Log Date: 1/31/97 Log Cast: Shenner, Kuxli, Grathix Log Intro: If Shenner has learned anything thus far in her young life, it is how to kill time, and how to blend into her surroundings. With Grathix having instructed her to do exactly that, Shenner's been striving to keep herself occupied on Etti IV -- an interesting proposition, what with her inclination to be nervous about the potent presence of the Espo forces, not to mention the Imperial and NR fleets orbitting the planet. Of more immediate concern was the mysterious stranger Giles who'd mistaken her for someone else and clearly was agitated about whoever he'd thought she was. With all of this in mind, it's very easy for Shenner to keep her head down and blend in with the countless sentients thronging the city on business. Waiting for Grathix to accomplish his business -- and the constant conflicting thoughts that a) she should be definitely worried about what the business is, and b) it may get her in trouble to ask -- keeps Shenner from truly enjoying herself, though she can't suppress the impulse to see exactly what she can get away with in this heavily policed city. Even if it's something as harmless-looking as playing a flute in a park.... [Note: Now, entertaining though Shenner's little adventure was for me to RP in this log, I would like to note that what transpires towards the end of this log was _Grathix's_ idea. I take no responsibility for the spoofings of the band and most of the crowd. ;) ] ---------- Flutesong, a simple airy melody of it, drifts out across the park from the redheaded human sitting crosslegged on one of the benches, posture straight and steady. The flute is held down to Shenner's right at a slight angle, as the young human plays. The horansi's ears perk up as he glances around quickly, a slight grin forming on his feline face.. he stands at the entrance to the park for a few moments, then begins heading in the direction of the music. Either Shenner is good enough or the Espos don't care enough that she is playing more loudly tonight, but even so, a single wooden flute can make only so much noise. This one, though, seems to do a good job of it. With real air behind the notes, the flute's voice carries clearly and sweetly, and the song, sprightly of tempo and major in key, is easily noticeable. Kuxli stops a short distance from Shenner, glancing downwards for a second before taking a seat on the ground there.. leaning back a little as he tilts his head up to listen. It doesn't take long for the human to notice that an audience has been acquired. Shenner's mouth quirks over the flute's blowhole, but the melody continues for a few more rounds, variants on the same simple tune, before it finally trails off and the green gaze turns to the felinoid. "Evenin'." Kuxli forms a toothy smile, giving a quick nod in greeting, "Heh, how long ya been here playing that?" he asks curiously, whiskers bristling. Shenner shifts position on the bench, waggling one booted foot as if it might have fallen asleep. "That particular song? Dunno. The flute? Few hours, maybe. Wanted to see if the Espos'd let me play. Nobody's squawked so far." A bit of a smile quirks across the human's face. Kuxli heh's quietly, glancing sideways at one of the Espo's before looking back over at Shenner, he bats one ear head tilting to the side slightly before he asks, "Really? Doesn't it get borin just being here playing on that.. flute?" Shenner's lean fingers twiddle a bit on the flute's holes. "Got any suggestions for alternate pastimes?" The question's a dry one, and suggests that the flute-player indeed might want a change of pace. Shenner chuckles sardonically and adds, "I could sing, I suppose, but it ain't much fun busking if I can't accompany myself." Kuxli lifts his furry shoulders into a shrug, "I been passin the time just wondering around mostly..." he sighs, shrugging again, he glances up as you chuckle, a grin reappearing on his furred face. Shenner leans back on the bench, stretching out first one long lean leg, then the other, then rolling each shoulder languorously. The look on that pointed face remains alert, though, as Shenner chuckles faintly. "Done a fair bit of that, but a city this big, only so much a body can look at. Maybe you've seen somethin' interesting I ain't?" Kuxli's furry face srunches up momentairly as he thinks, then shrugs again, his ears laying back.. "Eh, some of those booths have some weird things.. the dance dome is good for passin time to.. somethin I seem to have a lot of lately." he shrugs again as he finishes, looking at the ground by his furred paws. Shenner leans closer and suggests conspiringly, "We could try that dance floor." Kuxli pauses just a moment, a toothy, mischievous grin forming on his face before he gives a nod, "Heh really? Cool... hmm never danced in an anti-grav field before." he begins to stand. Shenner gets lithely up, grabbing the leaf-patterned leather sheath for the flute and sliding the instrument into it. "Well, I'll tell yah, I got a lot of energy to work off, and that looks like a helluva place to do it. Let's go!" Kuxli brushes his pants off, ears perking back up with a grin still on his face.. he turns and heads briskly back towards the street. Shenner sets into a steady lope beside you, flute now shouldered, eyes glinting in anticipation. [Off the two youngsters, human and Horansi, go. Ah, youthful exuberance...] Free-Flight Dance Dome - Capital City The Free Flight Dome of Etti IV is famous. Not only for the repute of it's patrons, but also for the amazing dance floor it possesses. A ring of tables rise around a central open area. The tables are terraced, with the higher ones being tucked back further and further into shadow and dimness. The center of the room, in contrast, is brightly lit. It is here, in the opening at the middle of the ring, where the dance floor lies. It is from this space that the establishment received it's name. The space is bordered with a railing made of chrome, polished to a high gleam. Beyond this railing there is a field, controlled by the workers, that nullifies the act of gravity. Dancing of all sorts is possible in this field of weightlessness. Flips, jumps of incredible height, and mere toe tapping all to the beat of the live band that constantly plays on the bandstand. The ceiling towers 25 meters above the floor, giving ample room. The bandstand and the glass and chrome bar are the only things that break the circle of tables. The bartenders, two of them at a time, prepare drinks quickly, and attempt to avoid listening to the interesting (and often dangerous) conversations around them. After all, one false word in this place can mean one's life. The Espo police presence here is normal. Obvious exits: leads to Port District - Capital City . Kuxli comes in from the street. Kuxli has arrived. Heading into the night-crowded Dome, Shenner's stance remains cockily long-strided, and the human grins at the taller felinoid. The band's in full swing, and some nimble beings are already braving the floor, though none yet seem to be showing any sign of truly notable acrobatics. Kuxli squints, his eyes readjusting to the dimmer light, he matches Shenner's stride his tail swishing in nervous anticipation, "Well, there it is.." motioning towards the dance floor... he looks a bit nervous, like a kid about to ride his first roller coaster. Shenner, without so much as breaking stride, better secures the flute slung at her back, and heads straight for the railing around the open floor. If anything, the human's expression grows fiercer at the music flooding the place, sharp and eagerly edged. "C'mon, Kux!" Kuxli hangs back for a few moments, then runs to catch up with you, ears laid back with eyes wide, he takes a breath then hops over the railing over the dance floor, letting out a 'yipe' of surprise as the anti-grav field 'lifts' him. Shenner starts to float, a huge, broad grin stretching across her thin features. Keeping for the moment to the side so as not to bump into anybody, the human makes a few experimental moves, shoulders beginning to twitch back and forth to the music's rhythm. Kuxli becomes used to the feel of floating around weightlessly, he glances over at Shenner matching her grin with a toothy one of his own, he begins to do a slow, testing somersault. "I could get into this," calls the human. Booted feet now up off the ground, Shenner remains more or less still upright, but that shoulder-twitch begins to spread down the youngster's lean frame, as Shenner's started to vibrate from head to toe to the band's pulsing chords. Kuxli finishes the roll, his grin widening as he untucks himself, "Yeah!" he calls out in reply, his pointed ears perked and catching all the music from the band, his tail swaying in tune to the rest of the music.. he tries to start dancing like one would on a regular dance floor, but quickly discovers it's not working... "Hey, how ya supposed to dance?" he shouts. Shenner, possessed by motion, gradually but inexorably floats higher, and flashes her companion a wickedly bright grin. "Music still moves yah, just got an extra axis to go in, pal!" And moved Shenner appears to be, in earnest, hands lifting as though with imaginary drumsticks to pound at the air, feet tapping at the nothingness below them as if they were still gravity-bound. The human can be heard -- at least in immediate earshot -- to be growling out a harmony line to what the band on stage is putting out. Kuxli makes small hopping motions in tune to the music, making a backwards swimming motion with his furred hands that leads him into a seris of back flips, his expression one of excitment as he floats around... slowly letting the music take over his actions. _That's_ more like it, if Shenner's expression is anything to indicate. The human practices a bit at this notion of the slightest handclap or foot-tap being liable to cause a change in altitude, then, playfully, starts circling you, wailing out another harmony line that nobody on the stage actually seems to be producing as part of the song, yet which does blend in seamlessly with the music. But Shenner's starting to laugh, too, breathlessly, which causes the singing to skip and waver somewhat. Continuing to flip, his arms and legs moving in and out with the music, growls of excitment emitting from his throat, "I gotta do this more often!" he crys out over the beat of the music. A merry peal of laughter from Shenner, at that. As the human grows more confident in the air, she tries some of those flips the veteran dancers seem to be good at, but winds up reeling dizzily aloft for a few minutes before righting herself. Kuxli lets out a loud roar/laugh, his body pulsing with the music.. he stops from his flips, and springs almost instantly into a high leap, arms down by his side, eyes with exictment, "Try this!" he calls down, "It's fun!" [OOC Note: At this point in the original roleplay, Dillon showed up, and began to set up a situation between him and Kuxli that was clearly going to lead to conflict; however, since that roleplay was not yet resolved, the portion of this scene involving Dillon and Kuxli has been transplanted out to a subsequent scene. We therefore assume that Kuxli and Shenner here and now continue their explorations of antigrav dancing, in general mutual delight, and that eventually, both of the youngsters get into a cycle of dancing, taking breaks for rest and drinks, and dancing again....] Grathix comes in from the street. Grathix has arrived. Grathix walks in, glances ever so breifly around and heads for the bar. Grathix places an order for a glass of Spiced Wine Shenner, looking tired, flushed, and disheveled of hair but fiercely bright of eye, has claimed a table in the bar's vicinity. Boots swung up onto the table's top, the youngster's currently having an intimate conversation with a big glass full of something foamy, and eyeing the current crowd of dancers out on the floor. Grathix nods to the barkeep, throwing him some credits, as his drink is brought to him. Grathix sips his Spiced Wine. Grathix takes his drink and walks toward the railing and watches the dance floor. Shenner presses her drink to her face a moment or two, letting the glass's cool sides mute the heat of her skin, then slugs down the rest of the beverage. Intent of expression, the young thief gets up, grinning fiercely, and strides towards the dance floor, steps falling in time with the band's current number. Grathix leans himself against the railing, intently gazing at the danceers. In what appears to be a deft little grab-and-jump maneuver getting better with practice, Shenner swings over the railing, face lighting up as the antigrav buoys her upward. Grathix catches the acrobatic maneuver from the corner of his eye, turning to catch a glimpse of the 'graceful' dancer. Shenner floats, and, floating, begins to writhe in rhythm to the music, head tossing back slightly, and tenorish voice growling out of her to join the backup vocals. Grathix rolls a 12 for his PERCEPTION skill. An Average roll! Grathix sees the dancer from a distance and strains his vision to make out a bit more. Grathix. . o o O O (Could that be him?) Grathix strolls along the railing, intent on getting a beter look. The band's lead singer is belting out, in a rich, far-carrying baritone, something about a flaming star; the backup singers, humans and non-humans alike, keep up a multi-layered harmony and a wave of sound that thunders across the enormous room. As if the song is a storm tossing them in the air at random, the dancers over the floor gyrate, spin, pirouette... and the thin redheaded pickpocket arrows higher and higher over the floor as if shot skyward from a ground cannon. Grathix arrives at the spot, getting a clearer view of the subject in question. He visibly laughs, shakes his head and takes a long drink form his Spiced wine. Shenner skydances, apparently quite enthusiastically experimenting with what whirling motions work best -- not only to keep aloft, not only to keep the beat and the tempo, but to do it so that every movement made is an extension of the music rather than simply absorbed into it. Grathix strides over to the bandstand and begins to talk to one of the band members as he plays. Still airborne, Shenner fairly radiates exultation, even as she practices at turning awkward, unfamiliar motions into grace. Over the din of the music it grows impossible to pick out her individual voice over the bands' collective song, but if her expression, the movements of her lips, and the sharp punches her hands make into the air over her head, she is quite clearly singing along with the musicians. Grathix slips something to the musician and returns to leaning against the rail, observing the dancers. The beat and temp begin to crescendo, booming all around, working up the dancers into a frenzy of motions and movement, the last mad rush before the end of the tune. In the grip of that upsurging crescendo, Shenner, aloft, grins ferociously. Perhaps in mutual spontaneous impulse the young human and a couple more dancers on either side of her grab hands, and dive together, headlong, towards the floor -- to level out at the last moment as the song storms its way to a finish. The song ends with an ecclectic guitar rift, the lead singing wailing at the top of his lungs, the percussion dragging the song out just a little more. As the band finally finsihes up, the lead singer steps up, a paper in his hand. He reads it to himself and then and says, "Thank you all, very much. You've been a great crowd. I'd like to thank my number one fan out there. Shenner, this one's for you." And with that, a guitarist throws his guitar out in the direction of one particular the redheaded, dancing maniac. Shenner lands, or mostly does, grabbing at the railing -- and jerking a startled green gaze towards the stage. _What?_ Shenner's diving companions react with better reflexes than the young thiefling does; one of them catches the guitar, turns to gape at Shen, and then hands the thing over, grinning in impressed amazement. The other whoops, pushes at Shen's shoulders, and nudges the youngster towards the stage. Grathix looks on, a slight grin (or was that a smirk?) barely visible as he hides it behind his drink, which he finishes off. Floored. Yep, that'd be a good description for the look on Shenner's face as the other dancers, cluing in as to what's going on, helpfully nudge the young human across the antigrav field up to the stage. Shenner's expression works at it for a few minutes before shifting back to a more familiar big cocky grin; by then, the kid's made it to the stage. Grathix. . o o O O (Heh, this ought to be good.) Kuxli grins from his seat at the bar, watching Shenner make her way on stage.. he takes a long drink from a bottle, setting it back down on the bar before turning back to look at the stage, the wide toothy grin still there. Shenner doesn't have a chance to ask exactly what the lead singer thinks she ought to be doing with this here guitar, for the dancers behind her cheerfully push her up onto the stage itself. Stumbling a bit at the transition from antigrav to the stage's floor, Shenner gives the band a "Okay, bright boys, now what?" look, even as her hands experimentally heft the weight of the instrument. The lead singer greets Shenner and makes room for her to take center stage. Kuxli raises a furred hand into the air, then hollers out his encouragement, pausing only to sip from his drink. The lead singer says, "Thanks for being here, Shenner. Thanks for all your support. But don't just stand there, say something..." And with that, he hands her a mic. The redheaded kid doesn't flinch. One more ostensibly casual inspection of the guitar is visible to the throng in this place, and an experimental chord struck to the strings is audible, before Shenner strides broadly to where the lead singer'd been just a moment before. The mike handed over, she replies promptly, the projection systems picking up the wry low growl in her voice, "And here they told me you folks on Etti IV didn't _like_ music..." The crowd explodes into a frenzy of screams and whistles with that comment. Kuxli roar-chuckles at the comment, batting one of his perked ears as he listens. Grathix continues to watch with genuine amusement from his place along the rails. Shenner goes on, slyly, now glancing out at the audience, "Maybe you folks can tell me if these guys usually hand guitars to people to just let 'em stand up here and look handsome, or whether they actually want me to do something with this thing?" Expression all bland innocence, the kid sweeps a green gaze around the place. Kuxli finishes whatever drink was in the bottle, turning to set it down on the bar counter before looking back over at Shenner on the stage, a wide toothy grin on his face. Someone from amidst the crowd yells, "Play something!!" And as if by cue, the croud begins to chant, slamming fists into the air, "Play! Play!" The lead singer grins and nods aprovingly to Shenner, as do the band members, who take up their instruments to join in on this impromptu jam session. Far be it from Shenner to resist majority opinion. Grinning ferociously once more, the youngster glances back at the band, and can be heard to suggest, "Okay, boys, "Kessel Run," key of C, and I'll try not to finish it in fewer parsecs than you, hey? One, two, three, four...!" Kuxli hops off from his stool, keeping his gaze in the direction of the stage with a toothy grin, he turns his attention to the door out, and starts padding in its direction, shifting his blue eyed gaze from the stage towards the space in front him as he moves. And with that, the band begns to play anew, playing right along with the redhaired human as if 'he' had always belonged and been a member of the band. Neither missing a beat nor a key change. They crowd loving every minute of it, dancing wildly to the music. As the band launches into the song in question, Shenner plants herself wide-footed, smack dab in the center of the stage, and starts belting out the lyrics, voice rolling out across the sea of beings in a higher register than that of the lead singer's, but with a growling crackle of energy that adds depth to the sung notes. The kid's hands stay on the guitar, and Shenner does actually seem to know what to do with the thing, though anyone bothering to pay attention can tell easily that this young human is much more confident with her own voice than with the unfamiliar instrument. Kuxli pauses by the door, giving one last look to the stage before turning and opening the door, slipping out through it quickly. Kuxli exits and heads into the Port District. Kuxli has left. Grathix looks on at the events transpiring, his face not revealing approval or dismay. He simply watches. The band plays on with the redhaired human now taking center stage, the music raging on, no one missing a beat or key change, playing as if they had always played together. And the crowd loving every minute of it, dancing wildly, uncontrollably to the music. Exultation, again, can be glimpsed in the face of the young redhead. But when Shenner'd been dancing, it was an unfocused thing, tossed out to mingle with the general euphoria of the crowd; now, when Shenner sings, it is directed, honed, and far, far brighter. Singing "Kessel Run"'s homage to fast ships and what skilled pilots do with 'em -- and in 'em -- the kid doesn't stay still anymore than she had aloft over the dance floor; Shenner's right heel drives the beat into the stage floor, and the hand not holding the mike emphatically stabs it into the air. Grathix laughs as he sees this 'artist' perform. Even though the pilot in the song wins the Kessel Run in a blaze of hyperdrive fire that leaves the rest of the ships eating ion trails, Shenner keeps pace with the band, and they with her; at last, though, on a final triumphant burst of music, the song reaches its close. As the music dies down, the crowd's dancing does as well. But this is quickly replaced by an emphatic roar of cheering, clapping, whistleing and general encouragement and approval towards the redhaired human, 'his' music and 'his' voice. "YOU RULE!! YOU KICK!! YOU ROCK!!" are just few of the many praises heard throughout the energized crowd. The lead singer walks up to Shenner and congratulates 'him'. Taking the mike, he exclaims, "Shenner, ladies and gents! Lets give it up one more time for Shenner!...Man, you most certainly know how to rock!" Shenner bows, waves, winks, calls out thank-yous, and in general appears as if accepting such adulation is par for the course -- the only sign of any possible awed wonder being, perhaps, the ear to ear grin and fierce light in the green eyes. Shenner yields the stage back to the band's leader, then, bowing once last time and striding off to hand the guitar back to its owner. As the redhaired, green-eyed musical wonder walks off the stange, the crowd pick up the chant "Shenner! Shenner! Shenner!" as many swarm to congratulate her. The band leader says, "We'll be back a little later on." as he and his band head off stage for a break. Shenner, engulfed, chatters exhaustedly but triumphantly with a knot of other young beings, but makes an unerring trek for the bar: "Thank you, thank you... you really wanna tell me you appreciate me, buy me a beer! Saw that coming? Hells no! Thank you, thank you... I have _got_ to siddown..." Grathix watches the rehaired human make his' way to the bar. He stands aback, observing. Three or four beers are in fact produced almost spontaneously, though only one is tagged by the nearer of the two bartenders, who yells over, "That one's on the house, kid!" _That_ is greeted with a flood of applause, as Shenner half-slides, half-slumps into a chair at a table, and thirstily starts in on the drink. Grathix watches Shenner entertained with 'his' new found admirers and fans, and decides that now would be a perfect time to make an unnoticable exit and exits the locale. Grathix exits and heads into the Port District. Grathix has left. [End log.]