not dressed for this

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe did not feel like she'd dressed for this. She'd hung out with Maelea a few times since their first meeting, and that initial awkwardness had, for the most part, melted away. Maelea knew about Devyn now, and Zoe had made certain to keep up with Maelea's social life as best as she could. They both knew that prom was right around the corner, and ironically, they'd both been nominated for positions on the court. Zoe didn't think that she had a chance to win, but she certainly hoped that Maelea would. Zoe had come to a show or two and knew that on top of everything else, the pretty girl could sing too. while Zoe certainly wasn't about to admit it to her friend, she actually had quite a crush on the other girl.

Which was probably why she felt so odd now. She'd shown up to finally take those promised promotional photographs of Maelea and such. Which meant that she'd had to go to one of the clubs that Maelea played, which meant at least attempting to dress appropriately. Most of the crowd wore ragged jeans or plaid skirts or something of the like. Zoe felt decidedly out of place in her denim skirt and loose black blouse, though at least her bowler hat worked well enough. She felt even more out of place as she had a shadow, a young man who looked more enthused to be there than Zoe herself. He sat at the bar some distance from her, nursing a drink and looking toward the stage.

Zoe had a little area set to the side, working at her camera, fumbling with it, getting it ready. Maelea technically had to do a set before she could start posing, both of which had apparently been declared public events. The thought of taking someone's photographs with an audience made Zoe even more nervous, hence why she kept fumbling with her camera, hoping that everything was in just the right place.

[Maelea Mareaux]

Finding Zoe in that library was probably one of the best things that had happened to her in ages. She couldn't believe she'd been nominated for prom court it was like the whole school was living in the twilight zone. Frilly dresses with bows and glitter just did not appeal to her at all. Rocking out in a dark bar however that fit into her crazy frame of mind just fine.

Since she was supposed to be getting her picture's taken tonight as well so she pulled out all the stops for her outfit. A sort of black trench coat with large lapels with metal studs. She had a crimson vest with black spider webs all over it with strap that connected to her black tight pants. The boots were her best pair of black leather than came up to mid calf. A black choker with a silver spider in the middle with a crimson hour glass on its abdomen. Her hair was streaked crimson, black, and was held back by a lace ribbon.

Taking a deep breath she peaked out at the audience spotting Zoe she waved from her spot back stage. She didn't know if the girl could see her or not, but she was so excited to have an actual friend in the audience again. Who was that guy with her? Smiling she heard the violin start oddly enough, and she grabbed the microphone heading on stage. The first song was just a bit haunting. It had taken a lot of looking to find someone who could play the violin part, but she hoped it was worth it.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Maelea looked so pretty up there, even if she dressed, well, a little darkly. Zoe didn't really see that as an issue, actually; she always liked the  dark and all. Not that she figured that Maelea liked her, not like that, and even if she did, it wouldn't matter, because Zoe was with Devyn, though she supposed that her relationship with Devyn was technically an open one, but that was mostly for Devyn and not for Zoe, but would Devyn actually mind if she...

Probably.

Maelea took a deep breath, and Zoe thought that she saw Maelea looking. She raised a gloved hand to wiggle a few fingers at her friend. When the violin started though, Zoe's eyes widened, her hand lowered. What... what was Maelea playing? Then the music kicked up, rising, haunting. It sounded amazing to Zoe, and she soon found herself getting into it just as much as anyone. Then she realized she technically had the whole front row, press seating and that she was supposed to be doing something to actually earn that position. So Zoe fumbled with her camera for a few moments, working out lens and adjusting for the light. Soon she had it up, looking at the stage through the frame. Maelea moved, Maelea sang; Zoe shot. She timed it well, knowing instinctively when to do it. This, this was something that Zoe could do, could do well, and it certainly helped that she could get into the music as well, though she had to internalize it instead of outwardly bobbing, what with the whole camera thing and all.

[Maelea Mareaux]

She sadly didn't catch the finger wave, but just knowing her new "best friend" was in the audience was enough. Though she still wondered who Zoe was with. Maybe just someone who followed her and was a fan of good rock music. The first song was a bit different to be true than she usually sand, but she wanted to show she had a bit of an artistic side. Not just a girl who could scream a lot.

Mae would never stop singing rock music, but she did have a bit of a voice even if it wasn't perfect. Not like she'd be singing at some award show or in Broadway. But enough people seemed to turn up for her gigs that she must not be completely horrible.

The next few songs were her typical rocking, guitar filled, and of course her trademark screams. However some chump at the end of her last gig had told her she was some screaming canary and didn't really know anything about music. Another reason for the first song, and for her bringing out one of her favorites. "Crazy Train" the guitar was killer, and she'd been playing it since she'd first heard that song nearly four years ago. This song alone proved she could play the guitar at least in her eyes.

To wrap up this particular session she had a piano brought on stage. Sitting down she stared down at her shaking hands. She wasn't the best at piano having always focused more on guitar. But she wanted to prove that jerk wrong. The original singer was a bit softer than Mae but her natural growl turned the already dark and fairly angry song into something sinister. Mae had practiced hours upon hours on the piano to get this song, and though it wasn't up to par with the original in technique it at least showed she knew more to music than screaming.

Standing to a silent crowd she felt like throwing up. They hated it. She searched the crowd for Zoe then clapping started. Looked like everyone was just a little thrown off by her more musically depth show. Smiling again she ran and leapt off the stage running over to Zoe.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The typical ones didn't quite enrapture Zoe as much as the first hand, which gave her plenty of time to get several shots in. She even managed to move around the stage, getting several angles. Something kept her from using all her film though, forced her to hold back ever so slightly, prepping and getting ready for something of a finale. It seemed like it was coming too, as Maelea brought out a piano. Zoe blinked, staring, not even remembering that Maelea could play it. Like several in the audience, Zoe felt her heart climbing up into her chest, beating quite fast.

Maelea's fingers danced, the dark melody drawn out of the tune. Her voice was rough, raw, but it still had a passion to it that Zoe could certainly appreciate it. Their tastes ran along the same lines as well, at least when it came to stuff like this. Again Zoe found herself staring at the other girl ,not quite believing her eyes. Worse, she could feel an... attraction building as well, another little burst of like that definitely crossed the lines of friendship. Zoe quashed that, reminding herself that she had someone and that Maelea wouldn't be interested even if she didn't.

At one point though, Zoe remembered that she was supposed to be taking pictures. This would be perfect, and Zoe quickly jerked her camera up, instantly capturing the sight of her friend bent at the keys, playing and getting so into the music as to draw all the attention. The moment Zoe saw the picture in her camera's frame, she knew it would be brilliant. The camera lowered; the song ending moments after. People stared, Zoe among them. She was among the first to start clapping though, beaming at her friend. She waved to Maelea and worked her way through the crowd, wanting to meet up with the other girl at the far side of things. Doubtless her watcher would appreciate Zoe getting into better position too.

[Maelea Mareaux]

It was a tad difficult to weave through the crowd to get to her friend. Beaming she so wanted to hug her pixie haired shy bestie, but didn't not wanting to hurt the camera. Besides she didn't know how'd Zoe would take the hug didn't wanted to offend her or overstep boundaries. Mae bounced on the balls of her feet pumped up with the energy from the show.

"I can' believe I jus' did that! I nev'r thought I'd play the old black an' white in front of a crowd." Mostly because she was a rock goddess and not a pianist, but she had a point to prove. And from the crowd's reaction she had most definitely proved it in her favor.

"So did'ja git anythin' good? I didn' break yer camera did I?" Going up onto tip to she tried to peer at the fancy picture taking device eyes gleaming. Then she noticed the man from earlier still watching them and she chewed her bottom lip. "Hey, ya happen ta know who that fell'r is? He followed ya in." Mae not so subtly pointed a polished nail in the mysterious man's direction.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe waved and smiled and had to resist the urge to hug Mae as she got within range. She did wait to say anything until Mae got it out first, nodding enthusiastically at the words. "you did brilliant!" she said, which of course came out very, very British. she clapped her hands and nodded, which probably didn't help. The wide smile showed her joy though. "It was a little shaky and all, but that was because it was just brimming with emotion and---oh, right," she flushed, realizing that Mae had mentioned the camera.

But before Zoe could talk about the pictures, Mae pointed out something else. Zoe turned, at first confused by the words. She saw though, and she had to flush a little, licking her lips. When she turned back at Mae, she only met the other's gaze for a moment before looking at the ground. "He's, um, my watcher," she practically mumbled the last thing. "I'm sorta the lesbian Pikachu that Dirty Laundry was talking about, and they send someone with me to make sure that nothing happens."

Again, Zoe barely said any of that at an audible level. She shifted her feet, scuffing her shoe against the ground for a bit. It all felt quite embarrassing overall. Zoe looked at the mirror, unable to believe that she hadn't just messed everything up. It felt messed up, at least to her.

[Maelea Mareaux]

Man did she love that girls accent, seriously she could listen to Zoe talk all day. If she could get her to an audible level that is, and that wasn't often. She just sounded so intelligent, and cultured compared to her hick ass accent. "Tha' emotion was terror." She grinned so glad that it was over with, and so very ready to pick up her guitar again to rock it out. The piano deal was most certainly not her cup of tea. Maybe for random toss ups at gigs but not for a real career.

Eager to see what kind of pictures Zoe had taken she dared to get closer to the girl as she went up onto tip toe. But her attention was easily distracted. She could always look at the pictures later. "Watch'r? What fer?" Mae leaned in even closer brow furrowing finding it a right horrible time for the girl to go sheepish. "Nah, I didn' hear ya righ'. Did'ja jus' say lesbian Pikachu?" That had to be wrong.

"Who da 'ell done called you a lesbian electric mouse?" Her eyes flashed with anger and her hands balled into fists. "Cuz I'll deck 'em. I'll tie 'em up an' feed 'em to a horde of starvin' opossums!" Actually she'd most likely send her spiders to make their lives miserable then have them crawl inside every hole they had. But she didn't need to express that just yet since Zoe looked upset enough as it was.

Groaning loudly she squatted down to peer up at Zoe finding she had to do this quite frequently. "How many times I gotta tell you gurl tha' I'm not on da floor?" She smiled trying to get the shy Brit to perk up again.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Apparently Mae hadn't read the blog, which was slightly surprising to Zoe. She'd have thought that everyone did, judging by the almost instant reaction that had sprung up as a result to it. She ended up staring as Mae got more and more worked up, talking about beating up whomever had teased her and such. There wasn't even a pause about the lesbian bit, which happened quite frequently. Then again, maybe Mae didn't know....

...which meant that Zoe should admit it. She flushed, looking away, even as Mae insisted that she was looking at the floor and that Mae was somewhere else. Zoe swallowed, shuffled her feet and met Mae's gaze. She should do at least that. "Well, um, part of it is kind of ... true," this last was again said at a near whisper. "I really am, well, a, um, homosexual," and yes, she did say that, again sounding so very, very, very British. She flushed, realizing what was likely next to Mae's mind, made worse by the fact that it was true: Zoe was attracted to Mae. Didn't mean she'd actually do anything to her, no more than any normal person would to someone they were attracted to. That didn't make Zoe all that much more worried.

She didn't know what else to say though, at least for now. That felt like a lot as it was, and it felt like enough to turn Mae's opinion violently against her. Zoe already felt like she could feel their friendship fading away...

[Maelea Mareaux]

At least she was looking at her now but she still wasn't smiling. How could things turn sour so quickly? Just because of some guy that had to stalk her? Eyes popping wide she almost fell over when her new bossum buddie said some of it was true. "You turn inta an electric mouse?" She barely got that idiotic question in before Zoe confessed.

Straightening she stared at the adorable girl she dared to call friend. "Oh." Her gaze dropped to the floor feeling like a fool and wanting once again to crawl into a hole. "Well, tha' doesn' mean we can' be friends, does it?" Mae asked her voice the one low for a change. Maybe Zoe hadn't wanted to be friends, maybe she wanted more. Mae knew that some people couldn't be friend's with people they actually felt more for. It was just too painful.

Stomach sour she hugged herself afraid that this meant she'd lost a friend. Just when she thought she had found someone to make her life not feel so empty. It was like why girls and guys couldn't really be friends, or so they said. Someone always developed more feelings than the other person was ready or willing to accept.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe felt her spirit lift as Mae asked the same question that haunted her. Did it mean that they couldn't be friends? Zoe certainly didn't think so. She opened her mouth, closed it, considered. "I, um, I don't see why we couldn't?" she tried, unable to phrase it in any other way than a question. She shifted, looking away. "I do, um, have a girlfriend..." she trailed, letting it hang in the air. she did, and she loved Devyn. That love wasn't going away any time soon. She fidgeted again, then looked toward the bar, then to Mae, then back to the bar.

"I do... think you're.... cute," she said, flushing and lowering her eyes back to the floor. "I'm not, like, going to, um, do anything to you, or anything. I just... it didn't feel fair to, you know, not tell you, and everything," she fidgeted again, rubbing at her arm now. She should've just kept quiet, at least about that. Mae clearly wanted them to still be friends; Zoe wanted that too. She wasn't looking to prey upon some straight girl just because they were cute, especially if said girl was a friend of hers. She just had to hope that Mae would see it that way too...

[Maelea Mareaux]

Perking right back up she hugged herself tighter as Zoe spoke. This time she kept her mouth shut but it took a lot not to start blathering on like usual. But when Zoe told her that she was taken Mae literally jumped up and clapped her hands. "Oh, that's freakin' fantastic! I bet she's reeeal pretty to be wit' you!" Thing was that she meant every word. If there was nothing weird between them then there was no reason they couldn't be friends.

The next words that hit her ears though made her pause and she lowered her hands back down to her sides. Smiling she shook her head and went to stand beside Zoe. "I think yer cute too, an' I know yer not gonna jump my bones. Figg'r you'da done tha' by now." Mae gave her a wink then jerked her thumb toward the bar. "I'm parched ya want a coke?"

Now that that mess was out of the way they could go back to being friends. Nodding her head to the music playing over the speakers she started playing air guitar as she backed her way to the bar keeping her eyes on Zoe. "Man I nailed that guitar tonight! F'rgit the piano the guitar is in my blood." She stopped and really got into the air guitar for a moment thrashing her head to the song. "Yer gonna hav'ta show me the pics from tonigh'."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The sudden perk caught Zoe completely off guard. Mae shifted almost immediately into joy, and Zoe could only blink in shock, not quite believing what she was hearing. That easy? Devyn would be---and then there was a pause, some lowered hands, and Zoe felt for certain that the other shoe was about to drop. She tensed, just waiting, knowing without a doubt that she was about to...

...to hear that Mae thought she was cute but that they weren't about to rape one another. Zoe gaped then, not sure what to say, especially with the wink. She kept working her mouth, unable to find it working or her brain doing much in the way of functioning at all. She followed Mae with her eyes, disbelief marked on her face. Eventually something kicked in and Zoe walked, still in a daze, to the bar.

Mae was already talking about the evening, about how she'd nailed the solo, how she was totally into it. Like everything they'd just said had washed away. Then a comment directly to Zoe, knocking her out of her daze. "Right, the pictures! I, um, they'll take a while. I have to develop them," Zoe nodded, taking a deep breath. Talk pictures; she could certainly do that. "I caught a few of you in action though, especially when you were playing the piano. You were getting into it and the shot was just..." Zoe trailed off, flushing, biting her lip. Felt so weird, going on like this, with what they'd just said. Didn't Mae think so? She looked over at the other girl, wondering if she should ask, then figuring that it would be rude.

[Maelea Mareaux]

It didn't matter to her if Zoe liked girls, boys, or little green creatures from Mars. As long as she was still her, and as long as they could still be friends. And if she thought Mae was cute? Well, she probably thought a lot of people were cute that didn't have to mean anything. Puppies were cute, babies in animal outfits were cute, so such a compliment didn't mean much. She wasn't stupid she knew it meant Zoe thought she was mildy attractive. Still didn't mean anything, especially since she was taken.

At the bar she put both their drinks on her tab not like they cost that much since they were non-alcoholic. "As soon as there done you tell me, righ'? I wanna see 'em so bad!" She'd never had someone take pictures of her before. Okay, sure her parents back when she was little, or school pictures. Neither were anything like a talented photographer taking pictures of her doing some thing she loved.

"Jus' what? Did I look stuck up? I always figg'red that I look puppet on strings sittin' at one of them t'ings." Sipping her soda she looked over at Zoe still bobbing her head to the music. "Seriously though. Who do I need to beat the crap outta?" Dark lined eyes were dead serious, and a spider crawled across her hand it's eight legs settling itself down for a comfy sit.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

"I will," Zoe promised, managing a smile with only a few of the edges worn off it. She knew that her pictures, at the least, would be good. Several of the shots had been those special kind of magic that could only happen every once in a while, when everything lined up just perfectly right. The question that followed had her blinking though. Puppet on strings?

"No, it looked, well, um, you'll see,' said Zoe, flushing for a moment. She didn't know how to describe it without sounding incredibly cheesy. Zoe got wrapped up in these things; she couldn't help herself. She got wrapped up in these things and it was hard to describe it to someone who didn't know. she searched for words for a few moments, trying to land on something. Transcendent came to mind, but she didn't think that Mae really wanted to hear that. Who wanted to hear that they looked transcendent?

Before Zoe could say anything, however, Mae asked her question. Zoe blinked, staring, only just realizing that her drink had arrived. She didn't move to taste it or anything, just, well, mostly stared. "no one, honest," she said, shifting nervously in her seat. Her hands went down to the seat, gripping. She looked over at the watcher, who was one of the more lax types, drinking his drink while only giving Zoe the occasional look to confirm that nothing major or exciting was going on there. Well, she preferred that over some of the people she got. She looked back at Mae. "People are just... mean, really," she shrugged and then reached for the drink, taking a sip. She grimaced a little as the taste hit her tongue, setting the drink down and gently pushing it away with her fingers. Zoe usually preferred... lighter drinks, often fruity ones, but she didn't think she should say anything to Mae, not after the other girl had bought it for her and all.