Step up to the Microphone {Maelea}

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau took a sip out of his soda, leaning back slightly, watching the next act set up. Well, next wasn't correct, strictly speaking. Beau had been playing for most of last night, and this new girl was up for tonight. The owner had mentioned her to Beau, saying something about a cute, talented girl who happened to be from roughly the same locale as Beau. They'd skimmed over any other details, besides a quick mention that "it wasn't Beau's kind of music." Didn't mean that Beau couldn't go check it out. If nothing else, he could get a read on the competition.

So the Southern boy had purchased a drink from the bar, opting to stay with the underage safe soda, and taken a seat near the front. He wanted to be good enough to get a good grip on the acoustics and such, especially since he knew firsthand how rough these band gigs could be. Give him a good opportunity to see how the talent worked out. A handful of people recognized him, giving waves and/or hellos as he sidled past. He'd managed to procure a table for himself though.

Beau scanned the crowd, noting the halfway decent draw. He couldn't help but feel a little pleased that he pulled in a larger one, though admittedly not by much. Beau couldn't say if that was the new blood feeling or the fact that the girl opted for a different type of music. Still, that didn't give him any clues as to who the singer was. He scanned the crowd, looking for someone with an instrument, preferably someone cute with an instrument, or at least someone walking toward the stage to, well, do her thing. Someone did seem to be walking that way, but was it her? Beau watched, casually interested, still sipping on his drink while he heard the backup band prepping.

[Maelea Mareaux]

Hours earlier that day she’d come in to practice her set with the band to make sure they knew what the hell they were doing. The drummer was decent at least he knew the concept of keeping a beat, but the bassist was going to drive her into utter insanity. She had to show him the key switch in the second song at least six times before he got it, and it wasn’t even that hard of a freaking switch. If she hadn’t threatened to little kick his behind around the stage she doubted he would have gotten it at all.



After practice she had headed back to the dorms to change wanting her attire to match her rockin’ music. Black, orange, and green knee high converse with spider web black tights, dark purple cut off jean shorts, and a red tank top with a black widow on the front seemed to be suitable. She puts streaks of every color of wash out hair chalk through her brown hair added some gel then shook her head like a wet dog while running her fingers through it. After she achieved ultimate rock goddess craziness she smiled before turning to her makeup. Black, black, and some crimson for a splash of color on the lips and she was almost complete. Chains hung from her neck, her usual rainbow assortment bracelets on her wrist, and a spider ring that took up most of her right middle finger.



This stellar outfit was well hidden under a black trench coat as she made her way through the people waiting for the show. Her guitar was slung across her back in a long rectangular case looking more like a gun case than a guitar case. It was heavier than a usual case but she was able to store more in it, and she didn’t get as many ‘so do you play the guitar?’ Seriously who carried a guitar around who didn’t know how to play? Idiots.



Keeping her head down she did her best to not attract any attention. Down here amongst the fans made her skin itch, but she knew she’d be safe up on stage where no one could touch her. She just had to make it on stage. Mae hurried toward the upraised platform eager to start her set. Once on stage she unlocked her case and gently lifted her guitar out to slide it over her neck. The drums starts building then she let out a scream into the mike throwing off the coat turning toward the audience as she started to growl out her song.

[Beau LaRoux]

Yeah, definitely not Beau's kind of music, nor was the singer Beau's kind of girl. He followed her with his eyes, taking in the strangely bright yet still stangely dark outfit she'd selected. He had to hand it to her: she knew how to dress for a show. Each genre of music seemed to have its own codes, and she slid perfectly into hers. The band seemed willing enough to follow her too, which meant that she was more than just some amateur who thought her voice sounded pretty. Put that with the look, and Beau could see why people were talking about her.

The song kicked up, and while, again, it definitely wasn't his music, it definitely had a good beat. her voice had a bit of a gravel and grit to it. More importantly, she performed, or at least as near as Beau could tell. That was always the tricky part: getting in front of people and selling the song, making them feel the words that came out of your mouth. Mix that with the intense music, and, yeah, Beau was figuring he had some competition.

Only some though, 'cuz they definitely didn't match up much on the music front, at all. Beau did feel a little bit of relief was through him at that, and he took a sip of his drink, considering. He wondered if she did anything old school, because he certainly wouldn't mind backing her. his guitar skills could definitely keep up, though his voice might not match perfectly with hers. He did find himself tapping along to the beat.

What was really weird though was that Beau thought he saw some eyes looking out from a corner. They got really bad whenever the singer drifted close to Beau, close enough that he felt a tingle. It was probably just his imagination though.

[Maelea Mareaux]

It thrilled her to see people start to nod their heads along with the music getting into the beat and lyrics. Her fingers slid along the frets body moving with the energy of the song thrusting forward during the chorus. Going up on her down she sang down into the microphone during the softer part her face shrouded in shadow then threw back to scream out misery. With a resounding bang from the drums she stepped away from the mike with a smile.

She felt a tingle along her arms and she knew she'd called forth some of her friends on accident. It wasn't a strong call since she hadnt done it on purpose, but she could feel them out there all the same. Not that many people would notice they were just spiders after all.

With a grin she decided to switch it up with a rock version of "Bad Romance" letting the guitar lead the way filling in the spaces where french was sung. It was hard, growly, and she just had fun with it. Stomping around the stage trying to stay calm to keep the spiders out but was having way too much fun on stage to stay focused. Another song flew from her lips as soon as her little punk rendition of Gaga was overwith. It drpped sorrow and pain with an edge to it that made her bones ache.

After four songs she pulled back the lights going black as she headed back stage to take a break. Gasping and laughing she loved the feeling of being on stage it was like electricity in her veins. Lucky for her she didn't have that power otherwise she'd be her own special affects. Mae knelt by her guitar case to put her guitar down then went to go get a drink.

[Beau LaRoux]

Damn, the girl was good. Not really on a technical level, she kept veering sharp and she had a tendency to scream or shout instead of sing in places, but man, the emotion. Beau kept his foot tapping and even drummed his fingers along the table, drumming out the counter-beats and melodies to most of her tunes. He thought he dimly recognized the next one, something from the radio or something. The lyrics were familiar, but the beat felt a little off. And as the singer drew a little closer to Beau, he felt a kinda tingle.

And then he saw that a spider had climbed onto his table. He blinked and looked at it, momentarily distracted from the music. He could've sworn that the spider was looking at him. "Gowon, shoo," said Beau, gesturing. The spider scuttled a bit away. Beau stared for a while, his mouth opening for a bit while he tried to work it out. He heard a hard stomp and looked up to see that the girl had gotten into, well, the stomping part of her set. Beau felt the excitement building and...

and now there were at least four of them. Beau stared, knowing now without a shadow of a doubt what was happening. Okay, he didn't know the exact specifics, but some things were obvious. There were spiders, they were moving, and they were apparently coming toward him. Beau was just thankful that he didn't have any kind of fear of them. Even if he got super aggressive and tried to stomp them, it would've caused an issue with the show.

By the end of Maelea's set, Beau had at least a dozen of the critters crawling around his table. The moment he saw the lights dim and the girl back away, he got up. So did several others, but Beau was the one heading for the backstage. He was just about to enter when he almost literally ran into the girl.

"Yer great an' all," said Beau, speaking fast. He jerked a thumb behind him, "But do you know what's up with the spiders? I'm guessin' I picked up some kinda spider summonin' thing from you or somethin', an' they ain't been leavin' me alone."

[Maelea Mareaux]

She might not be the next great star or a classically trainer opera singer, but people still got her music. To her as long as it felt real and people still showed up for her show that's all that really mattered. Sure it would be amazing if she became the next rock star that everyone knew by name, but that wasn't her goal. She loved the music not that fame. Being on stage was enough for her.

Still pumped up from her set she was practically bouncing as she walked toward the front to get her drink. Figuring a good slam of moutain dew would get her through the next set she slammed to a hault when a guy seemed to appear out of no where. "Whoa!" Maelea was about to say more but the guy was a fast talker. Coal lined eyes wide her jaw dropped as he prattled on about her darlings.

"Picked up? What in the heck are ya talkin' bout?" Wait did he have a southern accent? "Spiders? I don' see no frick frackin' spiders no wheres." It wasn't the first time someone had complained about spiders at one of her shows. When she had first gotten her powers a show was canceled because spiders covered the microphone, speakers, and drums. Someday she hoped she could control her powers enough that she didn't call them at all during a show.

[Beau LaRoux]

She did look pretty up close, an' Beau had to admit that her accent certainly made things all the better. He recognized it all too well, just the creep of Southern leaking into her voice and tone. If he didn't know any better, he'd guess she was from Southern Louisiana. He made a note to ask her about that once he got through the whole spider situation.

Which she seemed to be denying. Beau nearly groaned in frustration, fervently hoping that he hadn't met one of those power denying types. He'd very nearly been one himself for several years, so it wasn't like he could really hold it against her. He'd spent a better part of his sixteenth year pretending that he was just a normal human who'd been misplaced, something that was a lot easier given his particular ability as opposed to, say, one that involved summoning forth arachnids from wherever it was that spiders came from.

"There's spiders," insisted Beau, turning. "A whole bunch o' 'em showed up when you were playin' your show an' started crawlin' all over my table. An'--ah, see!" there was a small bunch of them a few feet from the two musicians. They seemed to be standing there, patiently waiting for the two of them to finish. It vaguely reminded Beau of what it was like when there were a pair of kids waiting for a pair of adults to finish talking. "Them, right there,' he said, pointing, "an' I'm guessin' that your ability has somethin' to do with it" he looked askance at Maelea, not wanting to take his eyes off their eight legged friends, "seein' as I pick up other people's abilities," man, did he have to explain that to a lot of people. Probably had something to do with the fact that it just kept happening.

[Maelea Mareaux]

What was with this guy? She was just about to sneak around him to go get her drink when he exclaimed pointing behind her. Mae glanced over then smiled at the group of arachnids. It was like she had her own secret world of groupies that followed her around everywhere. Some shows were better than others depending on her mood, and how pumped up the crowd got. The more they got excited the more excited she got, therefore the less control she had on her spiders.

Sighing she turned back to him crossing her arms across her chest. Finally he explained how he knew, and why he took a particular notice of her darlings. Most people just ignored them unless they got particularly friendly, or crawled onto someone's hand. Once a spider fell into a girl's drink. Poor thing was drenched, and the air headed bouncy boob girl almost squashed him.

"Fine, the spiders are my...fault. I can' always control 'em durin' a show." Mae shifted uncomfortably looking up at the boy then back to the spiders. At least the guy had decent hair. "What's wrong afraid of a bunch a lil' eight legs? It's not like they mean anyone any harm." She glared up at him daring him to insult the arachnids.

[Beau LaRoux]

Man, it felt odd hearing that accent coming from that body, and Beau was having trouble adjusting. He kept fighting the urge to stare, and he was damn sure that it was noticeable. At least she finally admitted that she had something to do with the spiders, which Beau would've figured anyway. If it had been someone else, they would've wandered away when he got away from her. He had to admit, this was one of the odder abilities he'd encountered, but it certainly beat going up in flames or suddenly finding himself flying or something.

"Ain't really afraid of 'em," said Beau, looking back at Maelea. "Jus' a mite concerned, seein' as I'm suddenly crawlin' with the buggers. Don't even know where they came from," or why they were now sort of lined up. Beau could've sworn they were actually looking at Maelea and Beau now, which just struck him as all kinds of weird. She said the spiders were her fault, but how exactly did that... well, Beau supposed he didn't really care, as long as they weren't about to go into attack mode.

"don't reckon I'd like bein' followed by 'em," he said, giving the spiders a look. "But I reckon it works for you?" half a question, given as he looked at her, "oh, an' sorry for bein' all worked up 'bout it, but ya gotta admit, it's a bit freaky," he chuckled, "guess it goes good with your music though, eh? Pretty intense..." he felt awkward, which he hated being around girls. She was pretty, but also pretty unnerving, and the spider thing was just a bit creepy on top of it.

[Maelea Mareaux]

The more the boy talked the more positive she became that this boy was from the south. But not just from any part of the south, her part of the south. After awhile one could tell. She'd never met someone that said they could, what? Mimic, other people's powers? That had to be crazy useful, though could also be crazy weird like her power. Most people got creeped out though she didn't quite understand why. The little darlin's just wanted to eat, mate, and lay eggs it wasn't like people with all their little tricks and lies.

"Psh, you call a few babies payin' you some attention crawlin'? Please, this is nuttin compared to what I've done before." Mae rolled her eyes looking over at the almost militant rowed spiders. She smiled sweetly looking a bit off with the make up and outfit. "Okay, sweets you're beautiful I see ya. Now go on now. Back to yer businesses." With that the spiders started to depart like a general had given a command.

At the word freaky she turned back to give him a look, and it sure wasn't a pleasant one. Eyes narrowing she hooked her thumbs into her short pockets cocking her hips to the side. "Ya, I guess all gurls who wear black gotta love death, skulls, and spiders. Alls gurls who like something with a beat do it gotta be all morbid." She raised her eyebrows then giggled. "Come off it now, boy. I'm jus' joshin' witch'ya. I know people don' like the darlin's but they've been better friends to me than any frick frackin' human has."

Now that was a bit of an embarrassing and depressing little confession and she felt her cheeks tinge a bit from it. Looking away she rocked onto her heels then leaned forward a bit with a grin. "How bout I buy ya a drink ta make up for the creepy crawlies?"

[Beau LaRoux]

The fact that this was nothing made Beau's eyes widen for a bit. If this was a light infestation, he'd hate to see what a heavy one would look like. He had this sudden picture of thousands of them swarming over a person and he nearly had to shudder. He wasn't exactly squeamish or anything, but that many bugs was enough to make anyone's skin crawl. Well, anyone except Maelea, apparently. She just gave them a command and they all skittered off into the distance.

The look she gave him after made Beau take a step back though. he thought for a few seconds that she was going to sic all her little friend on him. "I was more meanin' the giant mess o'--" he began, before she dropped it. He tried a few nervous laughs, the shook his head. "You definitely got me there for a bit. Thought you were gonna sic your friends on me. Be a mite awkward, since I ain't a fan o' them. Sad that you ain't been treated right by humans though, pretty girl like you," What? it was true, even if there was a lot of makeup. Even if she weren't, he'd still say so, especially with a voice like that.

"An' don't they comp you drinks for performin'? If you ain't set that up yet, you need ta. I always make sure that they set me up with some whenever I perform. Gotta keep the instrument ready, right?" he ran his hand over his throat, indicating it. He still gestured for her to head to the bar anyway. They might as well get some drinks, what with the bar being right there and all.

[Maelea Mareaux]

Ever since her parents died spiders enveloped her world comforting her when no one else did. They never left her unless she asked them to, and there would always be more so she'd never truly be alone. Every place she had ever gone to had spiders somewhere, and if there weren't many inside she'd go outside. Coming to Montana it made it a bit harder to find them during the winter, which was one of the many reasons she got Kitty and Periwinkle. Besides it was a test for any possible roommates or friends she might have. If they could stand her babies then they could stay friends. Not many people had past the test.

A part of her was deadly serious about the words she spit at him, but not wanting to scare a new friend away she backed off. From his look and accent she pegged him as a good ole country boy, though it wouldn't be the first time she'd been fooled by a pretty face. Grinning at the idea of having her darlings attack him she tensed at that last comment. Her face clouded over and she darted her gaze to the shadows. "Uh, yeah... Puh, if yer a mimic then if I told my darlin's ta play witch ya you'd jus' tell 'em off. Wouldn' want ta confuse 'em like that." Poor things would probably end up in a twitch fit on the floor.

Mae laughed shaking her head as she headed toward the bar. "Please, boy, ya can' give a girl one once in a while? I said I was gonna buy ya a drink not that I was gonna pay for it. It's called puttin' it on yer tab." Sidling up to the bar she waved her hand at the tender and he got her a virgin bloody mary. So Tabasco sauce and tomato juice with a piece of celery basically. It gave her some much needed nutrients, and honestly she liked the taste even though most people thought it was disgusting. She glanced up slightly at the boy stirring her drink. "So, you said you play here. Wha' ya play?"

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau smiled a little at Maelea's assertion that they'd end up playing tug of war with the spiders. The thought did amuse him a little more the more he thought about it. He could just see the two of them barking orders at one another, watching the spiders jerk back and forth. It probably wouldn't be pleasant for them though, and yes, Beau did think it was odd that he was finally considering them in that manner.

Thankfully Beau knew when he was beat. He held up his hands in surrender as Maelea again insisted on getting a drink. "Been a while since a girl thought I was pretty enough to try an' get drunk," he ended up drawling. He still gestured to the bartender, who recognized him quick enough. Soon a glass of Pepsi would materialize in front of Beau: just Pepsi, nothing special or wild for the good ole country boy. He took a sip when it arrived, enjoying it even if he likely didn't need a drink nearly as badly as Maelea.

"Guitar mostly," replied Beau, adding a quick smile, "an' sometimes piano an' other stuff. Genre wise, I'm a country boy," he gestured at himself as if that weren't already relatively obvious, "an' I play country of all stripes. Do a little rock now an' then, mostly older stuff, ain't nothin' as wild as what you were doin', though I could probly keep up. Been playin' since I was knee high to a grasshopper," Beau paused to take another swig of his drink after first moving the straw aside so he could bring his lips to the glass. "Wouldn't mind playin' with ya sometime. 'course, wouldn't expect ya to know any country, but I'd be might pleased if ya did," he looked at Maelea with raised eyebrows, obviously questioning how broad her musical tastes went. He could hear the bartender chuckling a short distance away; the man obviously recalled how often Beau had some variant of this conversation with a pretty girl.

[Maelea Mareaux]

She quirked an eyebrow at him with a lopsided smile to match. "Yeah, you sure are a pretty thing ain't ya." Mae gave him a very obvious look over then laughed a little shaking her head. "A lil' too pretty iffin ya get my drift." Again she lifted a brow at him giving him a 'knowing' look before taking a sip from her drink. Course she was just teasing him, but she just had to see how he'd react.

Mae turned to lean her elbows against the bar hook a foot on the metal pole that people could rest their feet on that ran along the bottom. It wasn't all that surprising to hear him declare him a good ole' country boy. Wasn't often that she found such a talkative boy so many guys wanted to be all quiet and stoic. Or maybe she just freaked them out and they didn't know how to talk to her.

"My mother listened to jazz, and my father listened to old rock. But there was an artist they crossed over on." She swirled the drink in her glass making the celery ride the rim. "Johnny Cash. To this day that man's voice makes me think of them." Mae stared down into the red drink mind miles away in the banks of the great Mississippi.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau arched an eyebrow at the pretty comment. He was pretty sure he knew what that insinuated, but he didn't want to go there, not with a fellow musician, though he did have to stay: "Don't worry, I still prefer to spend some time with the fairer sex," along with a jaunty wink. She could probably figure out what he meant by that, well, that and all the flirting he'd been doing since he saw her.

They were soon settled at the bar and nursing drinks though. Beau was pleasantly surprised to find Maelea talkative. He didn't want to say that he'd been too judgmental or anything, but in his experience, girls that looked and acted like her had a tendency to be a little more closemouthed, especially around Beau. Good ole Southern boys and Goth chicks had a tendency to mix like oil and water. But it seemed like Maelea had at least some appreciation for music. You couldn't really admit to being from Louisiana without liking Jazz in some form or fashion, at least that's what Beau's daddy always said, and he happened to agree.

"Ah, the man in black," he said, raising his glass in salute, "now there's a guy I could get behind. I play a few of his songs durin' some of my sets. My voice ain't really situated for it, but it gets the crowd goin'," Beau took another pull from his drink. "You actually play any of his stuff? That'd be somethin' to see. You got a pretty enough voice for somethin' like that, that's for darn sure," he was pretty sure he'd complimented her voice already, but he figured a little more wouldn't hurt. She'd sounded really darn good, after all; you couldn't deny that. "I'm bettin' you could rearrange a few of 'em to your sound, be pretty interestin' to hear," Beau didn't mind it when people did that either. Wasn't like he didn't do it the other way all the time.