nextgenerationmarvel | You Were Born to Rise (New Mutant-esque people)

Current Mood: Rocking
Current Location: Closed off street between some bars in New Brunswick, NJ
Current Music: Dire Rainbow

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You Were Born to Rise (New Mutant-esque people)

Since Aiden had been forced out from/quit his previous band and the requisite depressed waffling until his mother got him some session jobs as a drummer, his next band bore the brunt of his concentration and will to succeed. Not that they minded. All of them had been cast offs from other bands. Not bad, but not gelling well with the others. Since New Brunswick had a large live music scene, it was only a matter of time until Dire Rainbow pulled together.

They had practiced relentlessly. Sometimes Aiden barely got sleep between practices, New Mutants activities, time with Angel, teaching Zip, and working as a bartender. Thankfully, he needed less sleep than normal human-like people. But it was all about to be worth it, to his mind. They had entered a local contest and made the cut to perform.

They had a half-hour set-list to pull together. Aiden put in some cover songs along with a few songs he had written himself. (He hadn't told his parents about this facet yet. If the songs came out like crap and couldn't get the audience into it, he wouldn't have to claim them in front of a certified popstar and entertainment king.) Aiden had invited his teammates and anyone else he could think of to be at the show. He wanted some support, and possibly somebody to teleport if there were thrown beer bottles.

And they crammed as much rock into that thirty minutes as they possibly could. Thankfully, the lead singer did not wail like Banshee, so everyone still had their eardrums when she went after it. Aiden attacked his drums like he had everything to prove. Mostly because he did. His former band was in the contest as well.

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During Dire Rainbow's set...

Stephanie Shaw had never been to a rock concert before, so in all honesty, there was a slight feeling of nervousness. But then she considered all the insane things that had happened in her life, and that this might be a chance to simply relax and have some fun. Not to mention dress down to what would surely be a shocking extent for some of her friends (Brooke came to mind), but then again, she was intending to dance.

It was also nice to remind the world, that, yes, she had a navel piercing after all. And between jeans that were a little low and a shirt that was a little high, it was very clearly visible. All told though, she probably blended in well-enough with the crowd, as much as someone like her could.

She'd always stick out a little, for one reason or another, and it didn't bother her any.

The music was loud, extremely loud, and quite a bit heavier than the usual fair that Marcelo tried to foist onto her, but she liked the energy in the atmosphere. And it felt good to dance- formal dances were so often constrained. Here, all she needed to do was find the rhythm and her body would do the rest of the talking.

She did keep an eye out, however, for her friends. They should be arriving soon, or possibly had already arrived.

Angel was down near the front, by the stage, a large grin on her fuzzy face. She was glad Aiden was getting to perform again; she knew all too well how badly the dissolution of his former group had rocked him. He never blamed her for it, and she didn't particularly blame herself, most days.

But he needed this, and she was glad for it.

Sara danced in front of the stage while Aiden's band was playing. No navel piercings here, but if someone looked closely enough, they could see the top of the tattoo on her hip peeking over the waistband of her jeans.

She twirled and clapped her hands over her head. It was nice to be able to relax and cut loose a little bit for a change.

Hana was more than happy to show up to support her brother's new band. They'd always been in each other's corner, musically and in pretty much everything else. She saw no reason why tonight should be any different. Besides, she was proud of her brother. Once upon a time, this had been her dream as well, but she'd traded it for others. It was comforting to see him still reaching for that particular brass ring.

She whistled and cheered from her spot near one end of the stage. Occasionally, she caught a glimpse of a familiar face or two in the crowd. She'd have to catch up with them after the set.

Off to Angel's left at the front of the stage was another dancing, cheering fan. Ingenue in her Hikaru Hamasaki-guise was throwing horns and watching nothing but Aiden. She wore a low cut shirt beneath her open leather jacket, a pair of tight yet ripped jeans, and a solid pair of boots.

Stephanie caught sight of Angel (who always stood out in a crowd) and danced her way over to where she was near the front of the stage. It wasn't really an occasion for much in the way of chatting, as the band was playing far too loud. Instead she just gave Angel a big grin before looking back up at the stage where Aiden was playing his heart out.

She was having fun, and quite a lot of it.

Hopefully her husband would have recovered from the shock of Stephanie's attendance at a concert by the time she returned. He'd been rather stunned by the revelation.

Angel gave Stephanie a friendly grin and a wave, throwing herself into dancing as well. She kept her tail tucked in close to her body, though, to prevent any accidents.

Hana was just happy to be out for a night. She loved her boys and her work at the school, but every once in a while, it was good to just be alone. Well, her and a couple hundred others.

She danced freely at the edge of the crowd, manipulating the shadows around her, enhancing the lights from the show.

When Kayla had heard that Hana's brother's band was having a concert? And knowing that he was totally amazing at drumming? Going was a no-brainer. It wasn't difficult for her to convince Brianna to come along either. After all, it'd been awhile since they'd been able to properly go out for a date. And a crowd like this was as friendly an environment as they were likely to find.

Besides, the band was really, really good. Dire Rainbow was also fronted by a woman, which was a million kinds of excellent. And Kayla absolutely loved watching Brianna dance, and dancing with her? Even better.

Brianna needed a night like this.

Dinner, music and Kayla? Those were the keys to a great night in her book and as she swayed with the music, the only thing she wanted was to have Kayla close-by. Things with her parents were really good lately, her recent accident, followed by Brianna's coming out having drawn them closer. Brianna was giddy at the prospect of her parents spending more time together, but opened not to jinx it by asking.

Besides, she had her own relationship to concentrate on.

"This is amazing! Thank you!" she said to Kayla.

She followed that up with a kiss that drew cheers from some of the guys nearby. She didn't care. Kayla was the important part of all of this, for her.

She couldn't argue with any of the ingredients involved, either. It wasn't so common for her these days to get a day off, so it was nice to spend it out with her prefect, awesome, sexy girlfriend. And the fact that the band was also awesome didn't hurt one bit either.

She knew that things had been going pretty well for Brianna lately and she was happy for her- her parents were both pretty cool and it was great that they were spending more time together. But Brianna's policy of not asking about it was wise- jinxes were a very real phenomenon, after all.

"No, thank you! Wouldn't be half as fun without you." She eagerly returned the kiss, not really giving a damn what the boys thought. "C'mon, let's go closer to the stage!" She took Brianna's hand and led her up closer, right to the front. She let out a hearty cheer and threw up the horns with her free hand.

No one could accuse Kayla of not being exuberant.

Brianna followed Kayla to the stage, letting her girlfriend move people out of the way. Which she could do, very, very well. She was getting used to being less physically imposing than Kayla, though it had taken her awhile to get used to it.

And there were times when she didn't even mind.

Then again, them being together was still something Brianna could barely comprehend at times.

"I really hope these guys have CD's. I'm buying all of them. And maybe all of their T-shirts, too!" she said.

It was somewhat hilarious in truth, considering that Kayla was just over five feet and a hundred pounds, but she more than made up for it with surprising strength and bull confidence. They were going to the front of the stage and nobody was going to stop them. Kayla wasn't precisely a shy person even before she'd gone through her harrowing experience, losing her soul, but now? She'd become even more exuberant tan before. Life was far too short to waste in half-measures.

"I'm not sure if they have anything yet, I think they're super new. But as soon as they do? Oh hell yeah." Kayla grinned as they went into a hard rock cover of 'Bad Romance' by Lady Gaga.

Which inspired a whole new wave of slightly dirtier dancing. Hopefully Brianna was up for it, because it was clearly happening anyway. She grinned and pulled her girlfriend closer.

Brianna was an Englishwoman, but that didn't stop her from moving close to Kayla and joining her in dirty dancing. Brianna liked the stares they received, if only because it meant that people wanted what was hers.

She was proud that Kayla was her girlfriend and wanted to show her off.

Lady Gaga was one of Brianna's favorite artists, a fact that Kayla had probably stumbled on more than once by catching her girlfriend dancing around their room in a t-shirt while murdering the lyrics to "Poker Face" or imitating the entire routine from "Just Dance".

Canadians were probably supposed to have a healthy sense of propriety, but ever since Kayla had come so close to losing not just her life, but her soul, she'd gained a healthy disregard for any but the most essential proprieties. And really, Kayla didn't have anything to hide. She loved Brianna, she had absolutely zero issues about people knowing she was gay (or for that matter, a mutant, or a total geek), and in any case, this was precisely the kind of music that turned Kayla's crank.

As for Brianna's impromptu singing, Kayla did plenty of it herself. Sometimes they did it together.

"If this band doesn't win, there is no justice in the world." Kayla declared, arms snaking around Brianna.

Edited 2015-08-12 01:39 (UTC)

"Or people just have no sense of taste." Brianna counted, slipping her hands into Kayla's back pockets. Brianna left her Propriety Pants at home. She wore black skinny jeans and a red shirt with her Chuck Taylors.

"We should start a band! Just for fun!" Brianna said, half-jokingly.

"Injustice and bad taste, indeed." Kayla grinned as Brianna slipped her hands into her pockets. "... don't tempt me!" Though in truth, there were more imminent temptations.

The sublime mood was dampened only slightly as Dire Rainbow's set wrapped up. Kayla couldn't help but pout a little bit, though she was clearly in a luminous mood.

She immediately kissed Brianna again. "Wanna go get a drink?" It surely wasn't a good idea to get trashed, but a drink or two couldn't hurt, could it?

"I want to get /you/ a drink. You know how I am with booze." Brianna said, rolling her eyes.

Brianna was what only could be described as a Social Justice Drunk. A few beers and Brianna would give you her platform for her election as Prime Minister along with several ways to fight hunger, end homelessness and combat racism.

Even when the slurring started, she'd be explaining her positions on various issues. It did not help that she was a lightweight. Most times, she declined to drink unless she was in the company of close friends, like Rose and Bobbie...and Kayla.

Kayla, on the other hand, was a fun drunk. They balanced each other out.

After his band finished their set to boisterous cheers from the crowd, Aiden helped get his drum set off stage and packed up. When it was safely stowed away, he went looking for his gals. He spotted several familiar people in the crowd and thought it was time to celebrate.

And maybe hope his band could win the contest.

Angel worked her own way through the crowd to Aiden, pulling him into a hug when she got there, and planting a kiss on him.

"Good work, Sugah."

"Ohmigod! You guys completely rocked it!"

Sara grinned at Aiden.

AT the edge of the crowd, a young woman who tended to blend into the background kept an eye on the gathering of New Mutants. Particularly the fuzzy, white one.

"Nice set, Aiden." Stephanie grinned as she came up to them. "Please tell me there is a CD or a T-shirt I can buy. Or that I can arrange for you to win this contest." Because really, there was no competition. None of the other drummers were even remotely as good. She was hardly a music expert, but she knew rhythm, and Aiden had it in spades.

Aiden accepted all hugs, kisses, back pats, butt grabs, ribs elbowed, and so on with an almost vibratory glee. He couldn't stop smiling. The set had gone off without a hitch.

"Thanks, ladies. It rocked!" He slung an arm around Angel. He glanced at Sara. "Black hoodies could fit the dress code here."

He made a thoughtful pause. "I think either the guitarist or the bassist has our very limited merchandise in the back of their car. They went out to get it." He bounced in place a little. "Man, I hope we win. Provided my original stuff in there didn't torpedo our chances."

"If it did," Angel assured him, "then those judges are darned fools."

Even if she did say a silent prayer for him. God wasn't like a vending machine, but her boy needed this win.

"I'm going to second that." Of the other groups thus far, only one had been even moderately proficient, and none of them were remotely as good as Dire Rainbow. "The crowd certainly seemed more into your set than any of the others." Including, as it happened, that girl from Xavier's that occasionally sent her strange memes (though she secretly enjoyed the cat-themed ones).

"And I am totally wearing one to your next gig, just for that."

Sara punched Aiden lightly in the bicep.

"There is no way you guys aren't winning this. Did you see the crowd? Ohmigod, you had them all on their feet the entire time!"

Aiden scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. "My old band is up after this group," he mumbled and then coughed to try to cover it up.

"But thanks for coming, ladies. Your support means everything. Even the muscle throbbing punches." He gave Angel a squeeze and grinned at Sara and Stephanie. Just a couple more sets of competing bands, and then they'd find out how Dire Rainbow did.

Angel put an arm around Aiden and wrapped her tail around his waist. She'd heard what he'd said, and just the thought of those sons of a snake in the grass made her blood boil.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Sugah."

Sara heard it, too. She leaned a little closer to be heard.

"Want me to EMP their sound board? Melt their strings? Sterilize the lead singer?"

She grinned and winked.

The rest of the bands performed, but the crowd never got to the fever pitch they did by the end of Dire Rainbow's set. There was a wait as the judges hashed somethings out. Anticipation hung in air amongst the alcohol fumes.

Then they announced the winner of the night's battle of the bands:

DIRE RAINBOW

Aiden blinked. His bandmates were jumping around and cheering. The Mojoworlder was wiggling a finger in his ear to make sure he had heard that right.

Angel planted a kiss on him before letting out a cheer.

"Wahooooo!"

Well, Stephanie wasn't going to kiss Aiden. He wasn't really her type and Angel might get jealous.

"You look like you're surprised." Stephanie said with a smile. "But congratulations. Now, what are we going to do about celebrating? Because I think this is certainly worthy of it. Group dinner?"

"I... am surprised. I don't... it usually... doesn't work out." Most the things Aiden wanted never worked out for him. He figured Angel would have been the one thing he could have.

But... he won. Well, his band did. With songs he'd written. He was a bit flabbergasted as his bandmates were jumping around, yelling and celebrating.

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You Were Born to Rise (New Mutant-esque people)

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With Brianna

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Probably one more ping on this and then we await Bad Things Happening Later in the Thread?

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After Dire Rainbow's set...

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One Last Bit Before the Boom

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