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Timekeeper     There's not really any reason for Vertin to do this sneakily!

    It's sort of a breath of fresh air, to be able to come through the warpgate in Laplace and walk outdoors with a minimal amount of hassle. For many of you, it's the first opportunity you've had to walk around the Foundation HQ campus without some immediately terrible stressor: there's more green than you might've expected, in between the stark brutalist buildings of the Foundation's offices and the weird domes of Laplace. The suitcase is set up on a bench in a small park with trimmed-short grass, surrounded by a short brick wall and a shallow pond.

    It's already open to clamber inside, with the starry impression of stairs barely visible in the extradimensional void. Rabies of all people is sitting beside it to draw attention to the suitcase, wearing a cute little vest and bow tie like a theater usher. The scarecrow-guy blissfully kicks his straw legs and soaks up the afternoon sun, welcomingly rumbling when people approach.

    "Ssssssonnggg...... heeerrrrree......" After a languid pause, he paffs his hand on the bench. "Paaarrrrrrrrrtyyyyyyy."

    Inside, the sunroom that the stairs lead into has been refit for the purpose of a performance. The bookshelves and their associated decor are still up against the walls, and the houseplants and vines are still everywhere, but the furniture in the center has been mostly cleared out to make a wide open space. A few tall stools and tables are around, and door to another room has a portable bar set up with cold water, soda, and a small selection of alcohol. Set up on the far side against the windows is a stage-- though Vertin doesn't really know how much is necessary for *Flamel's* side of the performance-- with a microphone and speakers available.

    The whole population of the suitcase is here, including, for once, Sonetto. Vertin is talking with Regulus against a wall, Sonetto is politely standing around, a little less familiar with the environment and eager to give herself a social purpose by saying hello and dutifully pointing out where drinks and snacks are. Cristallo's wheelchair is beside a couch that she's relocated herself to, with Poltergeist's eyes barely visible from where she's wiggled herself between two cushions to peek out.
White Before taking the invitation to step into the suitcase, White seems to make a point to briefly pause and take in Rabies' outfit. It's striking to her, in kind of the same way that putting little accessories on her spiders is? "Thank you... Mister Rabies." is all she says aloud, but she tries to convey a compliment anyway with a little chestward glance, a nod, and a thumbs up. It's important to appreciate an introvert's effort when they dress up, and clearly this reflects not-at-all on herself in any way.

     Once she's in the rearranged sunroom, White does a brief round to greet folks. Sonetto gets a polite bow, Vertin and Regulus get a small wave in passing (it'd be rude to interrupt their chat!) and eventually she makes her way over toward the couch. She spots Poltergheist immediately, turning her lidded eyes toward the gap in the cushions, but turns back to Cristallo first to give her a little bow like she did Sonetto. Only then does White turn back to the timid ghost and lower herself down to sit on her heels in front of the couch to be a little closer to Poltergheist's level. Her expression is still rather blank, but the very slight tilt of her head implies curiosity.

     "... Comfortable?" she asks quietly, wondering inwardly if she should warn Polly that someone might sit on her if she hides too well, or if she should just roll the dice and see if she gets away with it without incident.
Regulus Regulus has been spending a great deal of time preparing for this concert particularly once she learned that she'd be performing as well! And with a band no less. One that's like, what, a month or two old? She wasn't actually expecting three members of the Watch to all agree with only some moderate nudging to participate in a band but this is making her have a real good feeling about the people of the Watch.

She has, in addition to the stage, set up pair of amps for the band to plug their instruments into on the sides of the stage there so that a bunch of wires aren't crossing about. She's hung a banner off the ceiling with the phrase WELCOME PSYCHODYSSEY! emblazoned on it. Underneath that, in smaller text, is Now Featuring Watch Out! stitched on like it was added later.

She has prepared two pieces for today, one is a song while the other is purely instrumental. She's been practicing for weeks, both with the others and without, and she's determined to do her level best today. She wasn't expecting Sonetto and she jumped up a bit when she arrived like a startled feline but she ultimately relaxes a little, visibly, while revving up an extra batch of determination for the purpose of convincing Sonetto that she's hella cool and totally rad and that rock is incredible and she'll stop feeling sad about the Watch and will realize how incredible it is and the Watch will also simultaneously be saved from BAD VIBES by rocking out so hard they all go away forever. This is the most important concert of her life. Again!

"Oh wow this is a pretty full house." Regulus says, pushing up her shades even though in the grand scheme of things it's actually not REALLY a big venue or anything. But there's a lot of people she knows. "If their socks really fly off, Matilda won't let me hear the end of it! I better get up there, Vertin! See you after the show...shows? I don't exactly know what Flamel's gonna do!"

Regulus jogs up to the stage, making her way to the microphone. "Helllloooooo Suitcase! Welcome to PSYCHODYSSEY...And the first performance of--Odette, get up here and do a drum roll please, like we practiced--Watch Out! The latest band sponsored by yours truly, Regulus! APPLe, is everything all set up and good to go?"

The flying apple wearing a tie and a big poofy afro wig, floats over towards the mic and says, "All systems are go, settings on the amp are all set. We just need a band."

Regulus grins. As she enters performance mode, she rapidly dives into the groove before the opportunity can close up. "That's right! You know me and you know APPLe, but now it's time to get to know Odie, Hibibi, and Tamtam!"

"That's Odette, Hibiki, and Tamiel." APPLe adds helpfully.

Regulus looks for Poltergeist and gives her a small wink but she took into consideration that Poltergeist is shy by wearing sunglasses so only Regulus knows she's winking in her direction at all. But it's still real to Regulus.
Odette Raskins Odette's here today as part of Regulus' new band, having been there during the setup phase rather than filtering in to watch the show. She's sporting all the team colors of... She didn't know if there would be any kind of dress code today, actually, but she knew she'd need to be comfortable while still having a bit of visual flair. With the weather outside cooling down and the need to wear something comfortable, she's opted for a light jacket in white with extremely thin pink lines, a violently green shirt with a steak decal on the front, and high-waisted jeans.

Instead of her usual glasses, however, Odette is sporting a fresh new bandage over her left eye, and her left and is similarly bandaged up with just the fingers exposed. Coincidentally, it helps cover up her fresh new injuries, but even that's not enough to stop her from being mildly irresponsible and helping make sure things are arranged just right!

"I-it's definitely fuller than I thought it'd be... Thanks for letting us borrow this space, Miss Vertin." Odette smiles softly at the Timekeeper while looking up from her drumset with the sticks poking out of her jacket pockets.  She's making sure the instruments and equipment are secured well enough, partially hoping that won't need to be tested and partially expecting someone to bump into the speakers or the drumset or something before the show's over.

"Can't imagine anyone else really letting us do this without just showing up one day... Oh. Um. Do you think we're going to have enough seats at this rate?" She wonders aloud with a somewhat joking chuckle, not quite expecting to have any issues with seating even though there's a clear nervousness in her voice at having to actually perform anything for anyone today. She looks towards Cristallo in particular, waving meekly towards her to show that she's got her eye on the girl at the couch just in case something does come up.

Poltergeist is a newer face/sheet, but she gets a friendly little wave from Odette's right hand once she sees her and White nearby. White's a good judge of character, after all, and Odette's relieved already to see more familiar faces coming in. "H-hey, Miss White!"

Like Regulus, Odette's been hard at work practicing, but the days leading up to this have been especially tough for training and rehearsing. Recent injuries have necessitated a drastic shift in which hands to use for what sections of today's songs, along with re-learning how to actually aim the drumsticks where she wants them to with only one uncovered eye.

"Drum roll... G-got it, Regulus!" Alright, deep breaths, just like she practiced. Although she hasn't been playing the drums for any longer than this band has existed, Odette's actually gotten pretty good at maintaining a rhythm on the drums! She starts low and builds up steadily to get some tension going for Regulus' announcements, going louder as the nicknames for the players in today's band are named without quite banging away on the drums just yet. That'll be saved for the actual start of their songs, most likely.

"W.. We hope you all enjoy the show today!"
Flamel Parsons     Flamel Parsons is here too. Though he arrived just a little late, taking a few minutes to enjoy the enriching brutalism of the Foundation campus. Keeping good relations with Vertin and the Foundation gives him more buffer space and wiggle room for when things get bad, and he just rather likes the gang, so showing up here to fulfill his promise makes sense! In spite of all the recent chaos. He brought his guitar, too! Old friends may remember his ability to handle things at camp-counselor level.

    "Now," He clarifies. "No cover is as good as the original, and that's the same with memories. What *I'll* be doing is aligning you to old memories of Fullbear's work from when he, well, from when he *could* be frontman for the Psychic Six. That means I won't be able to work the crowd, *and* you'll have to astrally opt-in to each sense, which isn't great. Still, a promise is a promise, and I think I handle an axe decently!" He puts on a well-worn vinyl for an instrumental recording of some of the Psychodyssey, seeks out a particular track, and sets the needle on, for prerecorded backing for the less psychically-sensitive.

    "*Plus*," He jabs a hand over to the other side of the performance. "I'm only the opening for the main act! Heheh." He digs around in his jacket pocket, pulls out a small door, and places it on his forehead... Partial astral projection is finnicky. If you don't stay focused on it, you'll stop seeing Flamel's mentality consistently. But those who choose to accept the psychic link will see what emerges:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucpIycb6An4

    Five phantoms emerge: A stout fellow with thick glasses aligns with telekinetic drums, the keyboard is manned by a square, sharp figure some might remember as a younger version of Otto Mentalis, a startlingly short man with a prodigious beard runs the bass, and a tall woman (savvy readers who researched Mindswarm may recognize her as Cassie O'Pea) aligns to Flamel's guitar. And if you look closely, the tall and lopsided old man some might have seen in Flamel's mind a few times is on a violin of all things. Helmut himself, a massive man with a viking helmet and a colorful jacket over broad shoulders, a man who looks like the very king of Good Hugs.



    And a hundred new colors. A hundred new shapes, floral fractals showing plant growth in new dimensions. The psychic equivalent of shrimp vision. Helmut's crooning kicks in immediately alongside what feels like a canned preservative of old music. His lyrics are unclear, the melodies are dimmed by time, the colors are washed out, the shapes are distorted by record of memory -- but the psychadelia kicks in. Flamel does his best to give physical backup with his guitar and voice:
Tamiel Luxis     It had taken about ten minutes for her to pick out what to wear based on the old posters of the main band that she'd found, and an extra hour to work up to and convince herself to actually put it on. She'd gone away from any sense of formalwear, and gone with her most colorful fit--a sleeveless top, hung over her shoulders by straps, that frayed into colorful strands just past her midriff, with a skirt to her knees, and leggings...She held a violin case at her side, shyly waving at anyone who looked at her--trying to look like she didn't want to slide into the void.

    She walking through the warpgate imagning that the outfit--or the performance--or both together--would be the thing that would terrify her most.

    That...wasn't quite right.

    Once she reaches the venue, Tamiel's eyes, for one, are locked on the banner. Her stomach tying and retying itself into knot after knot after knot in the face of Regulus'...Wonderful...surprise.

    Now Featuring Watch Out!

    "I--What." She had to take a moment to reframe her mind to keep from immediately spiraling out. You can't be seen to be freaking out about this. A hard swallow. You can't be seen to be here. Another thought came, like a dagger in the back. Regulus, you...You...

    A kick in the gut, a rip of a wing. It'll be fine. Everyone here is cool. It'll be fine. It'll be-- And then it was time to get in stage, and Tamiel is there. She unlatched her violin, and slipped it into place. Experimentally, she strummed, her bow across it--Unnecessary, really--she'd already tuned it.

    Tamiel had spent her youth learning to play the violin. However, her youth had lasted a decade and a half--it had never been so much about learning, just dusting off some skills left fallow for a while.

    She put on her best 'public relations' smile, practiced and gentle--if not entirely touching her eyes. "We'll be tiding you over until the main event...!"
Flamel Parsons                        "Come with me, come to my garden,"                      
                        "Stop on by, drop your burden,"                        
                  "The night is gentle, your plants are kind,"                  
                  "Soothe my heart, I'll soothe your mind..."                  
                                                                                
                        "Bobby, Bobby, just one night,"                        
                      "Psychokinesis can hold us tight..."                      
                                                                                
                      "They don't want me to talk to you,"                      
                       "Some tel-e-pathy just might do,"                        
                    "I'm on the street if they see us here,"                    
                       "But you can take away my fear..."                      
                                                                                
                        "Bobby, Bobby, change my mind,"                        
                     "To a better man in a better time..."                      

    It goes on like that a WHILE. A long psychadelic-rock piece, and if you listen with literally any amount of media literacy you can tell it's about a pair of men, 'Bobby' especially, deeply entwined in a tragic hidden love who have to secretly use psychic connection and various psi-abilities (plants keep getting referenced -- maybe a drug thing?) to exchange affection. It's apparently one of the more popular pieces too, judging by how worn-down the vinyl sounds.

    Flamel wraps it up pretty quick. "And now let's hear it for Watch Out!" He cheers, giving them the stage for their performance and going to greet folks!
Timekeeper "If their socks really fly off, Matilda won't let me hear the end of it!"

    Vertin seems to be in as easygoing of a mood as she ever is, which mostly means that she's holding a glass of water where a teacup would normally slot, and if you look at her from the right angle, she might even appear to be smiling. She's even dressed down compared to her usual-- which means, she's still wearing a suit, but it's less extravagantly extra than her usual. She's taken her jacket off to sling it over her shoulder, leaving just the vest and shirt, with the tie affixed by the same blue gem that normally pins her ascot. She looks... like a mildly overworked band manager who's relieved that everything somehow turned out alright in time for the performance. The hat stays on.

    "I believe it'd make her more curious than anything, though you may not hear the end of it either way. Good luck up there, Regulus."

"Thanks for letting us borrow this space, Miss Vertin."

    "Of course." Vertin nods at Odette. The time for shock at her injury has passed by now, but Vertin is still fretting about it a bit... mostly out of a sense of empathy, but partly because it's such a bad image for the band. "Maybe I should contact a tailor for stage costumes... or at the very least coordinate a wardrobe before next time."

"Do you think we're going to have enough seats at this rate?"

    Faintly smiling, Vertin says, "Perhaps not, if I'd distributed flyers across the Foundation. I imagined this would be better off as a small affair to relieve some stress from the Storm Syndrome experiment, so unfortunately you're limited to a small crowd today."

"That's Odette, Hibiki, and Tamiel."

    Vertin gravitates towards APPLe when he floats offstage, hanging out beside the afroed-apple with the air of parents watching their kids at the playground. "Perhaps she's interested in establishing stage names... but she did refer to Odette by name only a minute before."

"... Comfortable?"

    Poltergeist's eyes (holes in her sheet) widen when she's approached, but White's demeanor is *very* good at disarming her. She lifts her head tentatively out of the cushion so that it's visible when she nods shakily in response. That's the extent of her answer to that question-- a few seconds later, after she recovers from whatever social toll that took on her, she swivels around to babble at Cristallo while the latter gently pets Shelob in her lap.

"H-Hilma! I did it!"}
"You did...?"
"I-I-I had a conversation at a p-party!"
". . . ?"
"Th-that's never happened before! This-- this is a-- it's a p-party, r-right? A-and there's a cool rock b-band, and so many people are here...."
"Oh, that's right. It's a lot of fun, isn't it? Jättegrattis, Polly."

    Poltergeist is enthused enough by this successful social interaction-- consisting entirely of nodding in response to one singular word-- that she turns and claps her sheeted hands together when Regulus announces herself. Look at her! She's participating!
Hibiki Tachibana     "Full house is a bit of an understatement..." Hibib-- Hibiki says with only a little bit of what might be pre-show unease in her expression, standing off to the side with her guitar slung over her shoulder as Regulus takes the stage for her excited declaration.

    Of course, as a member of the players, she arrived earlier than most of the guests would be. For all that apparent trepidation, she was pretty concerned with making sure everything was tuned properly, the banner looked fine after being hung up, and also pitching in with getting the furniture moved. She would say she's just doing due diligence as a more senior member of the Watch, but you could be the densest neutron star imaginable and still tell it's because she's looking forward to things a bit, just from the way she has a small grin on her face whenever she thinks anyone isn't looking.

    Now that it's time though, she quietly asides to Vertin while Regulus is speaking to the crowd, of which there's at least one person she still has an awkward relationship with, "...Honestly, I was still pretty on the fence about this whole thing even when I first agreed to it. I... well. It's hard to go from all of the stuff that's happened in the past to thinking a band can really lift any of that weight. Then before I knew it, I was being swept up in the pace some..." Her hand comes up to rub the back of her own neck, which transitions into ruffling through her hair.

    "And I thought originally /we/ were gonna be the opening act..." The words sound like a complaint, but the tone is anything but, puffing out a bit of air with a half-smile while Flamel starts up his end of things. She's silent the entire duration of the performance - even just the time-muddled replaying seems to be enough to catch her attention, but by the end of things, she's humming along to the psychadelic, slow vinyl beat. You'd think this sort of thing wouldn't be her vibe.

    But by the end, she's letting out another sigh, though this one is more shoulder-slacking and tension relieving. "...Right. If we're here, better give it all we got, then." She's the last one to step up to the stage to join the others, unslinging her guitar as she goes.

    There's a moment of silence when it's her turn on the mic, not quite entering 'performance mode', but carrying herself a little straighter and steadier than usual as she closes her eyes. "I'd tell you all to enjoy the show... but you definitely will, with all the practice we've been putting in. Let's have a good time."

    She takes a step backwards after, looking over her shoulder towards Tamiel in particular to give a reassuring nod - probably singling her out as the most flustered by all this. They'll be fine. Probably.
Lilian Rook     The Foundation might be a more unpleasant campus to walk around if Lilian didn't: associate concrete brutalism architecture with the Reignition Project headquarters, and, live in the middle of the woods with a sense of nostalgic fondness about it. Being placed somewhere in England is a dubious modifier, but it does make it feel even more familiar. Whatever misgivings Lilian has about the organization, already relatively minor, are far from exacerbated by a walk around the campus. Mostly, she contemplates that she wishes 'brut' weren't French, so the style could be called something less evil-sounding.

    And really, it's those Laplace folks who are total freaks anyways. The Foundation brings its girls up right.

    Finding the suitcase just lying on a bench out in the open startles Lilian. Vertin carrying it around with her is normal; Lilian does that with her most precious possession, after all. Leaving it somewhere whilst inside of it, though, strikes her as shockingly carefree, if a little quaint. She hesitates for a few seconds just to think about it, before smilingly concluding, "Hello Rabies. I suppose a scarecrow is the perfect choice for this important job. Good work." It does feel even weirder to climb down into something that's already off the ground, though.

    Sonetto is an immediate pleasant surprise, though perhaps her own presence is more surprising when compared. Lilian says her fond hellos to Cristallo and Poltergeist, but spends a little longer chatting with Sonetto, finally asking if she'll accompany her once all the greetings are done, so as to give her somewhere to go rather than just standing around awkwardly. She does, of course, exercise her privilege of being one of the staggeringly few people in the room old enough to pick up alcohol, and then stop and stare into space as she contemplates what that means, after which she downs half a glass then fills it back to the top; just to be sure.

    "Really though, I can see Hibiki in a band, given her singing talent, and Regulus is obvious enough, but those two?" Lilian says, gesturing with her eyes towards the stage. "How do you make a band that's half shrinking violets by volume?" It's dubious that she's here for just Flamel's (admittedly interesting-sounding) offer, though, which leaves it an open question what she is.

tNot that she'd turn down the offer. Seeing as she can just read Flamel's mind anyways, Lilian is at the liberty of getting more or less the same effect. It takes thrice as much effort as usual not to close her eyes; that much she finds immediately, amplified by the ambient desire to shut out extraneous sensory stimuli and focus on the experience. Party-goers see her nearly do it several times, then blink them open again like a recurring bad habit. After a while, she ostensibly stops caring, after deciding something unspoken.

    §Do other people's memories get faded like this? Are mine, secretly, and I wouldn't know it unless I shared them? Even if it were much worse than this, though, it'd still be fascinating. It's strangely soothing to see an era where people's powers could be used to develop the arts. I think I might sometimes be tired of only hearing how people fight with them. Is this sort of thing why the Psychonauts are so attached to global peace? Are there reminders like this all over?§

    Lilian scrunches her eyes a little tighter, like a close-eyed blink.

    §Is Parsons . . . ? No way. It's a popular song. And objectively good. It must have been something incredible to see in-person.§
Regulus Was it a secret that they were performing today?? Did Regulus forget to tell Tamiel they were performing?? Vertin definitely said that the Watch band would be performing right???

But Regulus is nothing if not capable of improvising. In fact, she's more accustomed to making shit up as she goes than she is with going in with a plan. The PLAN was for the benefit of the new performers in the group who couldn't withstand a full Regulus experience as a performer right off the bat. She was only using thirty percent of her power level.

"Killer costume, mate." Regulus murmurs about Odette's very real bandages. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you really lost an eye. The audience'll go wild over it, love."

But before she plays anything, Flamel shows up with his own performance. Regulus, who has only ALMOST forgotten what she has gotten into this whole situation for, happily steps aside so Flamel can get to playing. Or memory sharing? She's not entirely sure how it all works but that isn't going to stop the borderline anarchistic Regulus from completely signing away full access to her brain so she can experience the rock as close to the original she can. Every woman has her price, apparently.

Even as a memory, or a cover if you prefer, Regulus is in awe of the spectacle. Colors she'd never seen before, shapes she didn't know were possible, and psychadelic all hell. Oh yeah, this is her jam. It might not be as good as the original, but she's accustomed to dusty old vinyls struggling to belt out one last tune. It was her bread and butter when she had neither bread nor butter.

''Psychokinesis can hold us tight.''

"Oh damn that's killer..." Regulus murmurs. " She wipes a tear from her eyes as Flamel finishes up. "Flamelll! That was amazing! I know you said you were just a cover artist but you've got ''Rock'' hiding in that suit!" She has not heard Flamel say he WAS a rock before but she'd probably think that explained everything if she did. She applauds energetically. Regulus doesn't seem to be a stickler for quality exactly so much as vibe but if she was would she really be able to have gotten herself in this situation?

''We'll be tiding you over until the main event...!''

Regulus is completely oblivious to Tamiel's anxiety, "Turns out we are the main event!" Regulus admits, easygoing about what is also a surprise to her. "I hope everything turned out well with Bobby."

APPLe floats over to Vertin and bobs his head in agreement. "Ah, the Captain usually ... doesn't have a permanent band, she just gathers up a bunch of musicians to set up a pop-up concert, usually resulting in the protest of authorities. So, ah, consistency may be a bit new to her." The apple turns to face Vertin. The tie indicates where he's looking though somehow you still get the vibe even when it's not there. "Though a consistent crew at all, outside of yours truly, is also a bit new to her. I'm grateful that you've looked out for her. I know she's trouble but I couldn't bear to be the gravity weighing her down."
Regulus Regulus is also impressed by Hibiki. "Yeah I know," Regulus says. "People get in their own way all the time. Once in a while there's a great genius who can carefully pave their way and accomplish all their goals one by one with a nigh-ineffable plan but the rest of us, love? We gotta dive into the deep end and hope." She offers Hibiki a fistbump. "But this wouldn't have been possible without you."

She steps forward and adds, "Alright! We're an amateur band, so ... don't hold back if you hate it!" She grins widely and strangely encouragingly. "After all you're already in the seats!" She looks back, "We'll start with the instrumental."

That's a song that she explicitely designed for Hibiki and Regulus to be taking the forefront of the performance on while Tamiel and Odette can mostly content themselves with performing some backing on the violin and a steady consistent drumming beat for Odette. She intentionally went to the trouble of composing something that wouldn't be too tough for them.

The end result is something similar to Joe Satriani's Always With Me, Always With You, though with some different instrumentation in the violin and drums.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI57QHL6ge0&ab_channel=joesatrianiVEVO

It's a relatively chill and sedate piece that is nonetheless complex in its guitar's instrumentalization. Despite the slow music, Hibiki's and especially Regulus's part are faster, allowing the guitar to really shine in the music. It's the kind of song you can close your eyes and peacefully sway to even as Regulus's chords speed up. It's slower paced than Regulus's preferred brand of rock, but she's still having fun, swaying to the tune and wiggling her hips like she's doing the twist in slow motion. She hopes that this will ease Tamiel and Odette into the concert--and move past the shock of having a much bigger role than expected!
White Hearing Odette greet her, White turns her head to look back and give her a little nod. They didn't meet often, but White was mindful to keep track of who she's met before... And one of her earliest jobs involved her cutting her arm to let Odette see her self-healing, just so White didn't have to verbally reassure her, didn't it? Hmm. Maybe in hindsight that gave a strange impression. Then again, Odette seemed pleased to see her, so maybe it was fine. Actually, should she be suspicious that Odette *wasn't* more weirded out- no, no, we're shelving that line of thought for now.

     Looking back at Poltergheist, White seems satisfied with the silent answer and gives her a little nod back, straightening upright and brushing her skirt out straight as she steps around behind the couch. She'll just stand there behind Polly's spot so that if someone *does* try to sit there, she can do... Something... About it. She's not really sure what yet, but it's important the girl gets her space, whether she's under the cushions or on top of them. Important *why* exactly? Well, you've gotta treat people how you wanna be treated!

     During the confusion about which act is leading for the other, White finally takes note of the banner, and particularly the band name. To be fair, it isn't silver bullet-tier evidence of anything, but White had already been building a certain mental profile of Regulus from their past encounters, and had certain expectations that she really hadn't managed to dispel. But surely... The others wouldn't be dumb enough to knowingly accept that band name with that in mind, right? Lilian might talk effusively about the wasted potential of the Watch, but there's *no way* they'd just advertise it in front of a mixed-factional crowd for fun, right? Maybe it's an in-joke she doesn't know about.

She of course doesn't know that Regulus did it without asking anyone. It's not like she's timid about who she associates on a factional basis, at least. She can keep her mouth shut, she just wonders if everyone else here would.

     When Flamel gets the show going on his end, White looks like the very picture of someone trying effortfully to Listen Politely without actually understanding much of what's happening. Perfect upright posture, hands folded neatly, watching attentively without fidgeting, and just as blank-faced as she's ever been. About a third of the way in, she gets a little distracted in the sense that actually observing the show itself is delegated to other Minds while she examines some of the workings of Flamel's abilities instead, but she tunes back in properly before too long. She obviously doesn't know any of the people being represented by the phantoms, doesn't have a particular attachment to the music or subjects, but... She's entertained. She starts to appreciate it in the way someone might not understand interpretive dance, but might understand the complexity of the dance itself on a mechanical level and find something to be impressed by in it. It gets her a little contemplative by the end, not exactly of the song itself or the specific meaning of it, but... Well, she has more reason to consider how people are emotionally led to create art, lately. It's enough, for her, even if she misses the original point of the song. She, of course, doesn't think to applaud Flamel on her own, but the moment someone else motions to (like Regulus) Shelob gets around to it on White's behalf! You can't really hear clapping, given it's a spider tapping its foreleg-tips together, but maybe the little 'tak tak tak' is still nice.
White Before the, apparently, leading act begins White sees fit to step away from her couch-looming position to fetch herself a soda. Her gaze lingers momentarily on the alcohol too, but she thinks better of it for the moment; not for fear of Consequences, but because there's plenty to be thinking about right now. So, after getting a fizzy can of something excessively sweet (maybe a Cherry Cola of some variety) she settles back into the spot behind Poltergheist again and finally seems to relax a little. Just enough to scootch her hip up to lean on the back of the couch, but it's a start.
Odette Raskins "or at the very least coordinate a wardrobe before next time."

"Eh? Oh, that'd be a good idea... W-well, as long as it's not expensive. I could probably pull something together if I had another week or two to find something." Odette offers, chuckling lightly at Vertin while trying not to feel too bad about the idea of Vertin spending more money on this than she might have already.

"If I didn't know any better I'd think you really lost an eye."

"Huh? O-oh, yeah. It's..." Odette starts to answer Regulus with another awkward chuckle, trying to figure out how to explain it without making things uncomfortable. As her mind wanders back to how she even got injured there, however, she remembers the sight of that axe, her face goes pale, and she ducks her head down behind her drum kit instinctively, like she's trying to avoid something.

"... J-j-just a costuming thing." She manages to utter after a few rapid and shaky breaths, giving herself a few moments to just try and settle her brain before sitting back up. She's safe here. The suitcase is safe. Her friends are all here. It's safe in here. Cristallo wouldn't be here if it wasn't.

Maybe she could ask White about costuming, come to think of it. That's a clean, safe idea that'll keep her mind on track for the show and nothing else scarier than that.

"so unfortunately you're limited to a small crowd today."

"O.. Oh, gosh, it's not unfortunate at all! I-if it was any bigger than this, I... Ah. I don't know if I'd be able to play right for a first time." She admits with another nervous laugh, making it fairly obvious that she's being completely honest about that. A bit of the color is returning to her face, but she's still trying to shake off the pre-flight jitters even now.

"I'm only the opening for the main act!"

It's a good thing Odette's already stopped the drum roll by the time Flamel started that vinyl up, or a sudden stop might have been noticeable! She's staring right at him when she drops that bomb, though, and the only thing that stops her from audibly freaking out at him is the fact that he's already working on said opener before she can let those nerves do anything.

They'll just build up inside her, making her brain work  frantically to try and figure out what to actually do now that Watch Out is the main event instead of the opening act. Predictably, she looks right over at Regulus for guidance, complete with the pleading 'what do we do?!' kind of look in her eye.

And then she sees the actual performance starting, and her attention shifts right to those phantoms. Between their imposing appearances and their wild colors, those shapes and designs she's never imagined possible, it's hard for Odette not to stare. It doesn't even matter that she can't understand the lyrics at first, either, although she does piece together enough of it to want to really hear it again with that partial understanding of the story making it all the more intriguing now.

It even makes her forget about her stage fright, at least for a little while. She has no context for the original song, but it already sounds this good even as a cover. It makes her wonder briefly how great that must have sounded back in its time when Flamel's memory of it can sound this good already, repeat-play degradation and all.
Odette Raskins "And now let's hear it for Watch Out!"

And then the stage fright comes right back. Swallowing lightly to force down a lump in her throat that won't go away, Odette takes a deep breath before looking over at Tamiel. Strangely enough, her PR smile actually helps put the off-duty EMT at ease slightly! "Y.. Yeah! Hibibi's right. We'll.. We've got this. We'll make sure it's one to remember in the good way. Right, TamTam?"

Odette pumps her good fist lightly as she tries to psyche herself up for Tamiel's and Hibiki's sakes, and also to stave off more of that stage fright before she has to really commit stick to drum again. Seeing Lilian in the crowd and even looking towards her has the EMT straightening up in her seat, converting some of that anxiety into motivation at realizing one of her bosses is there to see the performance as well.

That means she really needs to nail this. "Don't hold..? Aw, Regulus! W-we're not going to screw it up that bad." Somehow, the rocker's japes actually start to help the EMT ease up as she settles back in her seat, twirling her sticks once with a well-practiced flick of both index fingers that ends with her griping them both at just the right spots, just the way she rehearsed this with everyone.

Thanks to simple pacing of her role, Odette's able to build some more confidence as the first song progresses. She keeps her taps right on the beat without straying from where she should be, and the consistency of it all helps her steady her mind in preparation for the next piece to come.
Flamel Parsons     Flamel delivers a few bows, self-indulgently enjoying himself and stepping aside for the most part. Even tiny spider clapping is understood, after all, he tunes in more to feeling than to sound! But, he's only got so much of Helmut in there, and near the end, it's clear that he's scraping the bottom! The phantoms return to that door when he finishes up, though they make sure to take their own bows.

    "I know you said you were just a cover artist but you've got ''Rock'' hiding in that suit!"
    A hand on his chest and a beaming smile let him indulge in a *little* pride. "I appreciate it! I think embracing a full life, rock included, is important for everyone. I'm internalizing the compliment!" Regulus might almost hear something slot in somewhere in his skull.

    He heads out to the crowd to enjoy the show! He's a camp counselor, younger folks need to be the ones who take the stage mostly. Wait, is he even really all that much older than, like, Odette? Well, camp counseling and camper-ing are states of mind, and everyone in Watch Out! is certainly camperbrained as far as Flamel is concerned. At least this one won't be like the Firestarters back at Whispering Rock.

    He's pretty sure Vertin's suitcase is fireproof, anyway.

    He sways in place, listening along, bobbing his head in time, and then at double-time during Regulus' rapid chords. He's enjoying himself a lot! In some way, Flamel must perceive music a little bit like the way it was just shown off, if telepathy is a mutual exchange.

    He does stop by Lilian, though, oddly. "Psychodyssey get something on your mind? You looked pretty contemplative!" Of course, internal monologues aren't audible. Well, I mean, technically Flamel *can* hear them sometimes, but he can't hear *Lilian's* specifically. "Thanks for coming out and giving it a listen either way."

    If White's examining Flamel's abilities, she'll find that what he's doing is a partial astral-dive into his own mind. Specifically, if she used psychic senses to look past what's happening in this space, she'd see that at least some part of her sensory cortex was brought into a space of the Parsons Institute that was set up just beyond the boundary of the space psychically corresponding with this room. An astute mentalist (White or otherwise) could see that, inside Flamel's mind, there was a test chamber precisely replicating the briefcase performance room, and various staff digging up old archives and projecting them.

    That must have been why he needed careful opt-ins for every sensory input, and why it was generally clumsy. If she or any other mentalists *very* closely examine the psychic projection of Helmut, she'll find that it's pure emulation of another ability that was vastly, *vastly* more powerful -- a man who could send almost any sensory data, to crowds of hundreds of thousands, precisely tuned to their sensory cortex and adapting to the emotions in personal, crowd, and artistic spheres. What Flamel was doing is an echo of an echo of a vastly more impressive power, one that long-ago earned its place among the six most powerful psychics of the world purely on artistic merit.
Timekeeper     Sonetto is more than happy to join Lilian in showing her to the bar. The eagerness with which she does so is sort of immediately striking to her image, attentive to details beyond simply leading Lilian through the room as if it's her *job* to be an attendant at a concert much higher class than this one. Loyally, she even lists out the drinks for Lilian, like a bartender.

    "There are various fizzy drinks, such as... Regulus's favorite, Dr. Pepper, as well as sparkling water. Timekeeper received this bottle of Sancerre Sauvignon blanc 1938 in the previous era, making it, um, about twenty eight years old, and this Cabernet Sauvignon...."

    She doesn't actually know anything about wine and can't recommend any of them if Lilian asks. There's also some cans of beer, but the extent of her commentary on those is reading out the label. For herself, she just takes a can of flavored sparkling water, picking it up with both hands (only after Lilian's taken hers) and then scampering after her to the main room.

"How do you make a band that's half shrinking violets by volume?"

    "They, I believe..." Sonetto hesitates, heavy with the burden of having been around when the band was formed, due to the terrible sin of being in the Watch radio. "... Were 'available'." She doesn't have that high of an opinion of the band.

"Then before I knew it, I was being swept up in the pace some..."

    "I've been roped in as well, albeit not on stage." Vertin pleasantly chatters back to Hibiki, sounding less like she's commiserating and more like she's remarking on the weather. "But it isn't a bad feeling, I hope. Perhaps a band can't change everything, but doing nothing certainly won't change anything at all."

    She takes a sip from her glass, looking around all the dozen plus people in the room. "That's the charm in allowing yourself to be swept up in someone's passion, I think. What would you have done otherwise? Won't you remember what happens tonight?"

"And I thought originally /we/ were gonna be the opening act..."

<Q-Conversation> Flamel Parsons says, "I'm a camp counselor with a camp-counselor-grade guitar, I don't have a whole Helmut in me! I bet you can pull a set."
<Q-Conversation> Flamel Parsons says, "Nobody wants to see an original outfit open for a cover!"
<Q-Conversation> Tamiel Luxis says, "Guh--"
<Q-Conversation> Regulus says, "Flamel..."
<Q-Conversation> Flamel Parsons says, "Now think fast!"
<Q-Conversation> Regulus says, "That's a good point! We only prepared two songs but we'll figure something out, right Tamtam?""
<Q-Conversation> Vertin says, midway between teasing and reassuring, "I'm sure you're all up for it."

    Frankly, Vertin thinks this is very funny. She just wants to see what happens.

> Flamel's performance

    Vertin has spent quite a lot of time in the artificial somnambulism machines over the past month, but it's never been for *pleasure*. The actual art to Flamel's recorded performance takes her by surprise, but she quickly gets used to it, leaning back against a stool and easing into the psychic experience.

    It's hard to tell how much she enjoys it just by looking at her face, but she's *intensely* attentive to the entire thing. Cristallo gasps in excitement and gets into it with sparkling eyes, Poltergeist is weirdly very self conscious about any kind of response she gives, and Sonetto is, maybe surprisingly, the most affected of any of them. She sways, stiffness melting away, a little teary-eyed by the end of it.

    "Oh... that was so beautiful, Mister Flamel. Those were the people that were responsible for creating the Psychonauts?" She pauses and frowns a tiny bit. "I do not believe the Foundation has any kind of founding story like that...."
Flamel Parsons     "Those were the people that were responsible for creating the Psychonauts?"
    "The very ones." Flamel beams to Sonetto, glad to see her well-affected by it. "The Psychic Six! They used to perform with Helmut, for a while. They shifted fields, obviously, over time, away from music, into, well." He gestures at himself. "Vague yet ominous government work, to defend free and stable thought throughout the world. But at the start..." His happy smile widens, and a sincere sentiment pushes up through his heart. "It was just six talented people trying to see what good a mind can do."

    "And *what good*, huh? Helmut didn't get to make many more Psychodyssey works once... well, once the Deluge of Grulovia happened." He doesn't explain, but the phrase sounds heavy. "But in a way, I think his work made sure more psychic artists of all kinds throughout the world could go on, do more, create wonderful things."
Tamiel Luxis     "Regulus has a lot of enthusiasm," Tamiel said, "Hibiki's right...It's hard not to get...You know...Swept away." Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it...

    Tamiel closes her eyes, and lets herself ride the wave of that old song. She has to relax her own defenses to feel it properly, but she lets it run against her in waves, pulling herself slowly out to see. It's a nostalgic memory. A rose-tinted yesterday...It was all too easy to let that rush over her, lost in the moment...

    When it finally cuts off, there's a smile on Tamiel's face, immediately faltering when she has to spend time living in her own head again. "Wow, Flamel...That's...I'm glad you had a chance to see it." Well, parts of him certainly had, but she wasn't thinking about his bizzarre, inhuman makeup at the moment.

    "Turns out we are the main event!"

    The look Tamiel offers Regulus is thin-mouthed and tense, but Hibiki manages to wrangle a smile out of her. "We'll have to make it work," she says, pressing the violin under her chin. Habit straightens her back, corrects her stance. "You two lead."

    She shuts her eyes--makes it a little easier to work with--and feathered the bow on her violin.

    Her foot tap-tap-tapped to the beat, and the moment melted into existence. This note and that note and _this_ note--

    --and the music resonating in her chest, bouncing around her, through her, like SHE was the instrument--

    While her personal presence wasn't exactly much to look at, her TECHNICALS were pristine. Not a note out of place, not a line misplayed.
Hibiki Tachibana     That's the charm in allowing yourself to be swept up in someone's passion, I think. What would you have done otherwise? Won't you remember what happens tonight?

    "...Yeah," Hibiki replies back to Vertin, seeming uncharacteristically contemplative about that - though not in a bad way. "I'm the type who's not great on my own, so probably not a lot, to tell you the truth. But I don't think I'll ever forget this."

    ...

    But this wouldn't have been possible without you.

    "...And I wouldn't have done anything close without you taking the plunge in the first place. Or Flamel doing his thing... or Vertin setting this up in the first place. A lot of people coming together, actually. ...So thanks." Regulus' fistbump is returned firmly, a minute-later affirmation of pretty much the same thing she said to Vertin before, shifting into a little fist /pump/ after. Maybe to psyche herself up a little more, like Odette. She hasn't, after all, actually been a part of a band before. Playing alongside other people, much less an entourage, is still sort of new to her.

    But she sure does have a lot of singing experience under her belt, even if this particular song doesn't sport any - and more than that, years of schooling at a top class musical academy count for something. Between the practice they've done up until know and knowing she has to be a steadier rock alongside Regulus for the other two to help ground themselves, even Lilian being among the crowd isn't quite enough to slow her up.

    She just has to make that first strum, and then the rest flows naturally.

    It's definitely slower than her own preferred brand of music - at least if what her Symphogear plays is anything to go by - but she doesn't seem unhappy with that either. The opposite, it's something of a warm-up for her as well, helping to melt away any lingering tension she has and start up a flow she can ride out to the end of things. Despite her initial apprehension, she might be a bit more at ease than she usually seems at rest.

    Surprisingly, or maybe not, she really is not bad with that guitar in her hands. Even the tail end of the instrumental, with her and Regulus' part having an extended kick-up in pacing, she shuts her eyes and sticks the whole thing. She has to if she wants to help prop up Tamiel and Odette, after all.
Lilian Rook     As the name is announced, Lilian looks at White with the most dead-assed 'are you seeing this?' flat stare imaginable. Maybe she knows what she's thinking, or maybe she's jut the one reasonable person in the room that she can commiserate with this about.

    'I appreciate it! I think embracing a full life, rock included, is important for everyone. I'm internalizing the compliment!'

    "It's baffling how you somehow find a means to communicate with people whilst using 'Rock' every other sentence." Lilian says to Regulus, mostly over her glass. "But honestly, it was much better than I expected. And I can't disagree with the sentiment, seeing as I'm always exasperating that no one else shares it." she says. "Except Flamel Parsons, I suppose." Sip.

    'Psychodyssey get something on your mind? You looked pretty contemplative!'

    "Perhaps." Lilian first replies to Flamel, less actually guarded and more a pensive lead-up. "I'd half-thought of something like the Psychonauts mission being what it is because you live in a world where people are 'out' about their powers and use them for something other than killing each other. 'Psychodyssey' had prepared me to expect something clumsy but heartfelt. Those performers had clearly been developing that symbiosis of crafts for a while, instead."

    'There are various fizzy drinks, such as... Regulus's favorite, Dr. Pepper, as well as sparkling water. Timekeeper received this bottle of Sancerre Sauvignon blanc 1938 in the previous era, making it, um, about twenty eight years old, and this Cabernet Sauvignon....'

    Meanwhile, Lilian is mentally categorizing Sonetto, as an 'assistant', as a sort of exotic subspecies of Maid. This means that she is ontologically good and Lilian is prepared to kill to protect her smile. "I hadn't quite grasped how much of a headache the calendars would be until now." she laughs, quietly, at the struggle to discern a wine from the future's actual age. "Time is such an arbitrary thing already. Without the human construct to track it by, everything gets surprisingly difficult." After a moment's indecision, she picks out the Sancerre, saying, "I'm always going new places, so I'm always picking a cabernet as a choice to gauge the establishment's quality, then never going back. Let's take advantage, shall we?" Also, it's annoyingly expensive, and she wants dibs before anyone figures that out.

    ''available''

    "Regulus was that desperate, I see." Lilian dry-remarks on the spot. "Of course the Paladins has all the trained musicians as well. People obsessed with 'freedom' are always shooting themselves in the foot and trying to make ends meet however they can afterwards." she says, following with a shake of her head. "Well, with the best of luck to Matilda, Regulus was probably inevitable. Her nature as a human being depends on obsessing over this abstract thing to go on. Things like 'getting what she wants' or 'succeeding' are perhaps intangible next to that. So I can't speak too negatively of her choices, I suppose; they're much better than doing all of this without a core obsession at all."

    Then, briefly glancing over, she says, "I've never seen the Timekeeper dressed down this much before. I'd thought that the coat was doing most of the work, but are you absolutely certain they're eating right?"


    'I do not believe the Foundation has any kind of founding story like that....'

    "That's a shame." Lilian says, then tilts her head in regarding her own sincerity in saying so. "I feel like founding stories are important. Everything I'm a part of has one. Perhaps it's just not plausible for a globe-spanning mega-bureau like the Foundation?"
Regulus Surely it's just an in joke and not an advertisement of affiliation! That's the story Regulus will use if someone complains for sure.

Odette still seems a little shy (unbeknownst to Regulus, about getting an axe to the face). Regulus is thinking that if they were going for a mummy theme maybe she should've picked a different band name? It's not really her vibe to name a band after, like, a medical procedure or something so it'd have to be like mummies or maybe some kind of general monster theme?

She's terrible enthused by Odette using 'TamTam' and her concept of Odette is starting to veer away from the reality of Odette, especially when Odette tries to encourage HER in the quality of their upcoming performance. At this rate, Regulus is going to think Odette's considerably tougher and braver than she otherwise expresses.

What she doesn't say is that maintaining a consistent beat is a lot harder than it looks. She explicitely acted like it was easy to do so that Odette wouldn't second guess herself. Timing is one of many components of music and tougher than it sounds or feels like.

''But it isn't a bad feeling, I hope. Perhaps a band can't change everything, but doing nothing certainly won't change anything at all''

Regulus is too busy prepping and playing to respond to this with words, but it's one more sign, in Regulus's mind, that she was correct to ultimately sign on with Vertin. If Regulus could file down herself into one philosophy, she'd say something like that though it'd be louder and crazier because that's just how she rolls. The essence is spot on, however. Doing nothing won't change anything. It didn't do anything in 1966, it didn't in the 1920s, and it almost certainly won't change the multiverse. Some people need a push. And she's happy to be that push.

But more than her own performance, really, she's glad that Sonetto got to experience the Psychodyssey for herself. That's something that can't be recaptured. She could perform this set with this crew as often as they care to but... Life moved on for the Psychonauts. And she's not thrilled about that. Maybe they had to. As Flamel said, it didn't exactly please her to hear it began with a Storm.
Regulus As the first piece comes to a close, Regulus takes a steady breath and shakes out her hand. There's some welts on her strumming hand from pressing down on the strings. She has been practicing a lot lately and it was bound to be she'd get some blisters. A couple of her fingers are even bandaged up. She's got her own kind of effort.

"Our next piece...is going to be Child of the Moon, inspired off a story I heard from Director Lilian Rook!" She has heard of her role as a Trideag officer more than her position as Dame Commander so that's where her mind goes to first.

But before she starts playing, she offers a hifive to Hibiki, Tamiel, and Odette in that order. " Nice job...!" She murmurs though her mic picks it up woops. She steps a bit further away and adds, "Don't worry if you mess up a note here or there or need to take a pause. Normal for performing for a crowd." In other words if it gets too rough feel free to stop and join back in when you can. More likely than you might think!

This performance is a bit more like All Along the Watchtower in speed--considerably faster with more subtle complexities in tune and melody even for Hibiki and Tamiel--even Odette's part involves a bit more complexity than just keeping a basic beat. Regulus keeps playing through every little mistake that the others make, nor does she even make any sign that she heard them. She's got the temperment of a performer, if Odette's wounds opened back up she'd act like it was part of the show unless she outright collapsed. And she'd do it if it were her wounds too.

Regulus's specialty is clearly instruments rather than singing, but she's spent a lot of time practicing this one. The melody evokes a story, like a fairy tale, with an almost classical bent to some arpeggios and chord progressions, disguised with modern (by 1966) sensibilities--ultimately not quite approaching the stylings of a fantasy inclined rock opera, but at least looking in its direction.

"A child running through the woods / the world knowing they've been up to no good / They thought for sure they'd be the first / to slip off into the wilderness cursed."

The song isn't lyrically complex--if it feels it was written in a couple weeks that's better than the truth. Regulus only had a few days before she had to have something ready to practice with the band.

"The child doesn't look back, barely looks forward / Doesn't know what they're moving towards / Into the faerie forest they fled / Feeling they'd be better off dead"

And then playing it up a bit for the next verse, Regulus raises her volume. "Child why are you here far from the safety and the warmth! Child don't you fear the cold and dark far from the hearth!"

Then lowering her voice she sings, "Oh the child answered that they fled from somewhere cruel / Their parents, their judge, their pastor always called them the fool / They'd shout at them and beat them down as the sun upon them burned / But perhaps the dark would never break their heart and leave their hope spurned."

And then she's back to playing up the voice of the faerie like before, going larger than life with it, prancing about the stage and nearly tripping over the electrical cords as she plays around. "Then let me be your mother, the lonely faerie cried. I don't know what I'm doing but I'll love you till I die. There's no fire in the forest but I can be warm too. The moonlight may be poor but at least it is true."

"Oh child of the moon at least it is true. At least it is true."

And then just slamming down another cord for fun, the last actual prepared song comes to an end.
White White starts to wonder if, like Flamel imitated Helmut's own performance, White might try to recreate some of it later with illusions. She certainly can't imitate the method of Flamel's performance... Even understanding the theory of it in a descriptive (but surely not intuitive) manner, she's never really seen herself as a 'psychic'. Her own telepathy has practically atrophied at this point after spending so much time practicing more normal means of conveying things, and... Well, there's no need to humble herself inside her own head this much. She realizes all this thinking has left her with a slight pang of what might be remorse, if she narrows it down by elimination; the feeling that perhaps this was all a little wasted on her, compared to someone like Merazophis, Wrath, or even the Demon Lord. That she hadn't paid this day out enough significance to consider until now that perhaps she should have shared it with someone. That would've been... Normal, wouldn't it? Most people go to concerts with friends, family, or the like, don't they? Even if it's basically a garage band.

     The first song that Watch Out goes with is at least closer to her own wavelength, and doesn't have the implicit demand to be interpreted in the same way as 'The PsychOdyssey' did. That makes it easier to just absorb, settle in and take more notice of how others are feeling about it. Watching the individual members of the band one at a time and interpreting their expressions, noticing tiny fumbles from the less-experienced members as they get into their rhythm together, seeing how Flamel fades into the background on purpose to let attention slide off of himself after savoring enough of it, noticing Cristallo's enthusiasm and Polly's silent, absorptive focus... Tracking Sonetto lazily as she accompanies Lilian around, too, briefly. That helps her catch Lilian's look, and White takes a few seconds to figure out how to react; glancing back at the banner, then back to Lilian again, she supports her soda can with both hands and gives a tiny shrug of her shoulders. In hindsight, it does kind of make sense that Lilian would jump to that conclusion even if it weren't so obvious, doesn't it? Not much point in acting like she didn't notice anything, then, even if she doesn't particularly care as much about the implications.

Come to think, Wrath's been making friends with these girls hasn't he? Hmm. Well, that might be a little awkward when his Paladins paperwork goes through. He's more socially agile than White is though, it'll be fine! Probably!
White The way Vertin chose to phrase something, though, seems to stick with her in a way that makes the second, then third glances she throws the Timekeeper's way just a little less easy and subtle than the rest. Particularly since she'll have had to open her eyes to examine Flamel's work, and the pink-violet gleam of the Evil Eye, even inactive, is a little more obvious than the pale face of her eyelids.

     'Allowing yourself to be swept up in someone's passion', was it? White can't help but wonder why that sentiment in particular crossed Vertin's lips so easily. She thought it was a far more unusual idea than Vertin made it sound. Not a *new* idea... If it were, it might stand out less to White, actually. White had the Demon Lord. But who did Vertin have, in that way? Did she have some great mentor with powerful, humanitarian beliefs whose words she was still acting on?

White's impression so far had been that Vertin wasn't like that, that the Timekeeper was so humanitarian and empathetic that there was no way she could be chasing any more specific goal than 'ending the storm', or maybe just 'helping who she could'. If White was mistaken about that, well... She couldn't know, right now, but she'd have to watch Vertin more closely to find out. It was important to her, too, after all.

She hears Lilian say something about Vertin's diet, and wonders if maybe she should be surreptitiously teleporting things into the suitcase to try and thumb the scale herself, on that front.
Timekeeper "I'm grateful that you've looked out for her. I know she's trouble but I couldn't bear to be the gravity weighing her down."

    Vertin smiles at APPLe, and then looks over across the room at where Sonetto is hanging out with Lilian. "I'm sure she's never even had that thought cross her mind. You're a wonderful first mate, APPLe; Regulus is much better off for having you around. If this can be a consistent support network for her, and you, and Sonetto as well, then I'll be more than satisfied."

"I hadn't quite grasped how much of a headache the calendars would be until now."

    "Mm!" Sonetto makes an affirmative noise, not really because she's enthusiastic about the topic-- it's both a tiny bit grim, and also the default state of things for her entire life thus far-- but because she can sense some kind of positivity radiating off of Lilian, which energizes her in turn.

    "There have been attempts to reconcile this... perspectives on the Storm that are rooted in the 'time' of the Foundation, as some people consider that not being affected by the Storm makes our perspective of the passage of time 'true'. That would mean that, despite being made in the year 1938 originally, this wine would *now* be from... 1999+12, minus twenty eight, meaning 1983. This has... not made it easier for anyone, however."

"Let's take advantage, shall we?"

    With an absolutely radiantly sunny smile, "Absolutely, Dame Rook." She's more than willing to pour it for her too if given the chance, but that's just the way she is.

"Her nature as a human being"

    Sonetto tilts her head in confusion, half-ponytails slipping to the side. She doesn't press on the subject, though, instead commenting on the part that actually matters. "It is the nature of afflatus, I believe. ... I suppose it is commendable that her enthusiam is capable of doing so much on all its own-- or, rather, with quite a lot of help from Timekeeper."

"I'd thought that the coat was doing most of the work, but are you absolutely certain they're eating right?"

    Sonetto's eyes widen a little, following Lilian's gaze towards Vertin. Vertin happens to be looking back at the time, meeting their gazes with a little wave of her fingers while draping their jacket over the back of a stool. Sonetto exales through her nose, looking down at the ground and smiling with a complicated and not entirely positive emotion.

    "Timekeeper has not, at least, lost any weight since I was assigned to be their assistant, but... it can be difficult. I often have to remind them of meal times, and their sleeplessness often leads them to be awake and working at times that I cannot bring them food."

"Vague yet ominous government work, to defend free and stable thought throughout the world. But at the start..."

    "A government peacekeeping organization founded by musicians...." Sonetto murmurs, faintly awed at the idea. "They sound as though they were truly incredible people. I... have a belief that the traits and habits that lead to the creation of art are also connected to wanting to do good for others."

"Perhaps it's just not plausible for a globe-spanning mega-bureau like the Foundation?"

    "Maybe." Sonetto nods, thoughtful and a little left-out feeling. "We have of course studied the history of the Foundation, back to the fall of the Byzantine Empire, but... there are not many names that remain from so long ago."
Timekeeper     As for the performance of Watch Out!, Vertin is pretty much down with every kind of music. There's records from Regulus's era, some of Regulus's favorite rock bands, stacked up in the bookshelves around the room and mixed in with nearly every genre (before the year 2000) that you can imagine. She'll enjoy it, and clap when it's time, but she's kind of too awkward to visibly *groove* to it.

    Sonetto is kind of bemused by rock music. She doesn't know what to do about it besides stand around and look to Vertin and Lilian's reactions. *Poltergeist* though, is a girl of the swinging sixties. She clambers her way out of the couch cushions until her entire upper body (or, presumably, from guessing at her proportions under the sheet) is free, and she awkwardly sort of wriggles around to the melody. When the song is over, she's possessed by the urge to cup her hands around the sheet over her mouth and shout like she's in a large audience for a real band performance, though her voice is still reedy and faint.

    "Y-yeah, Regulus! G-- go Watch Out!"
Hibiki Tachibana     High-fives get exchanged, with Hibiki giving a little exhale of relief afterwards. Her own hands are a bit rough, but that's less from all their recent practice and more just because she uses them. A lot. She turns to Tamiel and Odette after; it's up in the air whether she hasn't commented on Odette's bandaging because she also thinks it's a costume, or because it's not a topic to pick on right now. It could be either. "...You two did great. Tamiel, you got really into it. And Odette, you got right into the flow. Keep that up and there'll be nothing to worry about."

    Another reassuring god is given to them both, before she sets up for the next. You'd think she'd be in the singing role, for somewhat obvious reasons - but Regulus wrote those lyrics with a story in mind, inspired by Lilian no less. It's only right that she gets to take center stage like that, which makes for a sort of funny inverse in specialties. Not that she's complaining. It's pretty novel for her to be part of the instrumental backing for somebody else.

    Now that she's gotten a warm-up, complexity is fine by her. If anything, maybe it's a good thing she's not singing so she can focus entirely on strumming; if she had to focus on both at once, she might be more liable to slip up. But as it is, she can just about manage to keep up with the faster pace and intricacies in the melody - the few missed chords that do occasionally make things go slightly off-tune are concentrated early on, and mostly from listening a little too much to the lyrics herself and letting it slip up her concentration.

    Partway in though, when Regulus' really pushes up her tone, she levels out and rides it to the end. Lilian in the crowd... and Poltergeist having finally made a full appearance to move about. It's not as if they've particularly talked or anything, but seeing the change in the demeanor is sort of invigorating in its own right, letting her take a deep breath and lock in to stick the landing.

    One final pluck of fingers on strings goes along with Regulus' closer, and she holds it until the song dies down proper... at which point she's partway into wondering if this is the right time to take a bow or something, when Poltergeist's earnest effort at cheering them on just gets her to chuckle and rub at the back of her neck instead. More than the fact they just played in front of the whole crowd, that's what seems to get her just a little sheepish.

    "...Heh. Glad you enjoyed." She has to try to do her best to shake it off by the time she turns to give both Tamiel and Odette a thumbs-up.
Lilian Rook     'This has... not made it easier for anyone, however.'

    Lilian isn't oblivious to Sonetto's less-enthusiastic way about the topic, but there's just not really any avoiding it. Better to be someone who can talk about it safely than someone uselessly pretending it doesn't exist, or so she projects. "In a sense, true or false don't matter much. I could easily argue, for instance, that everyone's grasp of time by mine is completely wrong." she says. "The reality is that the Foundation are the only ones that can do anything about the Storm, and that Manus Vindictae share the same temporal frame of reference, so it's pointless to get hung up on any other. The days and years you've spent on this should at least be above being erased by that."

    'It is the nature of afflatus, I believe.'

    Ah. That again. Lilian starts to blow it off with an airy shrug and a casual "Force of habit.", then seems to be struck by something a moment later. Ther corner of her mouth tenses unpleasantly, and she glances down into her drink, like she's thought better. She isn't too subtle about looking at Vertin either. "Perhaps it is. It's a shame we didn't get to talk about it." Lilian says. "And perhaps I shouldn't be even that critical, then. Not if there's the possibility that an afflatus is something that can fill up a person who would otherwise be empty." She says it poetically enough, but what Lilian really means by an 'empty person' is everyone.

    'I often have to remind them of meal times, and their sleeplessness often leads them to be awake and working at times that I cannot bring them food.'

    "Incorrigible, but I understand." Lilian says, regaining a bit of humour. "Lord knows I'd be the same way if I didn't have Tamamo and Cecilia. Once I've gotten focused on something, I loathe stopping it partway through. I'll end up going for hours without breaks, if I'm not reminded."

    'I... have a belief that the traits and habits that lead to the creation of art are also connected to wanting to do good for others.'

    "Really now?" Sonetto, briefly, has Lilian's undivided attention. "I'd love to hear it." she says, just a little urgently.

    'We have of course studied the history of the Foundation, back to the fall of the Byzantine Empire'

    Lilian coughs, covers her mouth, and then goes to replace her drink. "That long ago? Seriously?"

    'Our next piece...is going to be Child of the Moon, inspired off a story I heard from Director Lilian Rook!'

    Lilian pauses, glass halfway up, blinking into space. "Huh?" She glances left, then right, as if this would somehow answer a question she feels but hasn't yet begun to articulate, and then settles for looking at Vertin, searchingly, asking, "Did you share that with her or something?" She doesn't even know if Vertin read it yet; she's already carrying the implication that Sonetto wouldn't associat ethat much with Regulus. Surely Regulus didn't impulsively come up with this because of a few verses on the radio, right?
Lilian Rook     Still, maybe it's the party atmosphere, or the company of Sonetto and Vertin, or the fact she's a drink and a half in, but Lilian decides that she simply can't be objective about any song that's allegedly inspired by something that specific from her childhood. Squashing down the immediate impulse to be nasty about the attempt-- because of course it could only inevitably fall short-- so as not to associate the two things, Lilian ends up playing so many dimensions of machiavellian chess at once that she comes back around to relaxing and quietly listening with a vague sense of interest; like perhaps a rock-obsessed arcanist would reveal some new facet of the premise that she hasn't thought of already.

    Though she looks more pensive than wildly energized, Lilian releases her glass, allowing it to float in mid-air, and applauds without reservation. She's even smiling a little. "Regulus has more talent for this than I expected." she says, in conversational range, simultaneously nonspecific about the music and very specific about whom. "And a greater sensitivity to the world around her than she lets on, it seems."
Flamel Parsons     "I'm glad you had a chance to see it."
    "No kidding! At least a dozen of my connectome donors remember going to Woodstem, and I think a few of them actually did!" Flamel had beamed so cheerfully at Tamiel before the set. And become astounded at her performance too! He's a big admirer of the focus state.

    "...Because you live in a world where people are 'out' about their powers and use them for something other than killing each other..."
    "That's the dream." Flamel says, brightly. "That every mind can freely express itself, and that expression can be used for something besides... well, you know, fighting! Personally, I'd rather do the camp counseling and study all day." He turns to look at the stage, briefly giving some context and letting his stream of consciousness out until Lilian cuts him off. "By the seventies, the Psychic Six had already partly moved on to intensive psychic study and mental development. They didn't even really have more government backing than some arts grants, and funding was a handful of interested charitable foundations, around then. They wanted to develop new ways of thinking. Beautiful new ways to be psychic, or even just beautiful ways to think in general."

    "I... have a belief that the traits and habits that lead to the creation of art are also connected to wanting to do good for others."
    "Honestly, not wrong." Flamel continues the train of thought for both Sonetto and Lilian now. "The Zanotto family was already making all kinds of agrokinetics for food *and* floristry. Imagine the fractal flowers! Cassie was advancing Mindswarm into generalized Mindtech, and part of that was creative appreciation systems. The Booles had gotten their first advances into direct insect telepathy to study hive culture, do you know what insect art is like? Otto Mentalis had made breakthroughs in astral trauma retro-healing, imagine being able to know who you *could* be, to befriend who you'd be with less pain... God, the things the Psychic Six had to set aside when they were called up to fight the Deluge. There's a good reason we *have* to have our own hobbies, our own, you know, rounded focus."

    "You can't just go fight bad guys all the time. Or 'develop technology'. We have *quotas* ever since the Oleander incident. You have to go do something beautiful! The mental aspects necessary to do *something* beautiful are also some of the mental aspects you need to do good."
Odette Raskins Odette is totally camper-minded compared to Flamel. One day, she'll get the counseling she needs, but today is surprisingly going pretty well so far. She's playing alright enough, if a little too by-the-book, but she hasn't messed anything up so far!

Now if only she could pull that off with everything else she tried her hand at. Luckily, having positive reinforcement from her friends in the band and the presence of so many friends to see what's been solid performances thus far is realy helping get her in the right mindset for the next piece!

Hearing Vertin and Hibiki chatting about shared experiences with getting get roped in has her realizing just how easily she got swept up into Regulus' band idea, too. "Not bad at all.. Hehe. I'll sure as heck remember this. Plenty of friends around, a really cool opening from Mister Flamel, and-"

She taps her drumsticks against the sides lightly. "-A good performance so far. N-now we just need to make sure we nail the rest, so everyone remembers it for the right reasons."

What's probably helping her confidence a lot, too, is how she's managed to use both Regulus' acting about the ease of drumming and Petra's comments about her rhythmic screaming as fuel to get involved in this at all. It's definitely not going to give Regulus a proper assessment of the EMT's actual confidence, but there's sure to be time to fix that inaccuracy sooner rather than later.

For now, though, she's enthusiastically joining in the high-fiving session with Regulus, Hibiki, and Tamiel, feeling pumped and bringing up her right-hand for proper high-fiving! She even mostly makes contact! "Yeah, if we just make it sound natural even when we mess up... Heh. I-I'll have to remember that for sure, Regigi. You and Hibibi really are experts at this, and Tamtam feels like a natural at this, too. I-I'm just following along, but..." She murmurs, grinning ear to ear while snapping her sticks to her forehead.

"Ow... I-I won't let any of you down. We're in the home stretch, so let's really nail this last one!"

The next piece is a little trickier for Odette at first, but not for the increased pace. She's actually pretty good at adjusting her drumming to keep up, but having to adjust as the song progresses almost feels like she's winging it at first. The bandages on her dominant arm aren't doing her any favors, and the reduced depth perception means she's also compensating for her drum beats still not sounding quite right at times.

Thanks to peer pressure and Regulus playing right through all that, however, Odette's able to get back on track sooner rather than later! If she's in any pain, she doesn't show it on her face, and she's even banging those drums harder and louder the further Watch Out gets into this second song.

Like Regulus, she also indulges in a bit of an improvised drum solo to follow that closer. Her improvisation there is considerably clunkier than anything else she's done tonight, but at least the sticks don't break. Odette's panting a little by the end of the song, too, and she wipes the sweat off her forehead with her jacket sleeve before slipping it off and really showing off how hideously green her meat t-shirt is when there's no jacket to hide the sides and sleeves.

Regardless, she collects the drumsticks in her left hand, and she brings her right hand up to give Hibiki, Regulus, and Tamiel the same thumbs up.
Tamiel Luxis     The finale of the song, and nothing had exploded, no one has suddenly ducked into phoneboothes to whisper in hushed tones into their cell phones. But they wouldn't, would they? Not right away. She exhales, sharply, and forces herself to smile at the others. "You kept the beat pretty well," she said to Odette, regardless of whether or not she had. "And...Yeah. It's a little easier, when you've got time to get properly into it..." She was mad at Regulus right now, she instead, she said it to Hibiki.

    "It's been a long time since I really performed anything, and this audience is..." She considered, "Way less...stiff." She even offers the audience a wave.

    Of course, she knows the next song, and she's antsy to try it. Her bow lands firm on her violin, and dances, and she finds herself bouncing slightly where she stands, her wings uncoiled in a glittering mass behind her, until, with some hesitation, she stands atop a pair.

    A bit of her hair falls over her face, but she doesn't need to see--she knows this notes. And the violin sings them, obediently playing along. She liked this song. Its sound...And its words. She knew she was no child of the moon, but thinking of it made something in her reverb and hurt.

    It finishes, and for a moment, she forgets to be angry. "...If we don't have that poem on file, I need to make sure we get it...It's..." She struggles to find a word to describe it, and settles on, "...It feels like it should be remembered."
Lilian Rook     'That's the dream.'

    "I need to improve my aptitude for dreaming, then." Lilian sighs. "That really is quite a story. It should have occurred to me to ask you something so basic before accepting a look through a keyhole at the organization as foundational to my perception of it." she says. ". . . Scientific study, is it? I wonder if they ever got tired of it, at times." Lilian pauses to drink, but still stares off into the middle distance even after.

    "Creating theories, drafting outlines, performing experiments, verifying results, and raising money over and over and over again in that same spiral; throwing your time and labour and years of your life into learning and proving something, rather than making or changing something, with that vague hope that it might help even more people in the future . . . Doesn't it ever feel like a waste? Like you could have lived a better life if you bet on the present instead of the future. I wonder if they ever dreaded the fact that their beautiful dreams must inevitably materialize another tool of the masses; a thing to consume, accelerate, exacerbate."

    Stopping on a breathless pause, Lilian thinks to check her glass, and looks as if she's doing mental math, perhaps suddenly realizing how talkative she's gotten.

    'imagine being able to know who you *could* be, to befriend who you'd be with less pain...'

    "I think I've decided I'd like to try the cabernet as well." Lilian says, sliding away from Flamel, white-knuckled grip on her glass.
Regulus APPLe bobs in the air not really at Vertin but kind of ''around'' with a slight predilection towards Vertin before bobbing back. Is he a little redder than normal?? He's already pretty red... "That is heartening to hear, Miss Vertin. And if we can help in Chicago, we'll follow you gladly."

Perhaps it's her propenstiy for Dr. Pepper but she's feeling winded even after the second song. But it's a good time to drink some water. She fetches a water bottle and guzzles down like half of it while recovering from the ordeal.

Regulus would feel bad if everyone came here for three pieces. Child of the Moon wasn't that long and she couldn't really plan ahead while she was playing a whole other song. She's really talked up the idea of figuring things out as she went along which was easy before the 'as she went along' came about, but the destined hour is at hand and she now has to come up with something on the fly.

''G--go Watch Out!''

Regulus is highly keyed in to Poltergeist. She has to be. She needs to be. There's not much left from her home timeline that isn't herself and APPLe at least as far as the suitcase goes so there's a sort of timeline-tribe loyalty to the ghost within Regulus. Her smile brightens at the encouragement. If Poltergeist is having fun that's just adding to Regulus's joy right now.

"It's not so bad right?" She murmurs to her bandmates. "That's the power of music for ya..." She's being so conscientious by expanding this to ''music'' instead of saying Rock again. She's really in a good mood...

In truth, Regulus hadn't read the story! She went entirely off of Lilian's description of the story. Regulus had no idea how to get ahold of it herself and she just sort of worked from there. She glances to Tamiel, "They know this is an amateur show for fun and we didn't charge for tickets." Regulus shakes her head at Tamiel. "A rough crowd's always possible, but--I think everyone here knows not to expect Jimi Hendrix today."

If Regulus showed up at Whispering Rock she'd probably be a relatively normal camper there outside of her being way out of the age bracket, but outside of that she could easily fit in. She takes a breath and says, "Alright, we're gonna have to keep this next one simple since we don't got anything prepared, but Hibiki--you're from a music school right?" She was feeling like she was hogging the spotlight anyway. Now it's time for Hibiki to!! "How's about you sing your school song and we'll back you up musically." Not exactly hard rock, but this is the perils of the situation.

She looks to Tamiel and Odette, "Stick to basic beats, basic chords. Don't be afraid to get a bit jazzy about it."

Regulus is happier with Regigi than Reggie, bobbing her head to Odette one last time before making her way back front, "Our next song will be leaded up by Hibibi Tachibanaaaaa!"

She hasn't forgotten HER name is actually Hibiki right?
Timekeeper "Not if there's the possibility that an afflatus is something that can fill up a person who would otherwise be empty."

    "By 'empty', do you mean... directionless?" Sonetto does her best to keep up with Lilian's particular genre of language, but she's not quite as tuned in to the concept as Petra or even Vertin is. Still, Lilian's commentary is forcing Sonetto to reconsider her perspective on *Regulus*, even while the performance of her band kind of falls flatly on her ears.

    Taking this interpretation seriously, Sonetto spins it around in her mind for a few seconds, unconsciously wrinkling up her forehead in thought. "I believe that... many, many people would be directionless, without something to care about." She holds the can of her drink close to her chest, looking down at it. "... I know I would be. Without poetry, or the mission of the Foundation, or my duty to Timekeeper... I feel sympathy for people like that."

"I'll end up going for hours without breaks, if I'm not reminded."

    Lilian joking about it lightens up Sonetto too, and she quietly giggles to herself when remembering stories. "There are times where Timekeeper falls asleep while sitting at her desk, with her face in her paperwork, after completely losing track of time. When she is particularly busy, I will fill out a timetable of her typical day, or else she might not believe me about how long it has been since she last slept or ate. I do not mind doing this duty, however."

"I'd love to hear it."

    The fact that the connection isn't self-evident is kind of surprising to Sonetto, and it takes her a little bit to figure out how to word it to Lilian. Being automatically agreed with by Flamel helps, but her answer can't avoid being a little clumsy.

    "That is... to make beautiful art, you must care about the world around you, in order to see it and translate it. And then, you also must want to... share those feelings with others, and reach out to affect their hearts. Even when art comes from a place of hurt, as it often does... I don't believe something can become 'beautiful' without empathy."

"Did you share that with her or something?"

    Vertin and Sonetto both seem surprised by Regulus's announcement, and Vertin's eyes slide in Lilian's direction even before they're prompted. Sonetto seems vaguely scandalized by Regulus *appropriating* such a thing, but Vertin is more contemplative about it.

    "No, I hadn't. She did mention at one point that she'd heard the story from you, with enough attention that it had stuck in her mind, but I wasn't aware that she had this planned."

    Vertin falls silent to listen, attentive to each line that comes out of Regulus's mouth, clapping at the end. Aside to Lilian, she says, slightly joking at first, "Come to think of it, I haven't heard her sing before."

"And a greater sensitivity to the world around her than she lets on, it seems."

    "She gives off quite a different impression between when she's in her element and outside of it," Vertin agrees, a little more meaningfully than that statement would be on its own. "That's why I thought it would be a good investment of energy to support the band."

"You have to go do something beautiful! The mental aspects necessary to do *something* beautiful are also some of the mental aspects you need to do good."

    "Right." Vertin says in response to Flamel, and even though that's really all she sees fit to add, she says it with an amount of positive intent that makes the word feel meaningful.
Timekeeper "Throwing your time and labour and years of your life into learning and proving something, rather than making or changing something, with that vague hope that it might help even more people in the future . . . Doesn't it ever feel like a waste?"

    Having just had a conversation similar to this with Lilian yesterday, Vertin takes some time to consider it even though it was directed towards Flamel. "It's a difficult balance to strike, I think. If you can't trust those after you to be able to follow up on the foundation you've built, then it's difficult to believe in anything at all. There's no simple way to do the math, especially when the result is so abstract and uncertain. Who's to say besides the person themselves whether it's worth it to martyr themselves for the future?"
Hibiki Tachibana     "...Eh?" Blink, blink.

    Regulus apparently caught her out of left field with that one. Yup, that's much closer to the usual Hibiki for you, taking several whole seconds to process what she heard and then going slightly redder in the face once it clicks. "W-Wait, that as a closer? But you don't even know how it goes, a-and it normally goes with piano, and it's a little..." She was going to say she doesn't think it'd fit the vibe of their other performances, but they /did/ already play a rather subdued track before.

    In other words, her flustered excuses die out in pretty short order - especially when she realizes how it'd look if she turned that down now of all times. It's their debut, you don't just /do/ that. The lasting impression of their band depends on finishing decently. After a few more eye-avertings and murmurs, she squares up her shoulders, relaxes them, then nods. "...Alright, Regigi." How can she use that nickname that Odette just thought up with a straight face!? "No way I can say no if you're gonna ask, so..."

    Hibiki shuffles over to the mic, leaving her guitar slung over her shoulder so she can take it proper. There's a moment of quiet before she speaks up. "...Right. For our last one, I'm gonna sing the anthem of... Lydian Private Music Academy. Um-- it's a pretty important song to me for a couple reasons, so I hope you enjoy." There's a deep inhale, then an exhale. Then an inhale again, which she holds this time.

    BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kd0nTXcJC8

"...Look upwards to the sun,"
    "And learn of all the many ways to love,"

    It very much is an anthem, of the sort that'd be sung at the start of every day; certainly more formal than anything else played tonight, and you can hear it's meant to be sung in a chorus just in the first few words. Hibiki's usual rough sort of way of speaking shapes up as well, closing her eyes and placing a hand over her chest.

"Morning and evening, let your voice ring out,"
    "And live strong alongside that melody,"

"...Even if you shed tears,"
    "At the end of the far-distant future,"

    Her voice stays steady the entire way, the lyrics clearly being second-nature to her, any sort of instrumental backing or not. She might seem almost as if she's forgotten she's performing in front of a crowd at all even with her initial hesitance, only pausing to take in another breath for the final verse.

"O girls, with pride in your heart,"
    "Sing, and let your dreams become song..."

    The last word is held just for a couple seconds before fading out, which is when her eyes finally open back up. Unlike everything else they've done tonight, this one ends with her making a small bow before she straightens back up, looking down at her feet briefly before lifting them up to the room.
Odette Raskins "It feels like it should be remembered."

"D.. Definitely. Heck, maybe we could play it again someday, just to reminisce about today." Odette suggests with a slightly awkward-sounding chuckle. Although she's cooling down with her jacket off, Tamiel somehow manages to get her to sweat a little more with that comment. Despite agreeing, Odette doesn't want to admit that she completely forgot the actual lyrics over the past few days thanks to practicing and compensating for the arm-switch.

Luckily, the show is just about-

"Alright, we're gonna have to keep this next one simple"

-not over yet. That's going to have her sweating a bit more, too, even though Regulus is giving her and Tamiel simple enough stage directions to follow. "Huh? Ah... B-basic, got it! Jazzy, jazzy..."

She's heard that word once or twice before, right? "W-wait, was I supposed to bring a sackophone, too?" Suddenly, Odette's feeling a little undergeared in addition to being underprepared! It's enough reason to be concerned about having this show wrapped up nicely, but hearing Poltergeist cheering the band on lights another fire in the EMT's heart.

"Nn... Thank you! W-we'll... We'll make sure this one's a real hit, too." She declares even though Hibiki's the one that's really being put on the spot here. There's a little more sweating when Hibiki starts talking about pianos, but how could she turn down that kind of cheering from Poltergeist and after seeing Hibiki step up to the mic?

"One more... L-let's do this, TamTam." She flashes Tamiel a slightly pained grin, sufficiently suppressing that soreness in her wrists. Once again, she's incredibly decent at following simple beats just like Regulus taught her to, and even fatigue and aching wounds won't stop her from figuratively coloring within the lines when she's this fire up.

She's still wondering how this could be done more jazzily, but she'll have to ask Regulus about that some other time.
Lilian Rook     'By 'empty', do you mean... directionless?'

    Lilian, suddenly realizing just how densely layered and tightly encoded that this particular verbal heuristic is, silently wonders if she's been spending too much time around Petra as of late. Doing her best to sidestep around the topic whilst still elucidating to a degree, she says, "Something similar to that. I might perhaps say 'someone who can't choose a direction for themselves'. As in, if Regulus never obtained an afflatus featuring music, would she process the world and learn to care about it through another lens, or simply not at all? Many people trend towards the latter."

    'I feel sympathy for people like that.'

    Lilian looks at Sonetto with clear surprise. As if the idea had never even occurred to her. She looks back away again just as quickly.

    'I do not mind doing this duty, however.'

    Well, it's still Sonetto. Lilian, a little buzzed, smiles more than usual. "How ironic. A Timekeeper who constantly loses track of time. No wonder she trusts you so much, if you fulfill such a critical role in the position." she says, joking. "I suppose I can be glad that she is where she is, then."

    'And then, you also must want to... share those feelings with others, and reach out to affect their hearts. Even when art comes from a place of hurt, as it often does... I don't believe something can become 'beautiful' without empathy.'

    Somehow, the words strike Lilian as though they were as much a difficult prognosis as contemplation of art. A little alcoholic disinhibition is perhaps wise to give credit for her cloudy expression. "You have to care about something to bother criticizing it, or something like that?" she says, warily. "Even if you make it just for yourself, I suppose from that point of view, it's impossible to make art about hurt without showing an interest in healing."

    'It's a difficult balance to strike, I think. If you can't trust those after you to be able to follow up on the foundation you've built, then it's difficult to believe in anything at all.'

    Lilian's response is little more than a deeply uncomfortable 'mmph' at first. Her jaw seizes up, as if to prevent her brain from saying any more. She relaxes with a habitual sigh-- something she seems to do often enough that one might hope it isn't always for that reason-- and then says, resigned, "But doing nothing at all won't solve anything either. Isn't that right?" polishing off then setting her glass down, Lilian shakes her head, and says "Don't mind me. Just a bit of frustration with work. Ah, not the Association or the Paladins, to be clear. I've enjoyed myself."
Regulus APPLe turns towards Lilian for a moment as she speaks of 'empty people'. He doesn't have a strong impulse to interject on Regulus's behalf or to add much, if anything it heartens him that they're even reflecting on her character at all. Isn't that better than just wholly tossing her aside, even if the ideas expressed aren't entirely positive or pleasant.

But he does reflect on it much like a philosopher ruminating on an apple. Eventually he says, "She is quite fortunate to have met one like her." He does have some thoughts about Regulus's sensitivity to the world and, at times, her insensitivity to it.

But it's when Lilian speaks up again with her clarification that APPLe feels like he can get his thoughts in order. "There are countless elements to this world to care about. And endless passion one can carry within themselves. Often, such passion dwindles away before it can truly take root, crushed by failure or the world or insecurity. I don't know if the Captain would have found something else at all if she didn't have music, but perhaps she holds onto it so tightly because she knows how easy it is to lose one's grip. I am just an apple, of course, and though I was with her for some time I can only guess at her mind, but it is easier to find passion for a subject than it is to hold onto it. So it's always a blessing, I think, when you find one you can."

Regulus of course doesn't know Hibiki's school song. She doesn't add much music at first, but once she gets a feel for the melody, she can adapt. It's a piano song not a guitar song, but one of the beauties of music is that many instruments can take the place of another and bring its own presence to a song. What does a guitar add to a school anthem like this? Regulus is excited to find out.

And she's also excited for something a little more sedate so her fingers can recover.. She's been working harder on this event than she had been since before the Storm in her own timeline--without the ability to do much djing and without a boat to sail, she's chosen to focus back on performance to tide herself over.

"You know, there's something really soothing abuot that one, Hibi." Regulus says, reffortlessy trading one nickname for another. "Could really feel your love for that school you've got there, it's gotta be one of the good ones for sure." Or maybe it's less the school itself than the memories there.

In the end it isn't THAT jazzy, aside from some small flourishes Regulus couldn't stop herself from adding, but by and large she is supporting Hibiki's song rather than trying to musically overpower it.

"Woofh! I think I see the crowd easing down a bit, so I think that's as good place as any to drop back down and mingle. Thanks for coming everyone!" Regulus waves a hand before adding, "Thanks! If you ever want to play again, this has been fab as all out!"
Timekeeper "As in, if Regulus never obtained an afflatus featuring music, would she process the world and learn to care about it through another lens, or simply not at all? Many people trend towards the latter."

    Sonetto is still a little hesitant to theorize with Lilian on the intrinsic lack of worthiness contained within the hearts of mankind, but there is another topic that Lilian presumably didn't mean to bring up buried in there. Murmuring in thought, Sonetto looks up at the band on stage, really focusing on what Regulus is doing while performing for the first time.

    "To have afflatus or not, or to have a different one... it is difficult to think about such a thing even being possible. Is it a part of us before birth? Within our souls, or gifted to us by God? Do we discover it by living our lives, and in a different world, could end up with another, or would such a hypothetical person be so different that they would be unrecognizable? I do not know... if I had not had access to a library, what kind of person I would be."

"You have to care about something to bother criticizing it, or something like that?"

    Sonetto seems grateful for Lilian's rephrasing, whether or not it's exactly what she meant to convey in the first place. "I... believe that is correct. The alternative is to disengage from the world around you, and blind yourself to both the beauty and suffering it contains."

"But doing nothing at all won't solve anything either. Isn't that right?"

    It's probably a credit to Vertin's recent shift in perspective regarding Lilian that they give so much credit to that moment of discomfort she expresses, visibly pausing to reassess their own words as well as Lilian's. Rather than brushing it off when Lilian shakes her head, Vertin takes another sip from her glass to think.

    "No, you're entirely correct that continual inaction sustained purely off of 'hope' in the future won't improve anything. I meant that the fundamentals of progress established in the present can provide a base for the future to more solidly build itself on, but 'research' is an intangible concept-- selling out the present just for the sake of winning arguments and government grants isn't meaningful progress on its own."

    Side-eyeing her, Vertin adds, "Is there something besides the Association and Paladins, then?"

    THE BAND performs a SCHOOL SONG on stage. Vertin thinks this is strange but kind of endearing. Sonetto thinks this is the best music Regulus's band has managed so far. Poltergeist is stressed out and confused, but she's thrown in her lot with thinking this band is cool, so tautologically anything they do must be cool even if it seems extremely lame. It's not like *she's* the expert on what's cool or not-- and these guys are in a band! Cristallo is just sort of bemused, but the vast shift in genre keeps her interest.

    When the band has finished its performance, Vertin claps and smiles. "That was a lot of fun. And congratulations, you all," Tactically avoiding the name of the band, "On your first successful gig."