• If you were supposed to get an email from the forum but didn't (e.g. to verify your account for registration), email Wes at [email protected] or talk to me on Discord for help. Sometimes the server hits our limit of emails we can send per hour.
  • Get in our Discord chat! Discord.gg/stararmy
  • 📅 February and March 2024 are YE 46.2 in the RP.

RP The Sound of Fury

hyralt

Well-Known Member
RP Date
YE 43
RP Location
The Furious Sound, Kyoto
On Planet Yamatai in the capital city of Kyoto, there was a nightclub. In fact, there were several. There were enough people in Kyoto and they lived so densely that for any given preference there was an associated establishment in which one could spend the night in the company of one's peers. For the discerning military enthusiast, there was the Chrome Catgirl. For someone with a taste for vocal trance music, there was the Sweet Spot. But for someone who liked to drink cheap beer while listening to musical acts of wildly varying quality, there was only the Furious Sound.

The entrance to the Furious Sound lay tucked away down an alley that jutted off from a major thoroughfare. As such, it was easily missed by many would-be patrons who strolled through Kyoto looking for that which the Furious Sound could provide. But as easy as it was to miss when one was looking for it, it was just as easy to find it when one wasn't. It would be hard to overlook for anyone who cut through this particular alley looking for a shortcut between a pair of notably tall skyscrapers or simply trying to get a moment of quiet down a path that was certainly less populous than the main street.

The entrance itself was a massive door salvaged from an old space ship and built to withstand a tremendous differential of pressure from one side to the other. Standing next to the door was a Kodian of unusual size, even for a race with such generous proportions. This Kodian had two jobs: to keep out anyone who looked like they might cause trouble, and to close the massive doorway whenever music was playing inside so that the neighbours wouldn't complain about the sound.

Through the entrance, there was a short hallway built from similarly strong-looking metal followed by a matching pressure door and another Kodian to open and close it. While the hallway was actually a pressure chamber built to maintain a vacuum and cut down on noise propagation from within to without, savvy patrons knew that it was the source of the club's nickname: the Airlock.

Once through the airlock, patrons found themselves on a kind of balcony that wrapped around and overlooked the dancefloor and stage below. One end of the balcony gave way to a wide staircase that at first seemed to descend towards the dancefloor before it doubled back to the bar, which was being tended to by a human-sized octopus who had seemingly escaped from a local aquarium.

On this particular night, in YE 43, towards the beginning of 2 月, the airlock was open and the clientele still came and went as they pleased. The unfiltered airflow meant that the place didn't yet smell like the combined sweat of dozens of different species, though there was the noticeable aroma of industrial cleaning agents. Seasoned customers awaited the opening act with the kind of nervous anticipation of a gambler who had wagered the outcome of their evening on a single roll of the dice.

Though not quite the crush of bodies that the club had enjoyed in its heyday a couple of years ago, there were enough people filling the space that moving any distance was a deviously tricky obstacle course of arms, legs, tails, tentacles, antennae, and other, more difficult to identify, appendages. The variety of body types was due to the fact that the vast majority of the guests of the Furious Sound were not human, nor neko, nor elves. Most of them were humanoid to some degree, or at least bipedal, but a significant minority weren't even that. There was something about the place that tended to appeal to those who looked different from the average Yamataian, and tonight was no exception.

OOC: @Dragon_God I've set the stage, Kwabba-an will enter in the next post.
 
Stepping off of the crowded streets of Kyoto, a young technician made his way down an alleyway between two skyscrapers. A sigh of relief escaping him as he bent over and took hold of his knees. The streets had stressed him out from the overpopulation and noise. Pulling helpself up from his position, he was greeted with a Kodian standing outside of a large metal door. Intrigued, Kyle approached, taking a look at the door and asked the Kodian, "What is this place?" Asking as he pointed towards the large metallic door with his gloved finger. A look of interest painted his face as his cybernetic eye adjusted, attempting to identify the origin of the object.
 
The Kodian standing by the door had black fur with a white patch on his chest that he seemed to be showing off with his choice to wear a brightly coloured tropically-themed button-up shirt with the top three buttons undone. He let out a deep groan and then moved slowly, pulling himself up to his full height which was almost twice Kyle's height. He leaned forward to look down at the man, releasing a small avalanche of snow that had been perched on top of his head.

"This is the Furious Sound," his deep, growling voice almost boomed in the relatively quiet alleyway. As he talked, groups of people seemed to cycle in and out of the club. No two of which seemed to be the same species but all of whom were scantily-clad and ready for the long night of revelry they had planned. "People come here to drink and listen to other people perform music. Sometimes the music isn't horrible."

The Kodian slowly brought a huge hand up to scratch his head, releasing another gentle trickle of snow.

"Nobody has ever asked me that before. Most folk either want in or don't," he continued as he reached into the pocket of his huge trousers, which was disconcertingly close to Kyle's face. He pulled out a slip of paper that looked hilariously tiny in his huge paw. "Why don't you take this coupon? Go inside and get a free drink."
 
Watching the large Kodian stand was quite intimidating to the young technician, snow dusting his head as it fell from the large bear. his hands clenched in anxiety before watching the two strangers leave the building. Turning his attention back to the fluffy door guard, he was surprised to be greeted with a coupon. Cautiously plucking it from the Kodian's paw and gave an anxious smile, "Th-Thank you, I appreciate it... I-I'll step inside th-then. Try to st-stay warm." Kyle thanked before quickly walking through the main door and into the airlock. Once he had stepped inside, it became obvious where the door originated from, as he found himself in a dislodged airlock. "Well, that's a rather creative way of designing an entrance..." Kyle commented under his breath as he continued further into the building.

It wasn't until he found himself on a balcony overlooking a dancefloor and stage. The realization that he was inside of a nightclub set in as he released an anxious wheeze, "
Ah- It's a nightclub... and well... let's check this place out." He affirmed before taking a moment to collect himself, watching what everyone else was doing as he stood by himself and watched from above. Wanting to survey the place out first to see what was going on. The smell of industrial-grade cleaners lacking the ability to bother him as he had already adapted to the stuff long ago.
 
"Stay warm?" The Kodian smiled down at the little man and released a thundering laugh that seemed to well up from deep within him and shook his whole body. He grasped at his gargantuan belly as if to keep it from shaking free from the rest of him. "That's wonderful. Very good little one. Enjoy your drink and may you find what you seek within."

Inside, the collective mass of exotic bodies seemed to continuously flow like a fluid as somehow half the people within needed to be somewhere else at all times. People streamed past in all directions, working their way around certain fixed points, small cliques of people standing still like rocks in a river. One such clique on the upper balcony near to Kyle consisted of an anthropomorphic shark wearing some sort of aquatic breathing apparatus that covered the gills on the sides of his neck along with a crisp black suit and a ridiculous black wig in the shape of a pompadour. The shark person seemed to wear a perpetual grin revealing uncomfortably numerous wickedly-sharp teeth. When he laughed, his mouth opened to show multiple rows of serrated teeth within. Hanging onto one of this shark man's arms was a woman with a human body from the neck down, but the head of a walrus.

The energy of the crowd changed slightly as the Kodians by the entranceway began sealing up and depressurizing the entrance chamber, indicating to all but first-timers like Kyle that the opening act was about to start. On the stage below, an orange human-sized octopus wearing nothing but a very sharp bowtie moved his eight arms in a complex pattern to propel himself towards the microphone that stood there flanked on one side by a set of drums and on the other by an assortment of stringed instruments in stands.

"Good evening, Furious Sound!" The octopus lifted himself up so that the beak under his head could speak into the microphone. Despite having seemingly little in common with a humanoid vocal tract, his words were perfectly enunciated with only the slightest hint of a Nepleslian accent. "How are you doing tonight?"

The crowd didn't even dignify his attempt at communication with a response. The shark man looked down and laughed as the octopus' skin began rapidly changing colours before it settled back down into a slightly darker shade of orange. From the context, it seemed like this was perhaps an indication of some emotional distress.

"Ah, well. Please welcome, all the way from..." The octopus started but was quickly interrupted by the shark man. "Shutcha beak, ya calamari weirdo! We jes wants da music!"

Off to one side of the stage, a door opened and the figure of a woman could vaguely be seen standing there in the darkened doorway. The octopus changed colours again and cleared his throat.

"Here's !Kwabba-an Ternifac-xuralkhi!" The octopus pronounced the first syllable of her name with a click of his beak, then scurried off the stage.

From the darkness, the figure who had been lurking in the doorway emerged onto the spotlights of the stage. She was an insectoid with light red skin with darker red hair, antennae, insect abdomen, and markings that decorated her in elaborate patterns. The dark red claws of her bare feet clicked audibly even above the din of the crowd that seemed to have grown anxious at the tension between the presenter and the shark man. She wore a simple dress whose thin material clung tightly to her mostly-humanoid body and whose light blue colour contrasted perfectly with her red colouration.

Compared with the octopus who preceded her, she seemed rather short in stature but the way she walked across the stage and glared in the direction of the upper balcony made it clear she wasn't about to take harassment from anyone. She grabbed a guitar from its stand, but rather than putting it on, she just held it as she walked back to the mic and grabbed it with another hand. Instead of bringing it to her mouth, she pushed it down and away. She took a deep breath.

She belted out a primal call that reverberated in the enclosed space, her soprano voice expertly projected from her small frame to catch in every crevice of the room and causing every piece of glassware to ring in harmony. Her cry was one that transcended language and seemed to command the spirits of rock to awaken and perform her bidding. As her call neared its end, she threw the guitar's strap over her head and seamlessly transitioned into a heavily distorted snarling response to her vocal cry that rang out in a crystal clear tone.

She continued the vocal call and guitar response for a couple of rounds, slowly moving over towards the set of drums, where she affixed the microphone to a stand, picked up a pair of drumsticks with her lower hands, and began to play the drums, sing, and play the guitar altogether. When the first song ended, she transitioned seamlessly into a second that clearly made the first seem like just a warm-up. When the second song ended, she leaned into the mic while looking around at her audience.

"I'm gonna to take a little break while we let in some air." She then put on a stern look to emphasize this next part. "Don't nobody go nowhere."

Then she stood up, put her guitar back on its stand, then hopped down off the stage and walked straight through the crowd to the bar.
 
Seeing such an array of aliens and anthropomorphic was a rare sight for him, as he usually avoided them. The fact he stood only a few feet away from a man with such jagged teeth was not only terrifying but exciting. His hands clenching the rail of the balcony before his attention was pulled to the cephalopod announcer. Their introduction being rudely interrupted by the fish that stood to his right. Kyle would kindly give the heckler an edged glare, his wings fluttering out as he looked quite annoyed at the anthro. The young technician standing straight as the Octopus man left the stage, revealing to the shark that he was a part of the SAoY, hoping that his status as a service member would make him shut up. Fortunately, the lights and sounds of clicking against the stage floor drew the whole building into silence. Kyle turned his attention back on stage only to be star-struck upon laying his eyes on the small anthropomorphic ant woman. His full undivided attention locked onto her once she had begun to sing.

His shoulders relaxed as he was drawn into the music, it was indeed new to him. Her voice filling the room made it feel full and alluring. Unable to speak, her performance kept him speechless, only able to watch as she owned the stage and took away his attention. If not for her song to end, he would have been entranced there indefinitely. Bringing himself back, Kyle blinked before commenting, "Wow, that was amazing..." The young man's soft voice revealing itself as he watched her step off the stage. Pocketing the coupon, he began to make his way over to try to intercept her outside of the crowd. Trying to wave her down without drawing too much attention to himself.
 
Once she was out of the spotlight on the stage, Kwabba-an shrank and disappeared into the crowd. She ducked and weaved and hopped over low appendages, trying desperately to keep from running into or stepping on anyone as she found a path through the murmuring masses. In fact, she was trying her best to be completely invisible, a feat in which she had not yet found any success. Nevertheless, she tried hard to pass by unseen on her way to the bar.

She saw the red-haired man waving from a distance, but since there was movement in practically every direction around her, she didn't think anything of it. Suddenly, he was in front of her and it became entirely obvious that he was waving at her.

"Eep!" She made an involuntary sound indicating that she was startled and then she stopped to look up at the man. She started breathing quicker and more shallowly as she felt her anxiety start to act up. She barely managed to stammer out a greeting. "H-...h-hello."

Then her big, almond-shaped eyes with narrowly slitted pupils shifted perceptibly to gaze at the white wings on his back. Her mouth began to move without permission and though she didn't stammer, her tone was almost fearful.

"I like your wings."
 
Realizing the height difference, Kyle looked down to see the anxious ant squeak when she found herself in front of him. After such a performance, he was quite surprised to see she was also an anxious mess. Her offshoot comment making his face turn red, "Ha- Th-thank you... Sorry if I s-scared you... J-just wanted to s-say that your performance was a-amazing!" The technician stammered as he too was a bumbling mess when it came to conversing with others. His wings fluttering as he stood before her awkwardly, not knowing how else to continue. "Gotta say, never s-seen someone l-like you before... Kinda feel l-like a fish out of w-water here." Admitting as he was probably the only human there, although he didn't look the part as he had massive Elysian wings spreading elegantly from his back.
 
Kwabba-an stared at his wings for uncomfortably long as she felt a series of impulses wash over her. Thankfully she had a well-developed inhibitory control over herself, but unfortunately, this left her feeling overwhelmed and unsure about what she should do.

"Oh, uhm...okay," she said finally without looking him in the eyes. "I mean. Thank you. I think."

She looked down at the ground and brought her hands up to fiddle nervously, tapping her index fingers together.

"Water!" She exclaimed, as if reacting to his comment about being a fish, then looked up at him. For a moment she looked into his eyes, then leaned over to try and peek under his spreading wings to the bar behind him. "I-I need water."
 
Kyle blinked before realizing what she was asking for, "Right- I'll ah- I'll ask for one for you th-then." He offered to her, feeling extremely awkward now that he had put the both of them into this position. The large and fluffy wings that occupied his back spreading to their full extent before quickly folding behind him. The young man turning around to the bar and asking the tender, "W-Water please." Kyle requested softly before retrieving the glass a moment later. Returning back to the small woman and crouching down a bit as he offered out the glass silently. His cybernetics adjusting as his stress levels were all over the place. The man essentially just being a hot mess and trying to cover it all up as best as he could.
 
Kwabba-an looked down at the offered glass of water and continued to be unsure what she should do. In this case, she actually knew what she should do but felt quite awkward even thinking about doing it, and was strongly considering every possible way of avoiding it. Just as she had on stage, she took a deep breath and conjured up a well-rehearsed line, which she had prepared for such situations.

"Please do not be offended. While I appreciate your offer of servitude, I have been warned against taking drinks that people other than the bartender have touched." She looked up at him with an apologetic look in her eyes, then snuck past him to the bar. "Water please, J'dompal."

The orange octopus behind the bar was simultaneously preparing two other drinks, drying off a glass, and listening to three other orders, but his arms still seemed to act on their own and effortlessly poured another glass of water while the octopus' head politely listened to a long-winded story about someone getting naked and running off with a warrior monk of questionable moral standing who was stealing a space fighter.

Kwabba-an took the glass of water from the octopus, then walked back over to the red-haired man. Feeling immensely awkward, she clinked her glass against the one he was offering her and then took a sip.

"I am !Kwabba-an Ternifac-xuralkhi," she pronounced the first syllable of her first name with a hard click sound. "But you may call me Kwabba if it pleases you."
 
"Kwabba-an Ternifac-xuralkhi... I th-think I pronounced that correctly?" Kyle responded, deciding that if he were to dwell on what she had said earlier, it would just make things worse. Laughing anxiously once attempting her name, "Jezz, that's q-quite the mouthful of a n-name huh- I'm Dee- Kyle Dee. I th-think I'll t-take you up on the sh-shorter version." Accepting the shorter name, as it would save the hassle of trying to repronounce her entire name again. Not that it was a bad name, but that it was difficult for him to try and pronounce correctly.

Turning his attention towards the crowd for a moment, he brought the glass he had up to his lips and took a sip before saying, "
Yeah... I don't see any humans here- must just be me." Keeping his remark as quiet as possible before returning his gaze back to Kwabba-an. "I-I like you're dress, the markings a-are also cool. Are they part of th-the performance or s-something else?" He asked as he gestured towards the blue art that decorated her person.
 
"Dee- Kyle Dee," she repeated after him, trying to mimic the exact way he said his own name. She even made an attempt to match the deeper pitch of his voice, which might come across as mocking him. In fact, she was just taking his name very seriously, as if rehearsing it like a song she was expected to sing later.

As he seemed to struggle to talk to her, she felt herself relaxing in direct proportion. She tilted her head and thought about this for a moment, but couldn't remember ever meeting anyone who was as socially anxious as she was. She wanted to help him relax, which gave her something to focus on other than trying to figure out the socially appropriate next step for herself. "Some people call me bug girl if Kwabba is too hard."

When he referred to himself as human, she looked him in the eyes with an expression of confusion before she turned to look at his wings. "Are you human?"

Then he mentioned her dress and she smiled since she had picked it out herself. It was quite plain, but she never felt like she needed to wear anything elaborate in order to stand out on stage. When he brought up her markings, she stuck out a leg to look at the double-banded pattern and spots at her ankle.

"I inherited them from the genetics of my mother. I understand that in her culture, they are a marking of caste. My markings indicate that I am a queen or the next in line of succession after the current queen." She gestured to her ankles, her elbows, her chest, and finally to the lines on her face to illustrate her point. Then she pointed at his face. "Your lack of markings would indicate that you are a worker or soldier and meant to be subservient to me above anyone else."
 
The outside noise had begun to drown itself out as he had honed in more on their conversation. Looking back at his wings when she asked if he was human. Only to turn back to her and have her small finger pointing up to his face and claiming him to be a worker or soldier. "Heh- I actually kn-know some of what y-you're saying... I may have hated biology... but my most favorite species to st-study are ants... B-believe it or not." Kyle admitted before answering, "Yeah, I-I get that a lot wh-when people find out. I was ah... experimented on. Surprised Psy-PsychoPomp when they re-revived me... A human with Elysian wings and c-cybernetics." Explaining it all with some mishaps, gesturing to his wings and cybernetic eye.

"
W-well, I think Kwabba is an a-awesome name... Wish I had a f-family and name l-like yours! B-bit jealous over h-here." He cracked as he attempted to try to break the awkward atmosphere. Taking another sip from the water before looking down at his uniform. "Think I am a bit too overdressed..."
 
"Biology was the only subject other than music that I enjoyed. Most things people tried to tell me seemed so distant and abstract. But when my father explained the details of my internal organs and how they compared to his and those of my mother, it seemed immediately relevant to me." She just looked confused when he mentioned PsychoPomp, though when he gestured to his wings she smiled. She had always had a fondness for wings that she couldn't explain, though his were not nearly the prettiest she had ever seen. That honour went to a pair of her Elysian crewmates.

"I am not sure how I feel about my name. It is actually a title in the language of my mother. My first name means 'daughter of the queen,' and my last means 'ruler of Ternifac.' But my mother and I are the last to speak her language. When she dies, that meaning will be lost. Perhaps then it will just be my name. Until then, it is a statement of who my mother feels I am meant to be, of which I am not sure I agree." She looked at his uniform. "Yes, I would be uncomfortable if I were wearing that much. You can undress if you prefer. There is a coat check on the floor above by the entrance, and I understand that nudity is legally permitted in Kyoto."

She gave him a friendly smile and touched him gently on the arm.

"It is time for me to give another set." She turned and took a few steps away from him before looking back. "It would please me if we talked more afterwards."

With that, she made her way back to the spotlights. When she climbed up on stage, she looked out at the crowd and gave a look that didn't have a name. It was a look that a queen gave her court, but it was also a look that a mob boss gave a room full of his soldiers, and the look a lion gave his pride. Her pupils shrank to paper-thin slivers under the bright lights and anyone with more than a passing knowledge of biology could tell she was effectively blind, But when she gave the look, pockets of the crowd whistled and cheered her on. Though the stage was only raised slightly off the ground so those in the back could just barely see her face, she seemed much, much taller.

Without comment, she grabbed a mic and sang softly a capella, letting the amplification pick up her voice and project it out over the crowd this time. It was a simple song, but one she had written and performed in the midst of battle at Glimmergold.

"As I went on through the portal to fight,
Thinking all about our guiding light
O E-mpress of Yamatai
Won't you safeguard my flight

"O sisters, let's fly on
Let's fly on, come fly on
O sisters, let's fly on
On through the portal to fight."



The lyrics repeated with minor variations, and as she continued to sing she lowered the volume of her voice until she was practically whispering. This had the effect of slowly lowering the volume of everyone who was talking until they stopped altogether and turned to listen.

When she reached the end, she grabbed a violin and followed it up with a piece that began by playing pizzicato, plucking at the strings softly. It would have been too quiet to hear in the earlier din, but now everyone listened and could hear each note. With her other set of hands, she grabbed a cello and bow and began to accompany herself with steadily building intensity. The violin plucking provided a gentle, upbeat rhythm in the upper register while the cello meandered longingly in its lower range.

Then suddenly she stopped playing the cello and used the bow on the violin, deftly letting it ricochet across the strings as she changed her fingering. The effect was that she produced a series of virtual four-note chords while only contacting at most two strings at a time with her bow. In addition to that, the technique gave the sound a rapid and almost violent, frantic feel, in stark contrast to the gentleness of that which preceded.

Finally, she moved on to a jig to which she stomped a clawed foot against the stage to provide a sense of rhythm while she sawed away a tune on the fiddle that had enough energy to launch some people onto the dancefloor where they clapped and moved for the first time since Kyle had entered. When she finished, she took a bow and gave the look once again.

"Thank you, everyone!" She yelled into her mic above the applause. "The next act will be on in a few minutes!"

She replaced the violin and cello on their stands, then exited out the darkened doorway to one side of the stage. The crowd quickly settled back into a dull roar as she was no longer working her magic on them.
 
Giving a thumbs up, Kyle stood alone at the bar as he watched the small anthro run back off to the stage. Setting down his glass of water, he slid his hands into his pocket and walked back over to the balcony to watch her sing again. Hearing the lyrics to the song he froze, his body tensing up as she sang of those taking flight. Instantly reminding him of the battle of Glimmergold, resulting in almost his entire wing being wiped off the face of the sector by the Kuvexians. His heart rate began to spike as his eyes began to dilate, his hand taking hold of the rail tightly of the stairwell before he couldn't handle the stress of the past creeping back to him.

Taking a swift turn around, the panics technician quickly excused himself to the bathroom upon locating it. His stomach churning as he locked himself inside of a stall. Leaning against the wall of the stall as he clenched his hair and chest. His breath hitched and rapid, his cool having completely lost it with everything crashing in at once.

"Where are the pilots? I can't do repairs on our bombers if they're not here... What do you mean they're not coming? Where are our bombers?!" Kyle muttered to himself as he was starting to break down from stress. Sitting on the seat of the bowl of the toilet as he sat there and went silent. His mind racing through the events of that battle. Thankfully, the silence of the bathroom would prevent him from worsening any further. His large wings fluttering around him as he tried to hide from the world.
 
Kwabba-an's eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim light in the backstage hallway. When they did, she saw a bleak grey concrete passage lined with numbered doors. She walked a short way and entered one that had originally been marked 08 but someone had taken the liberty of sloppily relabeling "green room."

The walls within were teal-coloured but were so heavily scarred by years of musicians marking their territory that very little of the original paint was left. Strewn about the room were piles of forgotten clothing and broken instruments. In the back of the room, there was a couple of mismatched couches that seemed to be in an advanced state of decay, on one of which a Nepleslian woman with two heads was looking half-excited and half-terrified.

The insectoid gave the other woman (women?) a brief smile then began excavating a backpack from under one of the hills of clothing. She changed out of the blue dress and into a small grey top that left her midriff exposed, along with a matching grey headband. She then pulled on a frilly purple skirt and slipped on a pair of grey-purple flip-flops. Tossing the blue dress into the backpack, she closed it up again and re-buried it. Kwabba-an turned to go but stopped to look at the women on the couch.

"You can do it," she reassured the women and they smiled back, but it was obvious they were still afraid.

Leaving the green room, she followed the corridor farther away from the stage to a door that opened into the space behind the bar where the octopus J'dompal was still listening to the same person telling a story. For a moment, she wondered if the storyteller should have gone up on stage instead of her, but she suspected his story wasn't that interesting given J'dompal's slowly darkening complexion.

Sneaking out from behind the bar, she returned to where she had last seen Kyle Dee, but he was nowhere to be found. She looked back at the bar, where J'dompal continued to politely listen but one of his tentacles was gesturing upwards. Taking this as an indication that the bartender had seen Kyle go upstairs, she went up to the balcony above but still couldn't see him or even hear his voice.

Feeling deflated, she returned to grab a stool at the bar downstairs where J'dompal served her a beer. She took a sip and closed her eyes, listening to the hundreds of voices and noises around her. Before too long, she started to hear rhythms and melodies in the chaos and began to sway gently in her seat.
 
Thankfully, his silence was interrupted by the sound of others entering the bathroom. His wings flapping back as he snapped his head up, realizing that he was in the bathroom and not back on the Tokyo. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Kyle cleared his throat before standing up. Flushing the toilet before stepping out of the stall, the young man took a deep breath before removing his gloves to go wash his hands. His strained expression was there to look him back in the face as he stood in the mirror. A sense of calm began to trickle in as he knew he had to compose himself. "You're fine Dee... You're not on the Tokyo, you're in Kyoto. Just... wash your hands and go back to the bar... Cool? Cool..." Giving himself a small pep talk before reaching over to shed off a few paper towels to wash his hands.

Exiting from the bathroom, Kyle fitted his gloved back onto his hands. His left ring finger devoid of a ring, as he had not worn any for quite some time after coming back home to Yamatai. Combing his hand through his hair, Kyle had begun to make his way back over to the bar. A neutral yet determined expression donning him as he slipped his way through the crowd. Catching sight of the small insect woman on a stool over at the bar. Silently making his way over, taking a seat next to her. "Sorry- was in the bathroom," Kyle spoke softly, complimented with giving her a tired smile. "Q-quite the performance a-again. Almost l-like you do it f-for a living." A light chuckle leaving him upon making his comment.
 
In her head, the nebulous sounds of everyone talking at the same time, glasses clinking together, the occasional laughter, and shuffling of bodies was music. She picked up the major overtones with her more-or-less average human hearing, but where she differed was that her antennae were covered in small hairs that were able to sense subtle changes in the air currents around her. As silent as Kyle may have been, she still felt his approach. She didn't know it was him, but she could feel the ripples of air pressure as a body moved through the space behind her.

Despite this, when he spoke it startled her as she recognized his voice a moment before she realized he was talking to her. She opened her eyes and turned to him. For a moment her pupils were fully dilated from the darkness behind her eyelids, but they soon narrowed and she could see him as well as she ever could.

"Kyle Dee, I thought you had left. Did you notice the giant statues in the bathroom?" She asked with a knowing giggle. "I suppose it is true, musician is my occupation. I spend so much of my time doing other things that I find it easy to forget."

"Heya bahkeepah!" The heckling shark man from earlier suddenly occupied the space between Kwabba-an and Kyle. "Gimme ya leas' 'spensive beeah 'n' do it snappy-like!"

Kwabba-an recognized the man's voice and visibly tensed.

"Oh heya toots, ah neahly ovahlooktcha on accounta yous wearin cheapah threads now." The shark man turned and leaned against the counter, now facing Kwabba-an and with his back to Kyle. "Yous wah shuah sumthin up on stage. Hows ya doin'?"

"It would please me if you left," Kwabba-an spoke slowly in a deliberate monotone. The way she breathed the words through clenched teeth revealed it to be something of an understatement.

"Aww, yous don' needta bee like dat!"
 
Upon being rudely interrupted, Kyle waited to hear the entire conversation play out. Hearing Kwabba-an tense up and become uncomfortable. Tapping the counter, he reveales a coupon from his pocket and asked the tender, "I-I would like one f-free drink pl-please... just a glass of pop pl-please." His lips cracking an annoyed smirk as he returned his attention back to the man who gave his back to him. A loud accented voice (Scot-Irish) projected, "Hai! You've interrupted our talk. Please make like a fairy godmother and bibbity-bobbity back the fuck up."

The young technician calling out the shark in hopes that he would just leave. However, he knew better than to assume that someone who was bold enough to ignore one 'leave', would leave upon being asked twice. Kyle's hands began to shake as he felt that he had just opened pandora's box.
 
RPG-D RPGfix
Back
Top