whenshewasnice | A Club in Envy's Toronto, Saturday Evening

A Club in Envy's Toronto, Saturday Evening

It was a Saturday evening in Toronto – when, exactly, didn't matter, as the time difference between this world and others was a fickle and odd thing. 'Saturday evening' was specific enough. Anyway, by the posters plastered along the outside of the building and some nearby streets, the time was off only by a mere week or so. When it came to the month and date, anyway. The year, however, was more complicated.

But that didn't matter. It was a Saturday evening in Toronto, and Kid Chameleon was playing this little club, supported by The Run Run Hurry Hurries, and the place was getting to be pretty packed. Students and hipsters and the usual crowd for an indie rock gig. Cheap beer at the bar and cheap tickets at the door. That kind of thing.

And hopefully, a record label rep or two in the mix.

... Also, some people Envy had put on the guest list. Those, too.

[ooc: NFB, and for thems that know who they are. OCD up, have at!]

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Get a beer, eye the hipsters critically, maybe spot a familiar face from Fandom and make some small talk.

Once The Run Run Hurry Hurries are done making a slightly uncoordinated racket, it's time for the main event.

"Please put your hands together for Toronto's very own KID CHAMELEON!"

Good show, right? Right. Mingle some more, or just wait around to catch a word with Envy or her bandmates.

It's taken me forever but I fiiiiinally got around to this, omg.

Peter wasn't getting a beer. And if he was eyeing the hipsters, it was over the shoulders of two burly bodyguards and one permanently-bescowled Thai general, none of which were under any inclination to let him out of their sight.

"You really never loosen up, do you, Suri?" Peter asked.

"One hour," Suriyawong replied.

"I feel like I'm a kid back in elementary school again," Peter replied. "One hour of playtime and then it's homework and to bed, Peter."

Edited 2015-11-07 13:06 (UTC)

Jono was in a pretty good mood tonight, staking out a spot by the bar, even if he had absolutely zero intentions of buying himself a drink. This was pretty much what he'd been hoping to see from Natalie for quite some time now, and he'd memorized the three tracks on the CD she'd given him back in July. He was here as moral support, even if he didn't imagine she exactly needed it, and because, so help him, he wanted to take in the show.

Being surrounded mostly by college kids and hipsters was really just part of the ambiance. It reminded him a bit of when he used to play, though he'd never really admit it.

The band filed onto the stage. Six people in all, taking up their instruments, whether the bass or a guitar or the bongos. Filling up the stage, beginning to fill the space with an ominous noise waiting to turn into music.

Except there were seven people in the band. Envy walked onto the stage last. (She'd never done it like that before. And still didn't really make anyone wait for her, per se. It was just s slower entrance.) High-heeled boots and fishnet stockings and short skirt and bold red lips and all. She said nothing when she got to her mic by the keyboard. She just began to play, and all the other noise turned into music around it.

"There was no way out, the only way out was to give in." It was all kind of understated. Slow. Envy's voice was soft and bordering on wistful. "There was no way out, the only way out was to give in; how I love to give in..."

It went on like that for a while, an easy, melancholy flow of music. –– And then a sudden shift into something more violent. Suddenly it was obvious why having a drummer And someone playing the bongos could be good for a band. If you wanted to unleash hell, that was the way to do it. Envy danced through the barrage of sound, shaking her head, light catching on her blonde hair as it flew about. Yelling rather than singing; she had a point to make.

"Shake your head it's empty! Shake your hips, move your feet!"

And Stephen Stills' guitar came screeching in. Even when the pounding gave way to it, something unsettling remained. Envy's eyes were closed and her free hand was a fist held up towards the ceiling, and her next lines were a mantra. "I'm so glad that I'm an island, I'm so glad that I'm an island, I'm so glad that I'm an island now."

(Dear Fandomites, try not to read too much into that one.)

She swayed her way through the music winding down back into its original calm, and back to her keyboard. Back to play the come-down. Slowing everything back down until it was time to stop altogether. "Now that the damage is done, I never miss it at all."

Wasn't that something for an opener?

There was a crooked smile on her face as she looked towards the audience. "Hey. We're Kid Chameleon. Thanks for coming." And they were already off into the next song.

[music | full lyrics]

Edited 2015-11-07 13:53 (UTC)

Cade had three beers, plus a round of tequila shots, because he'd boosted an entire drink order from a group of hipsters.

He was classy that way.

...and feeling a little blurry after doing three tequila shots all on his own.

"You're at a bar," Cade observed, sauntering over with his two beers (he'd finished one and three shots already because Cade). "I thought you were allergic to fun. That's what Ben had always thought, anyway..."

Cade gave him what he assumed was a cool little "yo, I know you," head nod thing.

[OOC: wtf sudden attack of present tense, self.]

Edited 2015-11-07 14:22 (UTC)

Oh, ugh.

Suriyawong slid into Cade's line of sight - blocking off Peter - like he'd planned it that way. Peter gave him an idle push aside. "I'm here for Envy," he said mildly.

"Me too," Cade said. "The beer's awful." He glared a bit at Suriyawong. "Really? Bodyguards?"

"You want to know how many threats and assassination attempts I suffer through in a year?" Peter said, raising an eyebrow. "There's a list."

"Which you're not supposed to talk about," Suri said.

The show was in full swing, and there'd even been a couple of covers to make sure the pace stayed fast along with the audiences and the band's heart rates. And they weren't about to let up now, launching into another song that sent the bass vibrating through the floorboards. Also, were they doing the Nintendo-esque sound effects themselves, or was it just the world bending to embrace their style? It was hard to tell. This world had its own aesthetic, after all.

Envy didn't strut quite the way she would in just a short year or two, but she was getting there. "Take me out of this state I'm in, go somewhere I've never been. Got something trapped inside, still alive, where's that paradise?"

She had more of a smile on her face than those in the audience who'd seen her play songs in private would remember seeing. But it had an edge to it too. It wasn't unfriendly, but it suggested something predatory all the same.

"Oh yeah, woo-hoo! Too bad, woo-hoo! So sad, woo-hoo!"

And she couldn't really deliver lyrics like those without it. That was perhaps more familiar, the biting irony. Something darker getting put out into the world with something else on top. "I've been on a thousand years too long; a thousand years too late for everything that's wrong. Back and forth between the desert and the sea; who I was and I will always be. Oh yeah, woo-hoo!

Wasn't a show with Envy Adams if she wasn't hiding pieces of herself in the songs.

[music | full lyrics]

Edited 2015-11-07 14:22 (UTC)

"Well, he's pretty smart," Cade told Suriyawong. "and extremely unlikable, but he doesn't that second part on purpose."

Hey, Jono wasn't going to nitpick whether or not that head nod thing was actually cool. Especially since he was going right ahead and returning it with a nod of his own.

//Here for Natalie, I presume?//

It seemed like a safe bet.

"She's going by Envy now," Cade said, "or at least that's what she told me the last time we talked."

Jono took a moment to process that, tilting his head and mulling it over for a second before correcting himself.

//Envy, then,// he replied. It didn't take that much processing, considering the fact that the crowd he typically ran with tended to use monikers besides their given names, too.

It was at least more flattering than Chamber.

//I must've missed that update. I'll keep it in mind, thanks.//

"I'm sure she won't hold it against you," Cade said, waving it off. "You still on the island?"

//Most of the time,// Jono agreed with a shrug of his shoulders. //Teaching on Mondays, pretending I actually hold a respectable position as a business owner on the weekends at the music shop.//

When he remembered to.

//And you, mate? How's life after graduation treating you?//

Cade shrugged. "Pretty sure I'm not cut out to be an adult."

Envy was wiping sweat from her forehead. Just a little. "We're at the end of our time with you tonight," she announced, "but we'd like to leave you with one last song. It's a new one, and it's called Blind Valentine." Ha ha. Yeah. Tonight was a great night for playing this one for an audience for the first time. "Thank you."

The song began, hypnotic. And Envy was as cool as cool could be. "Whatever I want, whatever I do, whatever I say." Swaying behind her keyboard. "Whatever I make, whatever I spend, whatever I save. The sound of the club, the kiss on your lips, it should be mine. The people you meet, the people you trust, the people you find." Her unblinking gaze swept across the audience, but didn't settle on anyone in particular. She could barely see more than shapes, anyway, the lights on the stage were so bright in her eyes. "That's the difference, baby, between you and me. That's the difference, baby, between you and me.."

And she closed her eyes as the music swelled.

"Sky high, in better times, when love was hard to find. Sky high, in better times, with my blind Valentine." There was something about knowing the people harmonizing with her wouldn't think there was a capital V in there, while some people in the audience would probably (correctly) assume there was. "Sky high, in harder times, when love, my friend, was blind. Sky high, in harder times with my blind Valentine."

Sigh. She opened her eyes. Fixed them on nothing at all. "Your house in that town, the window that frames the view that you saw. You keep racing down that hill, but you never fall.". Anyone. This song could be about anyone. "That's the difference, baby, between you and me. That's the difference, baby, between your life and mine."

It wasn't really about just anyone. Maybe multiple someones. If Envy's own experiences as an audience member at shows was any indication, there were multiple strangers out there right now feeling like she'd been writing about them so what did it matter, anyway? She had a keyboard under her fingers, a band around her, a voice escaping her lips, and a strange sensation of power inside her chest. That mattered.

"Sky high, in better times, when love was hard to find. Sky high, in better times, with my blind Valentine. Sky high, in harder times, when love, my friend, was blind. Sky high, in harder times when love was hard to find. Sky high, in better times when trust in love was blind. Sky high, in better times, with my blind Valentine."

The song faded until it was gone. The smoke that had been bringing out the coloured stage lights was already beginning to dissolve. (No one had actually asked for smoke? It had sort of just... conveniently appeared. Funny how that worked here.) "We are Kid Chameleon," Envy told the audience, without cracking a smile. "Good night."

[music | full lyrics | that's the show, all show pings now open for reactions!]

Have you ever had somebody project an amused snort telepathically directly into your brain, Cade? If not, there was a first for everything.

//Cade, mate, I've met only a precious few people who are cut out to be an adult. I'm not even on that list myself. It's not actually an easy list to get on. Hell, I don't know that I'd really want to be there, if I were given the option.//

Scott was the first one out of the back room and to the bar. Totally shifty-eyeing the crowd like he was afraid of label reps or something.

Which, ha-ha, he totally wasn't. It was just that, like, when did the band get this... large?

"Yeah?" Cade said. "But you're teaching and have a business and aren't, y'know, stealing beer from stoopa hipsters."

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Page 1 of 9

A Club in Envy's Toronto, Saturday Evening

The Bar (Pre-Show)

The Show

The Bar (Post-Show)

OOC [11/07]

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

The Show - First Song

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

The Show - Somewhere in the Middle

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

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Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

The Show - Final Song

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)

Re: The Bar (Post-Show)

Re: The Bar (Pre-Show)