Marilyn
Chapter 5
#...Stupid people shouldn’t breathe…. Stupid people shouldn’t breeeeeeeaaaaaaaaatthhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeee…. #
Onyx rested his head against the wall; it was going to be a very very long night. The first round of the annual Battle of the Bands, and the quality of the bands didn’t look great so far. One band, lead by a 6’5” guy wearing a teddy bear back pack, had regaled the audience with a song “about fluffy bunnies and love hearts” entitled “Die, Ricki (Lake)! Die!” The current band wasn’t even up to their standard- three skinny guys with multi-coloured spray-painted hair who could barely hold yet alone play their instruments standing behind a fat guy screaming “stupid people shouldn’t breathe” was not real music in Onyx’s opinion. If they weren’t going to learn to play, they could at least think up more than four words.
The next band however looked like a good challenge. He’d seen them around and though he’d never actually heard them, they had a good reputation. The lead singer look like the intense sort who might actually think about his lyrics and he’d seen the other band members in previous projects and know that they could all play their instruments- they even had a real live drummer. University bands never have real drummers since no parent is willing to transport a drum kit all the way up to the university. Well it would be nice to have a challenge rather than just walking away with the first three rounds like they usually did. At least they hadn’t drawn against the Crew this early on in the proceeding- there was no way they could win against them in the first round. Besides they were almost the same band- peripatetic big haired lead singer, extravagant guitarist, cute almost jailbait bassist and a huge amount of programming- though Evengrace were less capable of laughing at themselves.
Onyx’s surveyed his troops. Dagon was staring out the gap in the stage curtains at the crowd, his back so straight he looked like he was going to pull a muscle. He was posing with his guitar again, holding it between his feet like it was some sort of sword. He’d dressed up again too, suit, cravat, and long hair; he looked like Brad Pitt in Interview. Onyx sighed and turned to look at Annabel who was draped across Gian on the floor as usual, the flowers in her hair and a velvet priestess gown clinging to her figure didn’t make her look any less jailbait, even if she was 24. Whilst Gian, in his usual leather, gazed off it to the distance, silently practicing his fingering on the violin. Cyber and Synthetic, both keyboardists, were faffing about with their equipment, dressed in the pinstripe suits that were their only non-UV attire. They must make a very interesting sight on stage, Onyx thought, though he should now considering how much time he spent off stage and in the audience. Another reason to hope they wouldn’t get draw against the Crew- a radio mike is only effective when it’s a gimmick, too many people using them and they just don’t surprise the audience any more. He poked irritably at his hair-sprayed spikes, trying to push one away from his eyes, but it had long since set there.
He crossed his arms across his chest as Black Dragon took to the stage and proceeded to win over at least seventy-five percent of the audience. Their opening song “Firesoilslave” got a lot more applause that the two previous effects had attracted. Despite being a big to heavy and growling for Onyx’s tastes, he could see how they could appeal to the usual Battle of the Bands audience. By their third song, a lot of the audience were tapping their feet, and there seemed to be some sort of mosh pit developing to one side of the stage. Onyx kicked Gian in the thigh when he spotted him tapping his fingers. Three more songs to go, including the cover song, and Onyx realised his was biting his fingertips. They covered Rammstein’s “Feuer Frei!” and the crowd went crazy.
“Shite!” Onyx kicked the wall.
“Time for the big guns?” Dagon asked without turning his head.
“No. No, not this early on, not in the first round. We can still get this. I can see plenty of our guys out there. Hhhhmmm well… no we’ll stick with the set we have unless it looks really dire. You know the signal to change songs, yeah?” He glanced around at the band and everyone nodded. “Good. Damn it.” He sighed.
Black Dragon began their last song, and Evengrace began doing the final checks on their instruments.
# Too much, too fast, too hard. Chaos in motion, chaos stopped. Neither compares to you. Like gravity taken and dropped. I hope you understand. That this is in our hands. No-one need ever know. How far this will.......... I will lie where I fall, not before, not before…#
Damn it these guys were too good. It would be a shame to knock them out at the first round, but Onyx couldn’t face the thought of not at least getting to the semi-finals. Black Dragon were finally wandering off the stage, the sound of applause drifting after them. Cyber and Synthetic hurried past them to finish hooking up all their equipment. After a few minutes, Annabel glided on to the stage to take up her position. Onyx loved the way they set up, one entrance after the other, each person striking a pose once they were ready. He never went out until the music had started; he loved to make the audience jump. He grinned as he heard chanting from the audience.
“Many and many a year ago- in a kingdom by the sea...”
Annabel had certainly made them more popular with the men these past few months, and it was nice to have a real person playing rather than a machine- one less thing for him to program for a start. Dagon joined her on stage and Onyx heard the shout go up from his little fan club, predictably, he posed even more than usual. It always made smile the way Dagon go so upset that Onyx distracted all the attention from him once the music actually started. Gian joined the guys on stage and everything was in readiness. Onyx took one last glance at the audience before giving the signal to Synthetic, and She was right at the front of the audience. He grinned, feeling his heart start to beat fast and he bounced out on to the stage to start the set.
He had picked their three most danceable songs to start with to get the audience over to their side. Played live the guitars and base beat were just chunky enough to win over the heavier crowd, whilst the synth elements made sure that their fans and the more pop based people stayed on their side. Onyx bounced around the stage like a man possessed passing on his energy to the audience, though he was very glad when the third song finished and the slower “My Angel One” began. He dropped off the edge of the stage, making the audience gasp as he moved through them, dancing with some and singing directly to the girls he recognised as fans. The female members of the audience were almost entirely won over by this approach, and a few clung to his hands as he moved back towards the stage as the song drew towards its end. He caught hold of Marilyn’s hands and sang the last lines to Her, smiling, before he jumped up back up onto the stage.
He crouched down as the bass line for the cover song began, his head down he looked out at the crowd through his eyebrows. Grinning evilly, he reached out a hand towards the audience, his other hand gripping the edge of the stage he leaned out as far as he could as he murmured the intro into his mike. #from the cradle bars… comes a beckoning voice…. It sends you spinning… you have no choice# as the guitars came up and the violin joined them he jumped out into the audience. He knew he had them then, he know they had won this round, as the audience screamed out the words with him and danced to the jagged music around him. He sang the final song, appropriately entitled “This is the End”, exultantly, grinning and running about the stage, the rest of the band picking up the mood and dancing with him. Dagon and Annabel even pressed their backs together and laughed as they played.
When they finally left the stage the audience screaming after them, they sat back stage the other bands staring blankly at them. Annabel began a whispered conversation with the lead singer of Black Dragon whom she had shared a house with in their first year of university, but everyone else did their best not to look each other. It was almost like a doctor’s waiting room. Onyx leant back against the wall and slid slowly down to the floor, too many nightmares recently and not enough sleep, he also couldn’t remember the last time he ate which worried him slightly. Dagon passed him a half empty and warm bottle of Fanta, which Onyx accepted gratefully.
Everyone’s heads turned towards the stage as the compare hurried towards the mike. Onyx breathed deeply and shut his eyes.
“..And the band that will go through to the second round of this years Battle of the Bands is……….” Onyx bit his lip. “…Evengrace.”
Dagon howled in triumph, dragging Annabel into his arms and spinning her round. Onyx dragged himself upright and followed the rest of the band out onto the stage, smiling softly as he recognised the voices of their fans screaming. They bowed once and then turned to begin dismantling the equipment as the audience dissipated, most headed for the bar, but some headed backstage to comfort the losers and some rushed onto the stage to reassert their un-dying love for the winner band. Onyx smiled and replied politely to all the praise, hugging those he knew to be most dedicated. He looked up and saw Her smiling up at him. He dropped of the edge of the stage and enveloped her in a bear hug.
“It’s all for you… always for you,” he murmured in her ear, a statement he would repeat an hour later as they were curled up in his bed. She smiled and kissed him, before gently telling him to go to sleep. He snuggled into her shoulder and was asleep before she even finished the sentence. He slept soundly that night, without dreams, although he awoke once thinking he could here the sound of those metal wings rustling outside the window.
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