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 Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2023 8:37 pm
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 It wasn't a rare occasion that found Liri at the piano, pencil in one hand, scrawling out notes and played them with the other hand. Although he sometimes wrote from memory, this was his normal process. Tonight was no exception. His room above the Sin Bin was immaculate, as always. His bed perfectly made; books on his shelves organized by topic, by title, and by author; and every painting or picture on the wall was aligned with perfect precision.
To say he was a little a**l about such things was a bit of an understatement. However, Liri didn't care if others messed his system up. He just cared about eventually returning it to a suitable order. It felt nice. Actually, it was one of the ways he relaxed himself, by rendering a chaotic situation or setting into one of order and precision. Liri didn't impose his own rules on others, he just picked up after them if the disorganization was in his own room.
The particular song he was working on was half-written, at least in terms of musical notation. He hadn't assigned lyrics to the entire thing. Usually he worked with his bandmates on that. But the melody itself was flowing pretty well. He hummed a couple of bars, smiling unconsciously at the sound. It was edgy but had a quality he'd always liked in music. Maybe that was a personal flaw, because he wrote his music for himself first, band next, and audience last.
"Hey," he said, knocking on the wall beside him. "X. Help me out. I'm working on something."
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2023 12:16 pm
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It was another quiet night for Ecstasy. The band had been working on new music while they scouted talent, trying to find a replacement drummer. Easy come, easy go, as they say -- but Ecstasy, who was usually quite relaxed in nature, couldn't help but be irate by the whole incident. To abandon the band to join a Clan. What had the fool expected? A warm welcome? A pass to stick around?
The betrayal was what hurt the most. They were clanless, and had no one but one another. It was hard enough trusting another vampire of any stripe, knowing well the Beasts that lurked behind every fanged smile. Never quite knowing who was ready to backstab who, who was in it for some angle, or worse, some Clan agenda. Vampires weren't exactly a wholesome lot, but it came with the territory. While X was far from wholesome, he had, over the years, come to trust Pretty Boy and in time, Delirium.
He'd trusted a certain drummer too -- they were friends, they were family, and they were here to have fun, make noise, and shake things up.
Foolish of him to have grown comfortable. Change was once more upon the band, and X would have to roll with it. He was easy-going enough, but that didn't mean he had to like it. New faces always meant new drama, and that wasn't something he liked to abide. On the other hand, new faces also meant new risks... but the band had to go on. They couldn't much perform without one.
Life moved on, after all. X would too.
So it was, X had just finished tuning his bass, in need of a new distraction to crawl out of the pit of rage and ire and angst that bubbled and pooled like poison beneath his skin. No one had to know about that. Tuck it away, hold it back, until he could pout it out on the hunt, or in his performance, or in the throes of some other passion or addiction. The knock on his wall almost startled the rainbow kat, whose tail poofed for a moment in surprise, before settling.
Rising to his feet, taking his bass with him, and ambled easily over to the others room. He gave on knock, before opening the door, fanged smirk upon his features. "What's up, pet?" He asked, dual-colored eyes bright.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2023 12:52 pm
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Whatever Liri was felt when X arrived he kept to himself. "I'm stuck on this passage," he said, playing the partially finished song out for Ecstasy to demonstrate. There was definitely something catchy about what he had so far, but the guitar riff just wasn't coming together the way he wanted. Although... X's company was a little distracting to begin with. Mostly in a good way. "Would you mind helping me with it?" When it came to guitar, X was definitely a help. PB was even better at playing it, and he'd certainly had his share of experience writing hit songs, but he was out petitioning the Prince.
Something the blue haired beauty did not envy. The kat had his own feelings about the matter, but rules were rules. He knew how to play nice when he had to. Clanned vampires, on the other hand, didn't. Most of them, at any rate, and enough that he had his own reasons for despising them. In any case, X was here and now, and he glanced up into a pair of similarly mismatched eyes. Every one in the band had them, and X was no exception. Right now they were filled with a bright, almost smug sort of humor that Liri could only wonder at. But, on the other hand, that was X for you.
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:40 pm
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X leaned against the doorway, listening to the passage Delirium played. He didn't speak for a moment, dual-eyes considering what he heard, a well as contemplating what could be added, or changed. "If that's your pleasure, pet," he mused thoughtfully, before giving Liri a lop-sided smirk. He allowed his attention to drift back over his winged companion, stepping inside the room without waiting for further invitation.
If Liri wanted him out, he'd know.
"Sounds great, but the transition does seem to be missing something," he mused, pacing amid the others room as he pondered. Liri's room was, seemingly, perfect -- everything had its place. It was immaculate, and honestly, made X a bit nervous if he stayed in it too long. It wasn't anything like his own room, but that made sense to the vampire - he wasn't anything like Liri, either. Thankfully, he wasn't here just to take up space. The singer needed a little help, and that meant he had a purpose... Unlike everything else in the tidy room, X felt incredibly out of place.
.
"What about something like...." He played a few bars on his bass. It didn't sound nearly as good as it might on a standard guitar, given the lower pitch of the instrument -- but it might give Liri a little something to go off of, or a little inspiration.
"What you think, love?" He asked, not overly worried whether or not Liri liked it or not. X never had much expectation -- it was easier to stay detached, safer, really. He might have been a damned creature, but there were passions and darkness enough roiling within a vampire, X included. Anger, irritation, wrath, defensiveness -- he had long since tried to master those feelings. Instead, he tried to be mellow and go with the flow. In a band, there were too many competing wants, desires, egos....X was flexible enough around them.
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 10:11 pm
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Painfully aware of X's presence in a way that he pretended not to be, Liri listened very carefully to the transition that X played. "What, something like this?" he asked, repeating the series of notes, though slightly higher than X had initially played them. "Or like this?" he asked, replicating X's performance on the piano. "Or maybe this?" He set his fingers to the keys again, playing a descant above the melody, glancing up at his bandmate when he finished.
The simple notes had stood on their own merit, truth be told. Whatever X's thoughts about it, he'd liked the sound of the bass. Sometimes he wondered why X didn't spend a whole lot of time on composition. He was better than he gave himself credit for. "You know, you could write this with me," he said, waiting to hear what the other thought of his attempt, but unable to resist making the suggestion. He looked a bit like an eager puppy when he said it, in spite of himself.
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