Sing For Your Supper

ALNE - MAIN SQUARE

The concert, such as it is, is underway.

Kaleido's found a pair of other adventurers to hire who have instruments, and they've set up a 'stage' in the form of some scrap tables hastily nailed together. But makeshift or not, it's worked.

So far, it's been a combination of old pop hits, kinda-sorta adapted for the new situation vis a vis modern music with ancient instrumentation, but it's at least recognizable and played well.

"Thank you, thank you..." calls Kaleido as the last few notes echo across the square. "You're a wonderful audience! We're going to break for a couple minutes, grab some food, but then we'll be back for more, so stay tuned!"

(Kaleido still has not quite gotten the paradigm of real-world slang being indecipherable amongst the landers, some of whom in the audience are wondering why the were fang is telling the instruments to remain well-tuned.)

Kaleido jumps off of the stage and wades into the crowd, heading for the snack table to stuff their beak and socialize a bit.

(Snacks provided by Plant Hwayden HQ's public crafting workshop.)

Ah, bardcore, the genre his player had started to get into as an irony, then actually fallen in love with. Dare, the dire hyena werefang adventurer who has become something of a common sight in the fields and forests of the starter area as he's been busily ingratiating himself with the local Landers, claps his hands together loudly, and then leans over to explain to a puzzled looking group of teens that 'staying tuned' is Adventurer slang for 'paying attention' to something.

"Nice set," he calls over to Kaleido as the bird person passes nearby. "You guys taking requests at all?"

Free food? Why not?

BlackRose idly nibbles on some snacks and gets something to quench her thirst as she looks around, enjoying the general atmosphere of the place. While Miyako is interesting enough with her choice in music, it's always nice to hear a variety of music as well. "Stay tuned, huh? That sounds like a stealth pun within itself," She comments with a slight smirk.

    Mizuki can't help singing along to some of the better-known song parts. At least she's good at it for an amateur!

    She adds to Dareshetani's explanation of the slang that it's a bit more nuanced than that... it's more like being told to check back at a notice board regularly than paying attention in general. She chuckles briefly at BlackRose's comment. It took a moment to get it (toon = avatar/character, they are certainly all staying 'tooned' now...) she's not explaining THAT one to landers.

    She follows the hyena to Kaleido. "Are you looking for more singers? I never got to be in a band in real life and did not realize it was a possibility in here until literally this moment." She looks at him with hopeful kitty eyes, tail twitching eagerly.

Delphine is actually humming the chorus from that last song to herself as Kaleido vacates the stage ... and on a whim, the blonde Undine pushes off from the wall she was leaning against, angling towards the the bird-person. "I didn't think there were literal songbirds in this part of the world," she says with a wry smile, waving to him. "I think I missed most of your set, though ... I hope that was just the first one?"

She nods a greeting to Mizuki as well, closer to a bow in some regards. "Huh. How many singers do we *have* here?" she wonders at the catgirl's query.

"Depends on what you've got, how well we know it, and how well we can fake it," says Kaleido.

They look over at Mizuki, then at Delphine. "At least two, apparently, though I've heard there's some idol who got sucked in along with us... never heard of her, though."

And then to Mizuki, gesturing with a meat pastry from the snack table. "Well. Do you want to be in a band here? I wasn't one in real life, but having so many skill points in <song> is helping smooth out the edges from my solo shower karaoke career, it seems~"

And then they gesture at themself. "And I have to say, I am *rocking* it here. I'm really eager to get home, just like everyone else, but the landers seem to *love* a good song. It's like, their whole thing, some of them, but they've only got the 42."

"So we'll call it... I dunno, Kaleido and the Backup Singers. That's a pretty good name, yeah? Has a nice ring to it."

"Also what she said," Dare adds agreeably to Mizuki's addendum, not missing a beat. He takes advantage of proximity to the snacks table to snag an apple and sink his fangs into it with a satisfying KRONCH. "Well, I may be betraying my age... but I'd love to hear some AC/DC if you can swing it," he grins at Kaleido, wiping a dip of apple juice from his chin with the back of one hand.

"Y'know that's interesting - I've only got the base level in <song> myself, from taking Bard as my secondary... but I feel like I CAN sing better here than I used to in the shower, too. Like I've always had a good ear for pitch, right? But I could never control my voice well enough. So the best I could claim is I always knew EXACTLY how cringey it was when I tried."

    Do you want to be in a band? "Honestly it sounds like a nice activity to break up 'trying to get out of here' with. I'm not sure I fully remember that many songs besides video game background music, but I can sing any anyone /else/ remembers."

    She smiles at 'solo shower karaoke career' then tilts her head at the mention of 'the 42'. "The 42?" she asks, cluelessly.

    Her ears splay a bit at the band name. She smiles nervously, but eventually decides to come clean: "I wouldn't /only/ ever sing backup, would I?"

    And then a flash of realization washes over her face. "Wait, I could sing the songs with a female lead part!" Tail excitedly twitching again. "I mean, other songs and backup parts too of course, but you need someone else to sing the lead part sometimes!"

Gwen had been doing pretty well her shop had finally opened and she had a fairly brisk business but with the concert, she had tried to sell some food at the food stall given how close she was to the concert. However, free food rapidly torpedoes that. So more than a little miffed Gwen would just shut the Chain Mail Bikini +1 down and go to join the concert. Of which she is taking up the free food herself and her mood seems to improve fairly fast as the concert. She would pause looking Mizuki and to Delphine.

"Yo."

Gwen was a very tall woman for once the sylph was not clad in a plate but a large winter coat. With a cloak to go with it.

"I doubt I got much talanet for singing only the shower shall generally know how well or not well I sing."

Delphine looks over the refreshment table while Kaleido is talking, pursing her lips at the suggested band name. "Name needs a little work," she appraises, looking apologetic. "Nobody calls their backup singers just 'the backup singers'. There's always some spin on it, something to give it more pizzazz. Like ... 'Kaleido and the Scopes,' for instance?"

"But I *can* offer to work on costumes for your band, if you'd like," she adds - and then she bows, properly and politely. "Delphnereid Wavesinger of the Fourland Dukedom, wandering maid-errant," she introduces herself formally, straightening up from her bow. "My skills in the kitchen need a little more work, but when it comes to knitting, I doubt you'll find my peer anywhere in this world."

Meanwhile, BlackRose was listening to what Kaleido had to say, but at the same time was feeling a bit sociable. She looked around for anyone who might be up for making a new acquaintance perhaps. Sure it was mainly about Kaleido, but there were others here too.

"I mean, not everyone has even the one skill point in song... I went for three when I made Kaleido, mostly as a joke since I didn't ever intend on getting into crafting, just raiding..."

"... But months later, I'm glad I did, you know?"

Something crosses their face very briefly when Mizuki mentions the 'female lead parts'. "We'll work out who's lead singer and whatnot but I'm *obviously* the frontperson for the band, being the flashiest," says the bird, being a bird.

"Costumes - yeah, I'll gladly take you up on that," says Kaleido, ideas already taking shape inside their head. "Welcome to the effort."

"Okay, so... the landers only know 42 songs, right? Like literally, only 42, nothing else... it's all oral tradition, and there's no solo songs, you need at least three people to sing most of them. It's a little odd."

"So the landers I've met go just... wild over new stuff. It's crazy."

    As Gwen mentions singing in the shower, Mizuki sings o/~ "We said some day we'd find out how it feels, to sing to more than just a steering wheel" o/~

    Mizuki nods slightly but not enthusiastically at the observation that the colorful bird is the flashiest.

    She listens with interest to the revelation that ONLY FORTY-TWO SONGS EXIST. "Oh my gosh, seriously? Those poor landers! But we get to share Earth's musical culture with them! There are so many songs... they're in for a treat!"

Delphine smiles, "It may take a bit before I can do anything *really* elaborate, but I did knit my own armor, such as it is." She gestures at the long mesh gloves, leggings, and vest which garb her arms, legs, and torso respectively. "So I'm pretty good with yarn and needles; we'll just need to work out what you want me to make for a band, get measurements together, and get materials ... and sort out how much you'll pay for my work," she adds wryly.

Her attention drifts away from Kaleido, her gaze coming to rest on BlackRose. "Hm?" The Undine smiles, then snags a small meat pie off the food table, still looking at BlackRose. "I don't bite if you aren't edible ... even if some of my 'ancestors' were a lot less friendly to landwalkers," she adds, wrinkling her nose a bit. Yeah, it's lore from long before she started playing Elder Tale, but it *is* lore.

Almost things on getting in this newcomers way but chooses not to there is plenty.

"Oh another tailor humm are you looking for somewhere you can sell your own creations?"

Gwen asks and thinks "If you're looking to work on your skills you could hit up the public crafting stations Plant Whelshname runs. Oh yes, I'm Gwen Pendragon owner of the Chainmail Bikini +1 a newly opened clothing store."

"...huh," Dare ponders, taking another bite of his apple and idly scratching behind one ear. "I mean I guess that makes sense, only having a limited number of tracks originally written for the game..." and the bird isn't wrong; not everyone has even his one little point in the song skill. He begins mentally cataloguing his favorite bands and how many songs he remembers the words to. How many free meals might he cadge in exchange for a tune?

A little snicker escapes his throat as he considers that in this body, he's got the hair to pull off the 80s hair metal look, too.

Listening to the nearby conversation, BlackRose takes a chance to possibly introduce herself and get acquainted with Gwen. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but I heard your name and I was hoping to get to know you better." She smiles a little. "I'm BlackRose."

"It's Plant Hwayden. It's really not that hard to pronounce. Hwayden."

"And by the way..."

Kaleido reaches into their inventory and pulls out a book, one that's labeled 'Real Songs V1'. "I'm working on writing a songbook, actually, so that we can share the real world music out. The problem is that the landers don't know how to read music... though I think we can teach them, if it comes down to it."

    Mizuki gives Gwen a slightly concerned, skeptical look. "'Chainmail Bikini'? Is that really the kind of clothing you intend to focus on?" She looks at the book. "Ooooooh... Oh shoot, are we gonna need someone to invent the printing press so we can make copies? Or can scribes do it from the menu?"

"Hoo-ya-din," Dare repeats the Welsh name, grining and deliberately dragging out the syllables so he sounds like an uneducated yokel. "Ooh, a songbook is a great idea. It's been a long time since I took piano lessons but I can probably remember the sheet music to a FEW songs. Wouldn't it be wild, introducing Queen to the countryside?"

Then he has to pause to explain to one of his young Lander friends that Queen is the name of a band, not an actual indication of nobility.

"Hwyaden isn't that hard to pronounce," comes a sudden declaration from the backdrop, "and I will not let someone who would so slander our good and perfectly understandable name be associated with the greatness that is Queen!!"

Att Syne is presently standing with one foot on a wooden crate and the other on the refreshment table, fist raised in a particularly dramatic pose. It seems kind of outrageous, considering, but this /is/ a matter of honor. Kind of. Sort of.

BlackRose also looks to Delphine and smiles. "I don't bite either... unless I'm having a bite to eat. And you don't count either." She smiles. "BlackRose, by the way."

Dare lets out a little bark of laughter at the sudden interjection of outrage to his goofing. "Whoa, take it easy man, I surrender," he puts up both hands in a placating gesture, the half-eaten apple still gripped in one. "The joke was on me, not you. Freddie wouldn't want us to fight, would he?"

Gwen says "It's a name that gets people's attention Mizuki."

Gwen makes a face at the catgirl for a moment.

"It's Welsh, I didn't want to mangle it. Plant Hwayden"

She seems to be convinced on that topic but pauses at the songbook.

"Wait for music from earth? What are you putting to paper?"

She looks to Dareshetani and just grins.

"That would be wonderful to bring Queen to another world, wouldn't it."

She hums a few bars from bohemian rhapsody.

At that very moment Att appears.

"Hello top you too Att Syne."

She turns away from Att at this moment though she may expect there may be some further comments from her long time customer.

"It has been a while Blackrose, Gwen and really what would you like to know? Been working to get a business up and running between all other things I keep falling into."

She other woman over for a moment.

"Got quite a style of your own too."

"Chainmail Bikini?" Delphine struggles not to dissolve into giggles. "I'll keep the offer in mind, but I don't think I could make things fast enough to turn a profit without falling back on the basic crafting system - knitting is materials-efficient but time-consuming. Even if I'm just using normal yarn, instead of trying to spin it from dire sheep wool or bear sinews."

"Anyway, it's good to meet both of you, Gwen and BlackRose. I go by Delphine among friends; it's easier to remember than my formal name." This comment comes about the time that Plant Hwayden's name is dropped by Kaleido - and then *picked up* by Att Syne, whose foot on the table draws a raised eyebrow atop a somewhat disapproving look from Delphine. Then she takes a (careful) bite of the meat pie she'd picked up - although it's small enough that maybe 'meat tart' is a better description.

    Mizuki also imitates the other pronounciations she hears. "Hwayden? Hooeeaden? Hwee-a-den?" She'll get there.

    She turns to Att. "Hey, take it easy!" She nods towards Dareshetani and goes sing-songy, "He's just a poor boy from a poor family, spare him his life from this monstrosity!"

"Delphine, huh? That's an interesting name, I like it." BlackRose smiles a little before looking to Gwen. "I think I remember seeing you a few times. Sometimes my memory is a bit spotty, so you'll have to bear with me." She chuckles a little while stepping away briefly to get another drink.

Dare's ears flatten out a bit as he pushes his lower lip forward and tries to look pathetic, although he can't stop grinning. "Do-do-do-do-do-do-do..." he doots, picking up where Mizuki left off.

"So anyway, I was also..."

Kaleido glances over at the makeshift stage - which is made out of scrap tables that have been nailed together at roughly equal heights.

"... Thinking about venues. As in we should get a venue here."

"See if we can rope in some woodworkers - or at least people who can fake it - and build something more permanent than this. Or at least easier on your feet to play on, you know?"

Att Syne's intense disapproval evaporates into a smirk, partly angled down at the disapproving Delphine. He leans over and snatches a roll, hopping down from his perch and shrugging. "Easy come, easy go." He sighs in an exaggerated fashion, and raises his bun to the sky in salute. "We should ever honor the legacy of the Gale of Mercury."

Pause.

Att drops the obligate dramatism and munches. "It's really not that hard," he points out after a moment, then pinches two fingers together and draws them across the air in front of him as he enunciates, "Hwy~a~den. Though I guess the sounds normally used in the word don't really exist in Japanese, so if you're a native speaker, I'm sorry for the trouble." He smiles faintly. "I used to get on my students about dismissive mockery to cover up linguistic problems, that's all."

"Nah, I'm just an an uneducamicated American," Dare admits. "I have no excuse except that my only exposure to Welsh is the Cardiff scenes from Doctor Who." Apple cronch. "And okay, maybe leaning into the laughing hyena schtick a little heavily. Sorry if I triggered a pet peeve. It used to drive me nuts when people used then and than interchangeably on the BBSes."

    "Would it be better to have a permanent venue than to be a traveling band? Although, I suppose if all the concerts are in Alni it'll be easier for me to make it to them as a Scale Alliance member."

    Mizuki gives an anguished cry of 'Augh!' at the mention of then and than treated as interchangeable.

"Easier for the performers, for sure," Dare chips in. "If the goal is to 'spread the word' though, I think you'd kinda have to go on tour. Maybe you could get some woven mats to stand on, little easier on the old feet?" He lifts one foot and wiggles his toes visibly through his soft fur buskins. "Easier THEN standing on bare tables, anyway," he adds cheekily.

Gwen looks to Dareshetani for a moment "There are a whole lot of Bards here and more than a few actual singers too."
ER She looks back to Blackrose for a moment.

"I know how that can go a lot is coming at all of us right now."

Gwen will grab herself some food at this point.

"It would be easier on those on stage if they had something better to keep them out of the weather right?"