Participants:
| Scene Title | Mystery Girl |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Wires cross as Magnes and Sable hold an audition for an acquaintance that is unexpectedly mutual. |
| Date | May 30, 2010 |
A comfortable place, located in the basement of 14 East 4th Street. The red brick walls are covered with memorabilia from various icons of rock and places in rock history, creating a feel similar to that of a Hard Rock Cafe.
The left wall has two bars separated by swinging doors which lead to and from the kitchen. Directly across from the entrance is a two foot high stage with all the equipment needed for acts to perform there. The right wall has three doors marked as restrooms: two for use by women and one by men.
Thirty square feet of open space for dancing and standing room is kept between the stage and the comfortable seating //placed around tables which fill the remainder of the Cellar.
The lighting here is often kept dim for purposes of ambience, and when performers are onstage the place is loud enough to make conversation difficult. Just inside the door is a podium where location staff check IDs and stamp the hands of those under twenty-one with a substance visible under UV lights at the two bars and by devices the servers carry. On the podium's front is a sign with big black letters that just about explain it all:
If You Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll, You're Too Late Now!
After finally managing to get through to her and having a short chat with Cat, Magnes set up a date and time for the audition in the closed Rock Cellar. He's moved a table directly in front of the stage, gotten their instruments set up; Sable's electric guitar, Magnes' keyboard and bass, and the microphones. But right now the two are sitting at the table, having idle conversation as they wait for the guest of the hour. "So I'm thinking he runs on the tail of the robot dragon, then it explodes when he jumps off… Should we even have a robot dragon in the opera?"
"Doesn't matter whatcha do," Sable replies, hands laced behind her head, leaning back in her chair so that it stands, perilously, on its two hind legs, "'s long as it's thematically fuckin' consistent. I mean, Jesus, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is a parody of rock operas, and even if yer like, a goddamn bareass native and have never heard 'f Queen, you've heard 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. You wanna robot dragon, boy, just gotta keep the volume of the whole piece that level. Can't seem funny, dig? Or if it seems funny, it's gotta still feel /right/."
Sable grins, "So how'd you find this likely 'f yers? Jus'… wanderin' out in the snowy goddamn wastes?"
"I think that even though we're making a serious point, it could have a kind of ridiculous 'Hey we're pretty awesome and punch robots but we're serious too' feel. Like the game God Hand, or Evil Dead and Army of Darkness." Magnes knows what Queen and a lot of things are these days, he's been studying the greats to avoid seeming like too much of a noob with Sable. "And hey, no one questions the fact that Batman's a guy who runs around in bat tights, they're terrified of him."
Sable aims her finger at Magnes. POW! "Thass right. But you gotta make sure yer fuckin' Batman before you put on the tights. Otherwise yer just some dimwit wearin' a better man's tights. I say go for it, boy, I'll be behind ya. The only way to fuckin' know is to try. Townshend's stuff is the greatest there is, and both 'Tommy' and 'Quad' didn't quite match his vision. Shoot for the stars, you might still land on the moon, dig?"
A moment later there's a somewhat sudden knock on the door of the otherwise shut down Rock Cellar, four rapid beats in quick succession before the door is subsequently pushed open. A brunette head peers in, looking a bit lost and confused - not that she shouldn't be, she's yet again managed to be ate to something she really shouldn't have been. "Um, hello?" She looks around for a moment before spying Magnes and Sable sitting up at a table.
"Oh, and to answer your question, she's a girl I saved from being trapped in the snow." Magnes looks over at the door, eyebrows raising, then waves her over. "There she is now! Apparently Elaine met her the other day, says her name is Quinn."
If the law of comic setups were in full effect, this is the point where Sable would loose control of her balance and topple straight backwards. Her feet would stick into the air, and one could imagine the stars around her head. As it happens, she does lose her balance, but manages to avoid total absurdity by instead falling forward hands hitting the table as she stares with frank disbelief at Quinn.
"Oh, yer fuckin' kiddin' me!"
Quinn had turned back to the door, seemingly about to step back outside. When she hears the second voice, however, there's a flash of recognition on her face, spinning back around to get a better look. Holy shit, it was Sable. So, wait, why was she here unless -
Wait a second. Now, that was just too good of a coincidence. There was no way both of them were in the same band, right. …Right?
"Uh, hey Sable." She doesn't even acknowledge Magnes at first, instead looking at the girl with a cocked eyebrow. Her gaze turns to Magnes, and she gives a bit of a weak wave. "Sorry I took so long to get back in touch with you, Magnes…"
"Oh, it's alright, I know things are hard right now." Magnes smiles and stands, figuring Sable's reaction is just because there's yet another hot girl in their entourage. "Sable, Quinn, Quinn, Sable. We're, uh, I'm not sure what our name is right now." He's in a long-sleeved black shirt with a silvery Black Lantern symbol on the front, and of course his blue jeans. "We've got the stage all set up when you're ready."
The initial shock disappears, leaving a void for the next emotional reaction to get full expressed. For a moment it just stays a vacuum, and Sable's expression is of numb disbelief… and then a smile spreads over her face. The look on her face says 'Good game, well played'. She shakes her head, "Un-fuckin'-believable. Arright, gorgeous, come on down. Guess this is how its gonna be. Ain't no clearer sign, eh?" She motions for Quinn to join them before her eyes cut over to Magnes, "We're previously acquainted, Mags," she says, voice laced with mirth, unable not to tap into the humor of the situation.
Dismay is rather evident on Quinn's face, eyes moving from Sable, to Magnes, to the set up stage and back around again, and after a moment she sighs. "One sec, I have a few things outside." She disappears back out the door and stays gone for several moments before reemerging with a large guitar case in one hand, a small but similarly shaped case in other, and another soft case slung around her shoulder. She walks silently back up to the stage and sets each down cautiously before turning back to the other two with her gaze lingering on Sable before a moment before she sighs.
"So, what's up?" She queries, a smile returning to her face as she flips the latches on the smaller case. "I mean… how do you want to do this?" She had thought up a few songs to preform for the audition, but still wasn't totally sure exactly what Magnes, and apparently Sable, were looking for in a bandmate. The truth was she's lost just a bit of her enthusiasm upon seeing Sable, but she wasn't going to let it get her down - she could always hope for the best.
"Oh, well, good!" Magnes says to Sable being previously acquainted, and focuses on Quinn when she walks up on to the stage. "Well, first I think we'd like to hear something you choose to play, so we can get a feel for your, uh, musical personality." He made the phrase up, but it should get the point across enough! He's leaning forward on the table, watching intently.
Sable's chosen coping method seems to be fixed good cheer, a kind of smiling resignation. To argue with coincidence is to tempt fate. Still, she gets to her feet and hikes herself up onto the stage, to give Quinn a hand with setting up. Up close, she speaks in a low voice, something Magnes may or may not pick up on if he's listening.
"Don't hold back on my account now," the yellow eyed girl teases, "'n' don't think I'm gonna show favoritism or nothin'. You want in," she winks, and gives Quinn a small hip check, "You gotta earn it. Break a leg, hon." She hops down from the stage once the setup is complete, and retakes her seat.
"Um, well…" Quinn looks up at the stage and at the instruments lined across it, as well as at her own that sat in front of her now. Opening the case she had unlatched, she produces an old looking acoustic violin. "Did you have any particular instrument you wanted me to start with? Otherwise I'm just gonna go for it with this first."
"That's perfect!" Magnes calls up, crossing his arm to sit back in his chair, leaning it back so it's on the back legs in a way that should make him fall all the way back. "So what are you gonna play first? Anything's good, any genre."
Sable settles in, returning to her two-leg balance. She surveys Quinn, smiling in appreciation both of the woman and of the situation. "Fiddle us somethin' fine," she bids.
Quinn wrinkles her nose - it may be a bit snobbish of her, but she's never been fond of the term fiddle, and she almost makes a point of it. Instead, she laughs, pulling the instrument and it's bow carefully out of the case. "Well, I typically play classical violin, but that particular style's been adapted into a lot of rock acts in recent years, so I thought I'd give a good 'ol shot." She smiles, putting the instrument in a place for a moment, then removes it. "I really should play a real classical piece, but seein' what the this it, it seems right proper to play somethin' from a song. I dunno if you've ever heard'a them, but there's a band back home called The Delgados who did a fantastic album several years back full'a strings and such, so I'll play a song from that. Just hope I don't look daft tryin' to reproduce it"
Her little bit of music introduction done, Quinn smiles and puts the instrument in place. A moment passes before bow moves across strings, Quinn's eyes closed as she begins to play.
Magnes listens intently, looking over at Sable a few times, already seeming rather impressed. He doesn't speak until she's done, then raises a finger. "That was great! Who knows what we could do with a violin and music editing. We could pretend to have an entire orchestra or something." Looking back to Sable, he asks, "What do you think?"
During the performance, Sable remains almost entirely impassive. Her only sign of emotional engagement comes when, midway, she closes her eyes, so as to just hear the music on its own. When Magnes enthuses, Sable shoots him a glare and swiftly thwaps his upper arm, "Hold your goddamn horses," she says, "What if there were other folks here fer the audition, eh?" She looks to Quinn, "Hon, you're doin' just fine," she says, then turns back to Magnes, "But we don't say how we feel 'til it's just you 'n' me, arright? Audition ground rules." Would have been nice for her to mention these rules ahead of time, maybe but… better late than never?
"Please, continue. New song, new instrument, whatever y' wanna show us," Sable adds.
"Ah, uh sorry!" Magnes doesn't even question that she's late telling him the rules, she's technically the leader, as least from his perspective, so he takes her at her word. "Yeah, whatever you want! Even if you have an original song."
Grinning, Quinn gives a nod. "Fair 'nough. Wouldn't want to inflate me ego." She laughs, albeit a bit nervously, as she leans over to replace her violin in its case, this time reaching for her larger guitar case. "I could play somthin' original, but…" She trails off, for whatever reason not finishing her sentence. Flipping the case open, she produces the bright red acoustic guitar Sable herself had played. Grabbing a pick, the musician makes her way to the edge of the stage, sitting down and pulling the guitar across her knee. "Right then, this song's a bit faster paced. I'm gon'a sing this one to, jus' cause it's hard for me not to. It's by a wonderful Irish folk rocker named Damien Rice. Bit'a depressin' in it, but a fine good song still." It was clear she'd thought about her songs beforehand.
Just as before, a moment passes before Quinn's smile fades and her hands begin to move, playing the song to the best of her ability, trying to remember the lyrics as best she can. There's a few misplaced notes on both fronts and a small vocal warble, but otherwise it seems to go as she had hoped.
Sable remains unreadable for the most part, keeping a poker face she may have practiced while actually playing poker. It actually looks like she's in bright sunlight and squinting from it, not the most sinister or magisterial of expressions, but it does the trick. She's not familiar with the song, so any missed or misplaced notes can easily be fudged, and she's nodding by the end. "Think you could handle rhythm guitar, if we asked you? Not sayin' that'd be the only guitar work you'd do, 'course, but I'd like t' know."
Magnes for once isn't entirely sure what he should do, as Sable seems to know exactly what she wants and handles it quite nicely. He just leans on his elbows, trying to hide his smile and various other facial expressions behind the hands folded in front of his face.
Quinn raises an eyebrow, a mixed expression on her face as she sets the guitar aside. "I don' see why not." She was more than confident in her ability to, at least. Her arms cross across her chest, the grin returning to her face. She eyes both Sable and Magnes for a moment before jumping to her feet, guitar in hand. "Did… did you want me to keep going?" Her eyes move first to the keyboard and then to the third case she had brought in her. She had a bit more left in her, at least, and she wanted to keep the formal audition going as quickly paced as possible.
"Keep it comin', hon," Sable says, nodding, "We wanna get to know your full range. 'n' fact, as you know, we ain't got a drummer, but if you c'n show us what you can do with, like, synthetic purcussion, that's somethin' that'd be pretty damn valuable."
Magnes starts to raise a finger and open his mouth to speak up, then lowers his hands and shuts his lips to instead look to Sable and seek her final decision on the matter of continuing. When she finally instructs the girl, he turns to the stage again, watching.
Of course, she was always forgetting something. "Oh! I, uh, borrowed a friend's van. My synthesizer is in the back, I forgot to bring it in. It's kinda big and heavy, though, I can't really carry myself, so we'll do that last?" A question, as Quinn isn't sure exactly what order to go in. "If not, I can always hit the keyboard next."
Sable does smile at this, "Can't wait 'til we got the money t' hire roadies," she says, "Keyboard first is fine. Magnes, you wanna give her a hand with the synthesizer?" she thumbs at him, "Dunno that you know, but he can carry crazy heavy shit. Real fuckin' impressive."
"Yeah, just point me to the van." Magnes stands, cracking his knuckles as he begins walking to the exit. "Come on, I'll carry the synthesizer in while you're on keyboard." he instructs, opening the door for Quinn.
Quinn nods after a moment of hesitation, replacing the acoustic where it belongs bfore hopping own from the stage, offering a sidelong glance to Sable as she passes. Reaching Magnes and the doorway, she peers out. "There I'tis," she remarks with an outstretched finger, looking back at him. "It's fairly ahrd to miss there in the back. 's unlocked, too. If… if you don't mind, there's a laptop case and a small bag'a equipment to go with it." She feels bad shouldering all the carrying on him. "You need any help? It's a bit much to carry and all."
"Hold on. I'll get the laptop 'n' whatever," Sable says, dropping the chair on all four feet and rising to join the other two, "This'll just be part of the audition. See how we manage, like, whassitcalled? Logistics."
"I'll be fine, you just go play for Sable." Magnes casually dismissive, offering a polite smile. When he gets into the van, he pulls the rather large synthesizer case over one shoulder, walking back into the club. "I think we'll all do just fine if we become a band."
Scratching the back of her head, Quinn shrugs. "If you say so, I guess." She turns back to face Sable as she reaches the pair of them, blinking. A smile crosses her face as she steps back past her, running a hand through her hair as she makes her way back up to the stage. Curious, she makes her way over to the keyboard and begins to play a few keys, making sure it's set up to sound like a proper piano, or as proper as can be at least. A bit of a frown crosses her face. "It'll do," she intones somewhat snobbishly as she waits for the other two to take their seats again (and for the synth equipment to be set in a proper spot on the stage).
In an extremely exaggerated and stereotypical style, Quinn sits, leans back, and cracks her fingers. "this'd sound just right on a proper piano, so don't hold it up if it sounds a bit off." She closes her eyes once more, similarly to when she played her violin piece, and begins to play - and then sing, having not given any forewarning this time.
The singing catches Sable off guard, and manages to summon an unbidden smile to her lips, one that, having been justly earned, she allows to remain. At a certain point, though, Sable lifts a hand to her eyes, blocking out the visual again. It's one of the only ways she can bring herself to be unbiased, and the bias is one that swings in a couple confusing directions.
Magnes wants to praise, clap, or say something, but he instead busies himself with putting the synth together, not wanting to further burst Sable's mood. The instrument mostly set up, he doesn't bother fiddling with the settings, he knows how musicians can be about settings.
Letting out a long sigh as she finishes, Quinn turns back to Sable and offers a confident smile, before turning to look over to Magnes. "Oh, hey, hey, ya' didn't need set it up, I could have handed that!" She jumps from her seat and bounds over to where Magnes has it mostly set up. Examining it, it looks like he did a right fine job of it, admittedly a bit to Quinn's surprise. "Thank you, kindly," she says, even as she somewhat (and unintentionally) rudely waves dismissively at him with one hand, pulling up the laptop with the other. Plugged into the synth, it takes a several moments and a lot of klik-klaking of keys to get it set up, but after a minute, she turns back.
"Now, when I said you could use drum synth, Sable, that's still no substitution for a right proper drummer. It won't sound as good, but it'll do well enough for writin' and early shows, right?" Right.With everything hooked up, a dial turned and a setting made, Quinn takes the third case she brough and finally opens it, revealing her black and white flying V guitar. "I'll play a song with this backin' on drums to give you an idea of what it sounds like." Running the electric guitar into a nearby amp, she presses a few buttons on the synth, and steps away, beginning to play a guitar part.
She's right, the drums don't sound as good - the impression is given that they don't match the intended sound as perfectly as would be liked, and a good ear can easily tell it's not genuine - but it comes out sounding passable, at least to Quinn, as the drum line reproduces the song "Maps" while she plays guitar and sings.
More and more, Quinn just keeps adding more and more. Limited though she might be, for the duration of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs tune, Quinn is a one woman band. Sable chuckles, leaning over to Magnes as soon as he's nearby and murmuring, "She's gonna replace th' both of us if we ain't careful."
Magnes leans over to whisper back, shaking his head with a grin. "You're a musical genius, and I have the bass if she replaces me on piano, so we'll be safe." he assures, hunching over to sit his elbows on the table again. "
Quinn exhales sharply as she finishes playing, though the synth doesn't stop immediately. This prompts a look of annoyance her as she immediately turns her attention to the machine, first pressing two button and turning a dial, and as it still refuses to finish, just straight up smacking the damn thing. That does the trick an produces a groan from Quinn, who shakes her head as she removes her guitar. "Feckin' piece a shite." Turning to face the other two, a smile returns to her face. "Percussion maintenance and what not. That's really 'bout it, I'm afraid." She's half lying, she could have brought another instrument, but she'd rather not look that silly right now. Slowly she walks forward and hops down from the edge of the stage, eyeing the other two musicians carefully.
Sable grins as Quinn manhandles her equipment. She leans forward, hands knitting together, index fingers extended and tapping together. "That'll do us, I think," she says, "If you'll step out fer a bit, me 'n' my fellow 'll settle on how we feel, and I think," she glances to Magnes, always happy to call the shots but not wanting to press ahead without Magnes' say so, "We be able to figure out, one way or 'nother, pretty quick. Agreed?"
Quinn simply nods in response to Sable, taking a seat at the edge of the stage as she waits. THe expression on her face is a mix of eagerness and anxiety, though about what isn't exactly clear.
"Yeah, don't worry, we'll figure something out!" Magnes gives a quick wave, then turns his chair to face Sable. "Alright, so…" Staring at the floor for a moment, and back over at the shorter of the two. "We're taking her, right?" he asks once she's finally out of earshot.
Sable rolls her eyes, "Jesus, we can't even fuckin' pretend we have to think about it?" she says, "Yeah, yeah. She's so fuckin' modern, but I think we need that. 'n', honest, I'd rather she be with us than against us, know what I mean? Let's just fuckin' whisper over her for a little, though, kill some time," she glances over her shoulder at Quinn, then returns to Magnes, "You had to do it, huh? After bein' cooped up in that fuckin' orphanage and things being like they were in there, tortured, man, fuckin tortured by wantin' and not havin', I finally go out and find a lovely lady, 'n' you have t' go 'n' give her a fuckin' audition."
"I… uh… wait…" Magnes is completely caught off guard by that, looking over at Quinn and back to Sable. "Crap, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that… You don't have to be so strict about dating band members if you really like her. This is about you being happy and having fun, right? So why let something you love ruin your happiness?"
Sable squints at Magnes, like she thinks he might be crazy. Then she smiles, and reaches up to pat his cheek. "Chum, this is why I need you. You'll save me from m'self," she says - the admission is heartfelt but mercifully brief. Her hand moves, and then, without warning, she flicks Magnes in the nose, "But this ain't a point I budge on. This is a real fuckin' decision, and I'll cheapen it if I cheat now. You want her in, I want her in. Let's bring her into the fold. Wanna tell her?"
"I want her in if you want her in. I think she's talented, but…" Magnes wrinkles his nose when it's plucked, then places a hand on his shoulder. "This is your vision, your happiness, so I'm leaving the decision up to you. I can't take one or the other away from you, I wouldn't feel right."
"Oh, shut the fuck up," Sable says, laughing. She turns in her chair, cups her hands to her mouth, and calls out. "Quinn! You're in!"
Quinn still sits on the edge of the stage, legs kicking idly in the air, head hung as she hums to herself. Hearing Sable, her head jolts upwards, a grin on her face as she hops down from the stage and begins to saunter over towards the pair. "For real?" She asks with a hopeful tone. "I… was kinda worried I might be quite what 'ya wanted…" Her gaze is at Magnes as she walks, but the closer she gets the more it settles on Sable.
"You're great, there's a lot we can do with you around. I can't believe you were worried." Magnes laughs, patting Sable on the back a few times, then lounges back against his chair again. "Maybe we can all practice together and see how we mesh. But Quinn, what's your favorite instrument?"
Sable stands up, eyes meeting Quinn's, and extends her hand towards her. "Shake," she says, "And consider yerself one of us." She keeps her gaze steady. Is there regret there? Doubtless. But there is a higher cause, and a higher calling. Without it, nothing else means anything anyways.
"Well, I mean-" A pause, and grin, "I figured I was good, but there's no tellin' exactly what kind'a musician you all were looking for." Another sidelong glance to Sable. "Particularly knowing Little Miss 'ere's thoughts on modern music." She speaks with a teasing quality to her voice, offering a laugh afterwards. But as Sable puts out her hand, there's a noticeable hesitation, several beats passing before she reaches up and slowly shakes Sable's hand with a thin smile on her face. "And violin, since you asked."
"Good, I guess we both prefer a classical instrument. I look forward to working with you." Magnes smiles, then stands and heads up to the stage. "Come on, let's give it a shot. What should we play?"