To Rhial

39

Desmond

Glitterman put together a banquet and invited all of the Golden Girls but Betty White. It was like standing in front of a crowd of people who were badly cosplaying trophies. They wandered around grabbing food and talking while Glitterman sat on his throne, giving me and Brenden a series of excited and expectant glances, but I got the vibe that this guy definitely had some sexual tension he needed to get rid of. Maybe it'd just been a while since he'd heard good music. And I couldn't blame a man for getting horny at the promise of good music. Lord knows I was.

"You growin' tits back there, Brenden? We gotta start." I tossed the awkwardly large guitar over to my front side. Brenden was behind a pillar silently going through the motions of the drum beat for the song.

"Dude, I haven't played in a while. I'm fuckin' nervous."

"We practiced each song like four times and basically rewrote them all. That's good enough. It's easy ridin' tonight, we just gotta make it look passable. Backup singin' while playin' the drums is easy for you."

"I know, I'm just getting back into the flow of it." He had a thousand yard stare that was getting lost in the crowd.

"Shoulda had some of that weird drink. I'm fuckin' jazzed up right now, like I just took a super concentrated caffeine shot."

He didn't respond, just stared off. I turned back toward the crowd, scoping out where he was looking. No shit, his eyes were locked on that other nyadin woman. I couldn't help smiling.

That's my boy. He has a crush.

"Oh-ho! I see you. I see you. You like that nyadin chick, don't you Brenden?"

He blinked quickly and looked at me like a deer in headlights. "No. I'm, uh, I'm- we just talked once. Nothing more to it."

"Yeah. Sure, bud. Listen man, you're the one who made the rule about no lovin' but I think we could just not tell the others if you're really into her. And, you know, I've seen a couple ladies I'd like to get to know better. Let me work my magic. I'll set you up nice and good."

"No, dude! It's not-"

Our pre-show discussion was abruptly halted by a quick whistling sound. It would have blown out my ears a week ago, before I'd learned to relax how much they pick up. Lord Hallax set a golden scepter at his side as the high pitched sound of a small pipe next to him vibrated through the otherwise silent room.

"Attention, all my humble visitors and servants. For those of you who have yet to hear, we have been gifted two wonderful musicians for the night, and maybe more nights. In this city so devoid of sweet tunes, let us turn our attention to our evening muses, Alex and Eddie Van Halen!"

I snorted a little. It always made me chuckle to think we were stealing the identities of actual musicians and playing their music for people for a profit.

Heh. Fuck copyright, they can't sue us where they don't exist.

At the lord's gesture to us and the crowd's attention turned, I stepped up like I always did in that dingy old bar back home.

"Good evening y'all! Who wants to hear some music tonight?!"

Dead silence. The crowd looked at each other confused and then Hallax spoke up, sounding a little insulted. "All of us. That is why we asked you to play here."

I'd played for unenthusiastic crowds of factory workers on some shitty nights, but these people had me a little speechless. They might've been expecting something more formal and less hype.

After a second of trying to think of a way to respond, "Yep! Of course you do! We were a little pressed for time, so we only have a few real performance songs, but we'll let you know when we're just gonna start vibin'."