676/Squid Show

Squid Show
Date of Scene:	30 October 2023
Location:	Tako Cafe
Synopsis:	Mizudori is playing with Improper Propriety at the Untidy Squid. Hinoiri happens to be in the audience, and afterwards they chat.
Cast of Characters:	Mizudori Teion, Hinoiri Kirara

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Mizudori Teion has posed:
    The Untidy Squid is a basement club in downtown Tokyo, somewhere in Mitakihara. You can sort of think of it like the Bronze from Buffy the Vampire Slayer- yes, its a nightclub sort of place, but it caters to the teen crowd, which means it doesn't serve alcohol until after 10pm, and it hosts performances of bands that teens are likely to want to pay money to see. Mostly this is local acts, because no self-respecting actual big-time band is going to play some teen-hangout basement club. But in general that's fine with the clubs clientele, who tend to be, as stated, school-aged teens between like fourteen and eighteen, at least in the earlier hours of the evening.

    Despite the name, the place is actually pretty decent- you know, for a basement club. It's dark and dingy, but by design, its tables and chairs having a kind of all-metal industrial chic. There's a bar, but as previously mentioned you can only order non-alcoholic drinks if it's before 10pm and/or you're a minor. They do snacks and stuff too, nothing too fancy. At one end of the basement space, which isn't tiny but isn't huge either, is a raised platform that serves as a stage. This really is a small place for local acts, so the crowd, such as it is, can get quite close to the stage. There's a cleared-out space in front of said stage for people to stand and watch, dance, or mosh as appropriate.

    It seems the act tonight is a rock band called Improper Propriety. They're like some kind of mix of power metal and 80s synth, and despite none of the members looking to be older than 16 or 17, they're pretty good. At least for the level of bands this sort of venue tends to attract. Of particular note is one of their guitarists, a girl dressed mostly in black with green highlights, including green stripes dyed into her shoulder-length black hair, and more piercings than is usual for a Japanese teen (most have none at all, she has several). She seems notably better than the band deserves, and is given the lion's share of solos.

    At one point during the performance she even elbows the singer our of the way to shout, "Hey, here's a song I wrote about me, hope you like it!" and then proceeded to play and sing for the next song. Although this seemed to be staged, as the rest of the band went along with it, it's hard to deny she was actually a better singer than the actual singer.

    After the show is over (it only lasts about 30 minutes, maybe 5 or 6 songs), the band members put their stuff away and were still hanging around while the next group was up there playing. The black-and-green girl, Mizudori, was leaning on the bar, a hand bedecked in silver rings smacking the wood lightly. "Hey! Can I get a soda, or what?" To the bartender who looks like she's already dealing with too many orders and not enough hands.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was, well, in a foul mood. Of course she was in a foul mood. It turned out when you had a person who had anger issues, abandonment issues and threw in enough dark energy to youmify three Naru's and a vacuum cleaner, you got a lot of foul moods.

But hey, she was a person with a foul mood who got things done. So she at least could afford to come to these stupid bars and listen to music from a people who seemed to think you needed fingers to play a guitar and yet STILL couldn't get the notes right half the time. But music was... nice.

Annoyingly, half of them didn't seem to have any *actual* talent in their bodies. She'd only had a human body for a few months and she could have likely played a guitar better than half of them and she could DEFINITELY sing better than ALL of them. So she'd just drank her orange soda and played on her phone, mostly ignoring the music aside from it being background dressing. It--

Annnnd then Improper Propriety came up. She glanced up for a moment, before shrugging. Okay, ooooone of them was passable. But one in tune fork in a silverware drawer that fell down the stairs does not a real musical score make.

Then... 'A song I wrote about me'.

Hinoiri glanced up and, for the first time? Actually listened. Okay. Yes. The girl was good. And Hinoiri never said that lightly. She hated acknowledging the talents of others. But... yeah. The girl was good. She was REAL good. And Hinoiri *hated* having to accept that one of the people on this planet...

... Was almost as good as her. In the future, she might be able to acknowledge that the girl was... better than her. But she couldn't acknowledge it about Yellow Voice, she certainly wasn't going to do it here. She took a drink of her orange soda, before returning to her phone. But the song... stuck in her head. Despite her desires that it wouldn't. And, eventually, when the girl finished... And eventually came over, getting a drink... Hinoiri glanced over and gave an amused smile.

"So, chosen one? Not a bad song. Bit egotistical, but at least you've got the ability to carry a tune properly. So, who all you planning to save?" she asked in a playful tone.

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    To be entirely fair to Hinoiri, Mizudori's talent is literally god-given. That's a lower-case g, but it's still divine, which is basically like cheating. Still, you'd never get her to admit it, and most people probably don't even know the Divine Muses are real, so it's a hard point to bring up against her.

    She finally gets her soda, and is just settling back with it in one hand when Hinoiri spoke up from beside her. Turning, Mizudori casts her luminous green eyes over the girl. "Cool hair." She says, not one to be shy with the compliments when she feels they're true, and also when they aren't in direct competition with her. "And thanks. You know they say ego is only bad when it's unjustified, right? Otherwise it's just called confidence." She winks, with a startlingly endearing smile, before taking another sip of her soda. She leans back, one elbow on the bar, standing rather than sitting on a stool or anything.

    "As for who I'm planning to save.. well it's right there in the song. The whole world. Saved from boredom and a lack of beauty. This place is a corpo hellhole. It needs all the saving it can get."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Thanks, I grew it myself," she said. Completely honest. Then blinked. "Dyed. It. Myself," she lied. Takashi had told her that, right. People here didn't usually have TWO COLORED HAIR like that. Though, if she'd thought about it she might have realized back home a lot of people had hair oddly similiar to this world's. She gave a small nod, agreeing with the girl.

"Mmmm hm. Still, the jealous will always say it's unjustified," she said, a small smile creeping onto her lips. "Confidence definitely helps to keep putting them back in their place." Well, the other girl at least knew her worth. That was something.

She flicked her finger over the screen, closing her game and turning to look the girl over fully. "I won't lie this world is pretty boring a lot of the time, but I'm curious how you intend to save it from boredom. Not like you can just grab everyone around you and drag them into your song."

Okay, sure, SOMETIMES Hinoiri's magic caused that to happen impromptly but for MOST people it didn't happen. And most forgot it almost immediately, anyway. "Won't lie, it is pretty ugly out there most days, though. Could use a bit more livening up."

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    Considering Mizudori's hair is also two-colored (though in her case it is actually dyed) she probably would have just written the statement off as a joke even without the correction. As it is, the correction is what makes her quirk a brow as if to say 'for real?' but she doesn't actually say anything, just letting it pass.

    "I don't have time to worry about the jealous, because that's basically everybody." Mizudori replies, flippantly. "When you're the greatest, obviously everybody else is going to be jealous of you. It takes a magnanimous heart to be willing to do what's best for the talentless multitudes, even when they're jealous of you. Luckily, I have one of those too."

    When asked how she's going to save the world from boredom, Mizudori just flashes that smile of hers again, taking a sip of her soda. "Just gonna do what I'm best at.. perform! I mean sure, I can't force everyone in the world to listen to my music.." She pauses, seeming to consider. "..yet.. but hey, if I get loud enough they can't ignore me, right?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a light snort and swished her drink a little. "Yeah, isn't that the truth? People always take it so personally when you've outdone them in every way for years at a time," she said with just a hiiiiint of bitterness to her tone. "Nobody ever realizes what's really in their best interest no matter how obvious it is." Yeah, that was rich coming from her.

"Hinoiri Kirara. I'm new in the city. I'm guessing you are too. You seem the kind of person who I'd have noticed by now if you'd been here long. If for no other reason than so few people here could properly carry a tune." She glanced towards the stage again when the next band came up and... "Exhibit B," she said before taking a small drink. "So, dreams of becoming a... whatchamacallit... idol, then? Or something else?" Hinoiri didn't like admitting it, but the girl was certainly good enough. No autotune, even.

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    "Amen to that!" Mizudori says with a mild laugh. There's no bitterness in her tone, which may be because she hasn't been trying long enough to become disillusioned, or may be just because she's frustratingly self-assured and has yet to meet anyone to knock her down a peg or two.

    At the introduction, she turns and offers her free hand in greeting. "Mizudori Teion! I'm surprised you haven't noticed me before!" She says, with seeming genuine surprise, then adds, "I'm not new, though I guess I've only recently started really putting myself out there, so maybe that's why you hadn't heard of me." She shrugs her shoulders. "I mean, I do a little bit of everything."

    "I make solo music which I mostly release online, and I play with a whole bunch of bands, not just this one.." She gestures to the stage, indicating Improper Propriety even though some other band is playing up there now. "I haven't really found one good enough for me yet, y'know? But it's fun enough to lend guys like this a hand.."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara may... be starting to find the girl a bit endearing, at least. She was smart. Seemed to go through some of the same issues Hinoiri was. Sure, not from another world or anything but some things were universal.

More importantly, she had some talent for music. Which, okay, yes, chosen by a god proooooobably meant she was pretty amazing... Hinoiri's standards were based on a world where the entire population literally, regularly, burst into full song and dance numbers. Not to mention magic singing. So her standards for that were pretty high. The fact the girl met them despite playing with people who WEREN'T at her level really showed just how good she was.

"Just started?" Hinoiri asked. "Ahhhhh. Got tired of being ignored, I guess? Yeah, that sounds pretty annoying. I'm sure you'll catch fire before long." ... Okay, maybe she snorted a little bit at that joke. Right. As if this was another sparkle skirt she'd light on fire.

"Where's your stuff online? I'll probably give it a listen sometime. I tend to listen to all kinds of things..." Then paused. "Don't really play, though. Only do a bit of casual stuff singing these days and even that's rare. You're definitely too good for that band you were in. Just... be careful with that. Lots of people want to attach themselves to the rising star. But if you want to be the best, you'll need to go up against the best. Do a bunch of group projects with the mundane, you'll become mundane before you know it." She then took another drink of her orange soda before sighing. "Sorry. Don't know why I even said that, you didn't ask for my advice."

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    It's kind of a catch-22 isn't it? Are you chosen by a god because you're amazing, or are you only amazing because you're chosen by the god? It's really impossible to say, and not a philosophical angle that Mizudori is interested in pursuing anyway. It's the result that matters, not the root cause!

    "More like my parents were kinda holding me back, y'know?" Mizudori says, with a dismissive wave of her drink-free hand. "They had ideas about the sorts of thing I should be doing and the kind of angles I should be following. Hah. Well, I finally got to the point where I was like, 'screw you guys, I'm gonna do it the way I want' and well.." she shrugs. "Here I am."

    At the question of where she can be found online, she digs in a pocket and comes up with a little folded flyer. It has her youtube page address along with some other links to online places you can get or listen to her songs. She hands it over with a grin. "Oh, don't worry about that. I don't mind people grabbing on, if they think they can keep up.. maybe a couple of 'em can ride my coattails. And hey, if they become a problem, I can always shake 'em off." She laughs, as if this isn't a rather cruel thing to say about someone chasing the same dream you are.

    "Hey don't worry about it." This to the apology, and Mizudori winks as she sips from her drink again. "Always happy to listen to a new fan."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a light chuckle and just a liiiiittle nervously rubbed the back of her head. "Right. Uhhhh. Parents. They can certainly be a... bother. Always holding you back and stuff." Not that she'd know, as far as she knew, she didn't even have those. So she couldn't really... comment. And then Sora, welll... Sora was definitely holding her back. A lot. "But yeah. Never let someone get in your way. If they try, shove them out of the way and leave their beaten bodies as a warning to those who'd try it," she said, before finishing the last of her orange soda.

She took the flier. "Sounds like the proper response," Hinoiri said. If she saw the cruelty in her comment, she didn't mention it. Then again, she'd had a few riders herself and they were always troublesome. "Better to kick them to the curb before they can screw your work up. If they can't keep up with the best, they should just fine what they excel at and focus on that. No point in doing something if you aren't going to be the best at it."

She looked over the flier, memorizing some of the links, the name it was under... then handing it back. She almost said something about being a 'fan'... but then stopped herself. Instead, opening her phone and typing in a few things, before showing Mizudori's youtube page. "This you?" she asked. Well, it seemed Hinoiri did, at least, mean it when she said she'd give the girl a look. "I'll give some of your stuff a listen and give you some advice later, then." ... As if she had any right to give her advice. Then her phone buzzed and a small message popped up. She yanked it back before what the message was could be seen, tensing up a little... then looking relieved. "Ah. Well, looks like I need to go anyway. Nice to meet you, Teion-san. Hope to hear you around here a bit more. Be nice having someone who's not tone deaf singing when I come here," she said before getting to her feet and giving a small wave, before walking away from her, sliding her phone and hands into her jacket.

She had some work to do.

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    "I know, right? Parents are the worst. Basically anyone who tells you what to do is the worst. I hate 'em all." Mizudori says cheerfully. "Parents, teachers, suits, cops.. they're all idiots who exist to keep artists like us in check, right? Screw 'em, that's what I say. Anybody who gets in my way is getting run over, that's for sure. I'm a meteor of freedom, and if you get caught in the blast zone well maybe you shouldn't have been standing there." She laughs lightly, as if it's all a big joke, taking another drink.

    She quirks a brow as Hinoiri takes the flyer, looks at it, and then hands it back. "You can keep that if you want, I got tons of 'em printed." She offers, but shrugs and returns it to her pocket as the other girl doesn't seem too interested.

    As Hinoiri turns to go, Mizudori flashes her that smile again. "Hey, nice chattin' with you. Maybe I'll see you around, huh? Keep your eyes open.. this place is gonna get more exciting soon. I promise." As Hinoiri walks away, she turns back to the bar and her drink.