New Year's @ the Dive!

[birthright_npc]

The Dive, which was prone to a gritty atmosphere, had been transformed for New Year's festivities. A rotating disco ball hung above the crowd, as well as a web of streamers. Colorful lights lit the stage for its five-band line-up, which began with a local cover band and then transitioned to new wave, punk, synthpop, and glam rock acts, all staples of the year in music.

By 11:15 p.m., the crowd was slap-happy and drunk, thanks to happy hour prices on drinks and $1 Jell-o shots. The patio smelled like barbecuing meat and nacho cheese. Merchandise for the Dive and the bands moved quickly.

The world was halfway through the decade and antsy for the second half to begin.

The Fraying Nerves were wrapping up a five-song set and about to clear the stage for the Death Spirals, a band whose hairstyles were a fire hazard.

[Thread: Open to Anyone]

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[maddy_ricks]

Maddy was loud on the mic. She lifted a hand in the air and coaxed the audience into counting down, “One… two… three!”

It was worth it to see Brian go flying into the crowd, his arms and legs akimbo, a look on his face like he might puke at any second. He’d had a rough week, so arranging a stage dive was the least she could do to knock him out of that dazed look on his face. Hopefully nobody stole his shoes.

She slung the random bra back into the crowd and kept playing.

Crowd diving in the Dive

[melodymagic]

It had taken a lot of talking and pleading and no small number of promises, but Melody had finally received her father and mother's permission to go and meet Maddy at the club she was playing at on New Year's eve. It was also the fact that they had had a chance to meet Maddy, through the waitressing gigs, that had helped, though the stabbing of the woman at the Christmas Ball had almost put a hitch in the greater scheme of things.

So for the first time Melody stood in The Dive, a messy mash of bodies all around, the noise and smoke almost overwhelming her. She pressed her back against a wall and watched as Maddy started counting and her bandmate, Brian, was lifted up and spun around. She had heard stories from Maddy about this sort of thing, but her eyes still widened with surprise when she saw him thrown out into the crowd. Her face split into a huge smile and she clapped with delight when she saw the crowd catch him, and he started being passed around, over a forest of arms.

Re: Crowd diving in the Dive

[tiny_dancer81]

"Theresa! I think we're out of shirts!"

Teddy's voice carried over the music and the noise of the crowd, and Theresa took her eyes off of Brian's journey above the audience's heads to say, "Are you sure? There might be some more in the box backstage."

Teddy was the bartender with the long braid of hair, and tonight his tattoos were as visible as ever because of the sleeveless shirt he was wearing. One ink-emblazoned shoulder went up and down. "I looked. We're sold out."

"That's awesome. It's close to midnight anyway. I can have some more made up after the show tonight and put out at Tracks."

The vampire was pleased with the way tonight was going. This was her final exam, as it were, as to whether or not she got to keep the job. She'd spoken with someone with the campus newspaper over at UNLV, and they'd sent someone to write a review of the show. The guy from the entertainment rag was still somewhere among the revelers.

Her short little ass had done some good work. She hoped Mike was pleased with her efforts.

Re: Crowd diving in the Dive

[brian_campo]

He bobbed up and down on the hands. The twirling stage lights and twists of crepe paper streaked color before his eyes, and yeah, okay, he was a little drunk; he just hadn’t known it while he stood still. There seemed to be indecision over whether to pass him backwards or up front again, and no amount of pointing and shouting got it across. At least once, a hand squeezed his balls on purpose.

Brian landed near the back of the crowd. Amidst people giving him friendly slaps on the head and neck, he shoved his way out of the melee. The good news? His wallet hadn’t disappeared. The bad news? He wouldn’t make it back on stage. They went into the last chorus without him.

He pushed sweaty hair off his forehead and cut to the side of the room. The plan was to hug the wall until he made it backstage. He made himself acknowledge Theresa with a nod as he passed the merch area. It was screwed up, finding out she sucked blood, and he hadn’t told her he knew it yet. At the last minute, he realized he was being a dick. He turned and shouted, “Hey… thanks for the—”

He stepped on an Asian girl’s shoe and elbowed her in the nose.

Re: Crowd diving in the Dive

[maddy_ricks]

As the last chord faded, Maddy lifted the bass strap over her head. She’d love to do a sweet swan dive into the crowd, but she’d worn a jean jacket and a pink tutu over garters and a giant pair of boots, so there was no way in hell she’d jump into that writhing pit of testosterone. Clearing the stage for the last band would take a few minutes, so she started to rapidly disassemble and put equipment in cases. Canned music pumped through the speakers.

Re: Crowd diving in the Dive

[melodymagic]

Nothing to do with the fact she'd been throwing sideways glances at where Brian was during his excursion to the back of the crowd, and more likely something to do with the fact she had been nursing a pre-mix vodka drink since she'd arrived, Melody managed to avoid having her nose broken, but her toes were a different story. She squeaked, loudly, as Brian trod on her toes, but managed to turn her head enough to take most of the elbow on her cheek. Her hands flew up to her face as her feet tried to free themselves from beneath his.

Re: Crowd diving in the Dive

[tiny_dancer81]

"Whoa. Hang on."

Theresa was about to acknowledge the beginning of Brian's sentence as he passed the tables she'd set up before the show started, and if she'd noticed his discomfort around her before, she hadn't mentioned it. She saw him trying to get past the girl with the drink in her hand, and her sharp ears picked up the squeak when he stepped on her foot. The vampire darted around the table before the mortal could stumble and potentially get pulled into the crowd. Get enough drunk people together, and anything could happen. Teddy could look after sales for a few minutes, since they had buttons and bumper stickers left now that the shirts were sold out.

"Are you all right?" she asked the Asian girl. Then she reached out to grasp Brian's arm to steady him.

Re: Crowd diving in the Dive

[brian_campo]

“Shit!”

Brian managed to smash her other foot, too, before he recovered his balance. It was useful having Theresa’s freakishly strong arm to clutch onto.

“Hey, are you okay?” he shouted into the girl’s covered face, right in time for the band to stop playing and his voice to carry. “Take your hand away.” Visions of broken noses and black eyes danced in his head.

Re: Crowd diving in the Dive

[melodymagic]

Melody lowered her hands, rapidly blinking back the tears that had welled up in her eyes and nodded slowly. Her preference for boots over sandals had proven to be a sort of saviour of her toes, the crushing effect being offset, but nonetheless still painful. And with having been able to turn her head she had more pain from the bump on the back of it, where she'd hit the wall with some force, than from the front. She rubbed at the back of her head as her hair, in two pigtails up high on each side of her head, jiggled and danced, the red intensified by the lighting in the club.

"Yes, I'm fine!" she managed to squeak, equally as loudly just before the next track of the canned music started automatically. She resisted the temptation to wipe the tears away, figuring that would be too obvious and she didn't want to look like a silly little girl in front of Maddy's bandmate, or the other woman.

Re: Crowd diving in the Dive

[tiny_dancer81]

There was no blood, which was good. The braids made the Asian girl look younger than her probable real age, but as an eternal teenager Theresa knew how that felt. She let go of Brian's arm when the musician seemed to have regained his balance.

"Did you spill your drink?" the vampire asked, then hooked her thumb over her shoulder at the bar. "I can get you one on the house if you did."

Re: Crowd diving in the Dive

[brian_campo]

Now that the crisis was over, the embarrassment of clobbering a girl in pigtails set in, and Brian rubbed his hands over his face, the effect comical because it tugged on his skin. “Jesus, I’ll buy her one if you can’t.” Only someone as chronically distracted as him would think that walking backwards in a crowded room was a good idea.

Should he offer to get her a bag of ice or just let it go?

Music blasted through the speakers and he raised his voice to be heard. “You’re Mel, right? You’re Maddy’s friend? It took me a second to recognize you without the elf hat.” Brian thumbed at the other brunette. “This is Theresa.”

[maddy_ricks]

Maddy chose that moment to pop up like a whackamole between the two of them. Later she’d be in trouble for skirting her onstage duties, but the curiosity over where Brian landed and whether he’d gotten manhandled was killing her. She didn’t say anything to interrupt the conversation, but she did stare at Theresa across the group and pantomime a phone receiver held up to her ear. She shook her head and worked up an exaggerated sad clown frown.

[melodymagic]

It was only when Theresa mentioned her drink that Melody realised she had in fact emptied hers down her shoulder, the empty bottle now in her hand. The sticky contents were dripping from the hem of the coat she was wearing, bright red, with a tucked waist and flared skirt that sat out, creating a few different routes for the streams of drips that were falling to the already sticky floor. She held the bottle out to Theresa and smiled, as Brian recognised her, and introduced them. She was really pleased she managed to keep herself from blushing, wishing that Maddy was there.

When Maddy appeared, popping up between the other two, Melody reached out and grabbed her friend's hand. She could feel the blood returning to her toes, but she wasn't really sure what to say to Brian. Instead she looked at Theresa and nodded. "Yes please, thank you!" she said, looking from her to Brian.

[tiny_dancer81]

Privately Theresa thought that Brian should buy the girl a drink, since he was the one who'd spilled it in the first place, but it was good PR for the club if they took care of little expenses in the course of regular business. It added to the place's rep if they didn't fuss about paying for the occasional drink.

When Maddy popped into view, the vampire arranged her expression into something neutral. She still hadn't explained her lack of a phone call. They were going to have to talk about that. But not now.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," she said to the Asian girl, holding out a small hand. "Hope you're enjoying the show despite the collision."

[brian_campo]

Since Theresa had made no move for the bar, it gave Brian an opportunity to take control of the situation. He pried the empty bottle from Mel’s hand and went to lean over the bar, where he flagged down Teddy and got it replaced with an identical drink. He gestured at Mel over his shoulder. The bartender followed his finger and nodded, coming up with a bunch of cocktail napkins from under the counter, too.

Brian came back and held both out to Mel. “Uh…” He wanted to help, but since he didn’t want to grope a stranger, he wasn’t sure where to go with the moment.

“Here.” Maddy took them and started patting the coat to absorb it. “Don’t rub, you’ll just get little bits of napkin all stuck to her. Like your face when you bother shaving.”

Exasperated, Brian gave up.

“What’d you think of the band?” he asked Mel. “If we were terrible, blame the bassist.”

[maddy_ricks]

“Everyone does,” Maddy chimed. “There.” She squeezed moisture from the hem of the coat and dropped the wad of ruined napkins in a trash can. She straightened up and looked at Melody, wondering if she’d go freakishly silent on her again just because a penis was in hand’s reach.

One thing wasn’t lost on her: Theresa hadn’t responded to her attempt to acknowledge the elephant in the room in a lighthearted way. This gave Maddy the personal resolve to go nuclear.

“Oh, Theresa, I think you’ve got something in your teeth.” She bared hers at the brunette and pointed.

[melodymagic]

Melody put her hand loosely into Theresa's briefly and thanked her. She took the drink Brian had brought, and glanced down at where Maddy was cleaning her coat, glad her friend knew how to look after it properly.

"It was great!" she managed to say at last, her voice carrying clearly over the sound of the canned music thumping out of the speakers, and then saw Maddy was pointing to her teeth when looking at Theresa. She looked from one to the other, wondering whether this was some sort of 'secret club signal' that she was oblivious to, never having been to a club before.