He'd sit down, but he doesn't generally trust chairs to hold his weight.

[Shadowcaller]

Wild Mike's

"Alright, we're decided then." But then the satyr raises her hand. "But guys, I feel I should clarify something before it comes down to it. I got a... much larger form that, uh, I don't like assuming for a couple of reasons but in this case it's not very clothed." She looks to the band members "...are you going to be clothed during the concert? Just trying to determine how much of an issue that's gonna be in case it comes up." She gestures at the t-shirts. "Since unless any of those come in giant size there's not going to be anything fitting me."

[Ironsmith]

[Wild Mike's]

"They do, actually." Ecstacy points out. "Sort of. They're a one-size-fits-all sort of deal. And they do mean all."

"But to answer your original question." Mania tosses Jaahlyn a leather collar with a dangling, heart-shaped pendant tied to the bottom. "That's my costume for tonight. And Malady-"

"Doesn't want to talk about it." The other succubus finishes hastily.

"Hm." Mania gestures toward Euphoria. "She's just a couple of unfastened buttons away from joining us. And Stacy's going to be stretching her wings for at least one of our songs. So, no, clothing is not going to be an issue."

[Recaiden]

[Timekeeper]

The van is pushed upright! Now the Timekeeper puts the gunsafe, folding tent, and other things back onto the back of the van. "So, um, do you know where I can stay? I have a few valuables I can pawn or barter, and some money too." Standard operating procedure is for the Timekeepers to be issued with antique jewellery, because fake money- no matter how good- is always a risk, particularly since it continues to circulate in the economy. Jewellery is more likely to be bought and kept, passing down one family line or otherwise avoiding notice. Although they've got to be careful and check the hallmark to make sure it's at least ten years before the destination.

The adventurer shrinks his widget back down, and retrieves and recoils his rope, shaking his head slightly at the timekeeper.
"Well, I don't stay in the city overnight, usually."
He tries to think of any well-known lodging places here in Riverside. Nothing comes up.

"There's sure to be some hotels down by the river, right?" He points westward. Should he mention that he has room for people himself? No, definitely not. Who knows what this timekeeper is capable of, and if his story about birds is true?

[Morty]

[Wild Mike's]

The elves look between each other. This might not work. But once they report it to their lord, he should have plenty to work with.

"Then we'll go warn the others," one of them simply says. "Farewell."

[Earl of Purple]

Timekeeper

"OK, thank you. I'll go check it out." And if not, he can always find a park somewhere and set up his tent or just sleep in the van. He'll get in and start it up, the engine seeming to kick into life before he turns off the speaker playing the engine noise, and flips another switch as well. The van shimmers slightly before changing colour and appearance; it now resembles a school bus, and the Timekeeper leans out the side to check out the hologram on the other side. It seems to be working there, as well, which is handy.

[Zefir]

[Wild Mike's]


It seems the clothing problem is setteled since the band doesn't wear any and there is no dress code either.

"It seems you will be fine with one of those shirts. I stay with my clothes we don't have security clothing anyways."

[Shadowcaller]

[Wild Mike's]

Jaahlyn just barely catches the collar and find herself staring at it has her imagination is filling in the blanks. While she had already seen the majority of the band without clothing at more than one occasion her cheeks still flush at the image her mind invents.

"Wow, that's- ah, you're going all in right away, huh?"

She considers this a moment as she suddenly finds herself listening into a mental voice long surpressed. "-don't you have tear-away clothes? I think it might have more of an effect if you start out clothed and then get progressively more nude or tear it all off at once to reveal your true outfits underneath." The satyr finds herself suggesting to the band.

[Outside Wild Mike's]

"An advice before you go." Tarim rumbles before the elves turn away. "If there's anyone you should warn of this demonic activity it should be the leaders of Northside. Malechenar. If I'm not mistaken they they have hired the very same people to protect Westside as these demons have hired for security."

[Morty]

[Outside Wild Mike's]

Far be it from the two elves to miss such advice. They will indeed head to Northside and inform whoever they can about the situation and MERC's involvement. The stage has been set...

[Earl of Purple]

Wild Mike's

Frigate, with his vast and extensive knowledge of clothing knowing no beginning, has nothing to add at this point. He'll take a t-shirt if offered one and struggle putting it on- he's never worn a t-shirt before and it's possible it might get caught in his joints.

[Ironsmith]

[Wild Mike's]

A hush falls over the band as Jaahlyn voices her suggestion. Tear-away clothes. That seemed a bit redundant, but the idea had merit. If Jaahlyn cares to look around, she'll see how each of the four react.

Ecstacy is the first to respond, a hand over her mouth in a scandalized gasp before giving way to a delighted giggle. Why did nobody think of this sooner?

Malady looks horrified. As the only member of the band who actually wears physical clothing that isn't already basically tear-away, she's having the gripping realization that Jaahlyn just gave Mania a costume idea. Which she will likely have to wear. And promptly stop wearing.

Euphoria wears a mildly amused smirk. She already had a vague idea that Jaahlyn was capable of that sort of thing, but the suggestion was still unexpected enough to be appreciated.

And Mania throws an arm around Jaahlyn and gives a little laugh. "Ha! Knew I liked you." She giggles.


Frigate will quickly find that Ecstacy wasn't kidding about the shirt being one-size-fits-all; as he goes to put it on, it'll magically bend and stretch and otherwise alter itself so that by the time Frigate gets it over his head, it's tailored to his dimensions. The shirt will fit rather snugly; if he were a human, this would be the sort of garment that would show off his physique to any onlookers. It still kind of does, it just doesn't have the same effect without muscle under it.

[DEATHKISS Concert]

The next few hours go by quickly, and soon it's time for the promised event. The stage is set, with the band's instruments all carefully arranged for the optimal point on the acoustics-visuals continuum. As promised, there's a small crowd gathered by the stage; Euphoria's estimate of two hundred or so seems to be accurate, but in a building this small, the otherwise underappreciated magnitude of that number isn't going to go unnoticed. Off to the side, there are a few camera crews waiting, ready to capture the concert on tape, so the band's less public audience can still join the event. Mania will have warned the MERC crew in advance that it's important they be allowed to do their jobs; a large portion of tonight's revenue is going to come from them.

The crowd lets out a roar of approval as the band finally makes an appearance on stage. Malady is in front, wearing a short red skirt and a black halter top. Euphoria and Ecstacy flank her, wearing their usual ensembles of a sideless red dress and a black set of jeans and a tank top, respectively. And Mania brings up the rear, still in her "proper businesslady" outfit, which consists of a knee-length skirt and a dress shirt and blazer which are both a size or two too small.

"Hello, Riverside!" Malady addresses the crowd, taking the microphone from its stand and waving out to the crowd. "How's everybody doing tonight?"

The crowd whoops, hollers, and whistles its exuberance, temporarily drowning out any response from Malady. They keep doing this until she waves them down, an amused smile on her face.

"All right!" She calls, flashing the entire room a thumbs-up. "Now, before we start, I just want to say, we've been all over the Nexus. We've been to Inside, we've been to Skyside-" She sticks her tongue out in mock disgust, a low roll of laughter rumbling through the crowd. "We've even been to a couple of places we'd never even heard of until we started getting fanmail from there." Another round of chuckles erupts. "But I think everyone in this room knows... we saved the best for last!"

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Malady smiles. "We've got a great show for you tonight! Three hours of good, clean, wholesome f-" She bursts out laughing as the crowd throws some good-natured boos her way. "Yeah, [curtain] that! You know what we're about!"

Mania unfurls her wings, dissipating the business suit and leaving nothing in its wake, though with her sitting behind the drumset, she's not showing anything more scandalous than a set of bare shoulders. She lifts her drumsticks and taps out a beat for their first song. "A-one, a-two, a-one two three four-"

[Zefir]

[[DEATHKISS Concert]]

Fade was at the entrance assisting in chekcing on the guests. At least he can chekc for obviouse weapons. If aynone wants to rampage there is nothing to stop them but he knows people tend to use weapons.

When the concert begins Fade is at the back row, still no emotions on his face.
"At least this might make it a bit more challenging" he says to himself as the noise of the band overshadows most other sounds. Then he starts to walk through the rows of guests looking for potentional demonkiller.

[Earl of Purple]

Wild Mike's

Frigate stays near the front of the stage, somewhere where he's visible and obvious as security without getting in the way of the crowd's enjoyment of DEATHKISS's performance... And other attributes. He's also planning on keeping the t-shirt, although he doesn't have a wardrobe to put it in. He doesn't look at the nudity behind him; it doesn't have much appeal to him. He's slung the blunderbuss, since the crowd is much denser than he was expecting. He's drawn a pistol instead, though he's pointing it down. The blunderbuss would cause too much collateral damage if he had to use it.

[Murkus]

[The Toy Tinker]

Anika nods. "Uh, yeah! I want to see if its magical. Or what kind of magical really. What sort of enchantments and stuff. I don't really know the person that I got it from that well so I just want to make absolutely sure that it's safe before I give it to my friend."

[The Toy Tinker]

"I can do that," Sticks says with a sigh. "Though this is certainly irregular... May I ask... what exactly makes you think it might not be safe?" Partly out of concern for his own safety, should he touch on something that is better left alone. "Who gave this thing to you?"

[Shadowcaller]

[The Toy Tinker]

"It was that violet chick that lives in the big manor, Jezebel. You know, the dame with the tail and the horns?" Anika puts her index fingers at the sides of her head as to illustrate. "I know she helped saving the city and all but this was from a tree in her gardens and you never know where demonic corruption have crept into, y'know? They were everywhere during the invasion after all."

[Reinholdt]

[Deathkiss Concert]

Karen lost her husband and daughter in the Riverside invasion. She went to a dark place after that and suspects she would have drowned at the bottom of a bottle if not for the support group for grieving mothers her friend Carol made her join. As life improved and the need for support waned, the group slowly become more and more active in politics, shifting to a preventative approach to stopping future tragedies. The group petitioned for changes and bans to policies that permitted demonic forces to continue to act within the city, but their cries fell on deaf ears.

Now Mother's Against Demons are here to protest this concert as an abomination and insult to all who live in Riverside. About fifty strong, they actively protest across the street from Wild Mike's. They heckle and boo anyone who walks into the concert and actively suggest that everyone stay away as they carry signs markedly suggesting the different ways Deathkiss is unwelcome. Most of the protestors are MADs or like them in that they lost someone in the invasion and simply wish for all demons to get out. Some aren't as extreme but still here because Deathkiss is a negative role model to their kids who they really don't want growing up idolizing succubi that frequently rip off their clothes, if they even have any to begin with. There's even a catgirl in this second smaller group with blue fur and pink eyes dressed extremely conservatively. She is the only one holding a sign that says simply "PUT ON SOME CLOTHES." She feels very strongly about this and Karen would take any help she can get as she tries to get this concert shut down.

*****

Ava was quite a fan of deathkiss and while she wasn't a woman of means, she was one who possessed a tent and a willingness to sit outside the ticket seller for a 72 hours before tickets went on sale. Thus she was able to precure one of the few available spots before scalpers got ahold of the rest and made everyone else suffer. It was something like agony waiting for the concert itself, but today was the day. It was finally here!

Without any remorse, Ava had pushed herself up to the front row, wearing a miniskirt, crop top, and a jacket over top cause it was a little cold. She suspected she would lose the jacket at some point and if the night went really well she would lose the rest of it too.

She was the first to scream with excitement as Mania begins to tap on the drums.

*****

Sandy and Ava would either really hate each other or really love each other. Sandy was a woman of means and a deathkiss fan, which meant that she could get a hold of the thing Ava could not. A backseat pass. Her and the very small collection of others got to watch from the side, just behind the curtain. This made Sandy no less excited, practically shaking with adrenaline after having gotten the brief tour of their dressing room where she had joked how redundant such a room was. All her attempts to get the band's signature onto her body were told to wait until after concert, which she reluctantly agreed to.

As the concert starts, Sandy brushes her multicolored red, blue, and purple hair out of her eyes and starts bouncing in place, holding herself back from doing something that would get her banned from all the future concerts. If there weren't four succubi on stage already, she could probably fill in for one of them, though her musical talent was actually quite lacking and there were no demon features under her 'clothes'.

*****

Edith was not a fan of Deathkiss. Nor did she hate them. She really was just trying to do her job as a light and sound technician. Well... a light and sound technician in training. Interned to Mister Graham who was the actual light and sound technician for Wild Mike's. This meant doing a lot of watching him work, but it also meant a lot of running around to perform miscellaneous tasks for Mister Graham, the band, and just about any other staff who needs something done. And most everyone knew it. But that was the price of being an unpaid intern. Still, no matter how annoying it was to fetch someone's coffee for the tenth time cause the first nine times they didn't like how it tasted, she can't deny she's learning a lot about being a stagehand. And Graham did make sure she got hands on opportunity.

Tonight was... not one of those opportunities. She still had some way to go and this particular concert needed to go off as best it could for Riverside's sake, as far as many of the people supporting the show were concerned. So Graham was taking the lead on this one. Edith could be seen darting around backstage, whenever she was not at Graham's side, watching him work.

[Shadowcaller]

[Deathkiss Concert]

Jaahlyn isn't watching the concert but she's listening to it. She couldn't get too distracted while she was on duty.
Right now she had few dozen of skelly-rats watching the crowd for anyone doing anything suspicious.
The downside being that if they did spot anything like that they would have to run all the way back to her to report. However, she didn't want to try to move around the crowd either so this was an attempt at a middle ground.

But hopefully nothing would happen so they could just enjoy the concert while it lasted. The band certainly seemed to have fun.

[Murkus]

[The Toy Tinker]

"It was that violet chick that lives in the big manor, Jezebel. You know, the dame with the tail and the horns?" Anika puts her index fingers at the sides of her head as to illustrate. "I know she helped saving the city and all but this was from a tree in her gardens and you never know where demonic corruption have crept into, y'know? They were everywhere during the invasion after all."

[The Toy Tinker]

"Oh. I can see from where your concern springs," Sticks articulates, turning the stick this way and that in his spidery hands. "I thought that she helped fight those creatures, though? It was all over the news, at least."

"I'm going to need to perform some minor rituals for analysis. What is the intended use of the item?"

[Shadowcaller]

[The Toy Tinker]

"Yeah, yeah, that's what I meant. She helped us fight them. Since I was there too y'know as I'm with VIGIL." Anika nods and gestures at herself. "You might know of me in fact. But I'm usually a bear."

But before she elaborates on that statement, she looks down at the branch and instead decides to answer Sticks question. "Intended use? Uh, I... don't know. That's also why I'm suspicious of this."

[Ironsmith]

[DEATHKISS Concert]

A funny little quirk of Wild Mike's; without a roof, there isn't very much to dampen the sound between the band and the MAD crowd outside. This means that, in all the time leading up to the concert, the crowd is going to be hearing the protests going on outside... DEATHKISS will be trying to distract the patrons from this brazen unfriendliness as much as possible.

First, they're putting in a lot of effort to make this concert loud. They have an elaborate sound system on their side, which makes the acoustic battle between four band members and fifty angry citizens an almost fair fight.

Second, they're going to find more... visceral ways to distract the audience. Ecstacy will spend most of the first song flirting with various members of the audience, in a way that's actually rather tame for a succubus. There are numerous parts of the song where her services as a guitarist are not needed, and during those points she'll kneel at the front of the stage and pick a random audience member to mess with.

Euphoria will be doing something similar, giving the audience a contemptuous, imperious glare down her nose most of the time... except she'll pick a few at random to give a small smile instead, betraying some amount of interest.

And wouldn't you know it, they both pick Ava at different points. Lucky girl.

But anyway. The other point is, with them working as hard as they can to make the show a pleasurable experience, some of the sound- heart-pounding metal mixed with nearly pornographic lyrics and vocalizations- will make its way back out to the anti-demon mob outside.

[Shadowcaller]

[DEATHKISS Concert]

Some of the skeletal rats are keeping an eye on the anti-demon crowd. Though are staying out of sight which shouldn't be too hard considering what the crowd was focusing on. They probably couldn't hear or see much due to the loud concert and the fact it was night.

Meanwhile, Jaahlyn have sat down and is writing down some of the lyrics on her note sheet. It wasn't like she was trying to copy the music, just getting some inspiration for later.