Of Ponies and Puppies

Date Night

"Are you liking the vibes here?".

"Eh, it could be worse I guess. This place beats the tiny one we went to on our first date", Uzi's tail flicked at the memory.

N nodded, "yeah... That place was pretty small. I liked the music better there though".

Uzi's hands clenched the seat beneath her, "dude, that was pop. This place has the underground stuff. This band playing right now came in from Outpost 4 to perform. Like dude, I thought those guys all died. Crazy the guys still alive made a band and that they're playing this genre".

N's eyes surveyed the crowd again. Not too many people there, but not too few. He was always a little surprised that this was the only kind of thing that Uzi would willingly spend time in large crowds for. Everyone was up and about behaving in a rambunctious manner.

It was certainly a huge departure from a gala.

N turned to her again, "so why are we still on these seats? Aren't you supposed to dance at these kinds of things?".

"Dance?", Uzi gave him a double take before realizing he was serious, "N, this isn't like prom. This is a metal show. You don't do that here".

N's brow raised, "metal? Like, us?".

" Music , N", Uzi stressed, "metal music. That's the genre that's playing".

"I've never heard this kind of music before. It's... interesting", N said, lost in thought.

The male vocalist on the stage was straining his vocal device in a way N couldn't imagine felt good, but he couldn't deny that the vocal style gave the performance a layer of emotion to it. He had to strain his CPU to understand what he was saying, but once he realized how to listen to it, the lyrics suddenly became apparent. From the mouth of the black-dressed drone on stage came a story about no longer being shackled, about being free from authority. Something clicked as he realized this drone still had the default light coloration of Copper-9 Workers.

"I like the song", N said, "it's weird, but it speaks to me".

Uzi's face practically got brighter at the comment, "oh my gosh really? You like metal?".

He scratched the back of his head nervously, "well, if all the songs have lyrics this good, then I guess I like metal!".

Uzi blinked, suddenly aware of how she jumped to conclusions, "oh wait, give it a few more songs. If you like the rest of the set then maybe then you can say that you like metal".

He gave her a thumbs up, offering her a smile. She nodded, a smile of her own on her face.

A few songs passed as they sat together in silence. At some point, their tails wound around each other as they both bobbed to the music. Uzi's head took on a motion akin to the motions the crowd was making. N found himself amused by the flashing lights on the stage.

A new song began to play, still by the same band. The wailing of the electronic guitars caught their attention as the vocalist began to perform, and it did not take long to realize what this song was about.

"Drain me of all I am, open my insides by hand!".

Uzi's faux breath nearly caught as she looked at N in horror, "oh no...".

"The angel of the night bleeds me dry as I look up into a yellow star sky".

"Uzi?", N nearly whimpered.

The vocalist leaned into the microphone as the crowd undulated in energy, "the blade falls down...".

Uzi grabbed the closest of N's hands to her, "it's... it's just a song. Don't let it just to-".