Music Night (Open to 3)

"Mic test. Testing. Test. Alright! Welcome to Music Night!"

The emcee's voice resounded throughout the cafe. It wasn't a very large place. There were no more than 20 tables and the stage where the man stood could just barely accommodate a three-man band.

"We have a special treat for all of you. Well, mostly for our would-be performers. Tonight's actually our opening anniversary and we have a special prize for the best performance! People's choice of course."

There were modest cheers and clapping from the customers present. Somewhere near the back, Vali who had been quietly enjoying a cup of tea, perked up. She was initially just interested in listening to the music, but the mention of a prized tugged at her competitive side, flipping a switch.

"We already have an initial list, but signups are at the side of the stage for anyone else who wishes to participate tonight. Should you wish to borrow any instruments or equipment, feel free to speak to our guys backstage."

Vali stood up and joined the short queue of people at the signups who wanted to give it a try as well. Meanwhile, a pair of guitarists were already making their way up the stage.

"Without further ado, our first act!"

This place had just opened up, and Haruhi had heard they served great coffee and drinks and had decided to check it out. She sat at one of the middle tables holding a cappuccino. "Yeah!" *whistle~* "Woo!" She yelled as everyone else cheered the first two performers onto the stage. Taking a break from hero work, she was glad to take a night off and listen to the live performers. She reached over and tugged on the sleeve of one of the waiters of the place. "Hey buddy, would you happen to know what the winning prize is?" She asked him, a bit curious, only because she felt like signing up herself.

Pinched between thumb and forefinger, Vernon held the application form in front of his face like a bad omen. His expression was one of disapproval. A café hand behind the sheet extended a pen towards him, somewhat disquieted by this patron's evident stillness. Vernon turned the sheet over, back, upside-down, and then rolled it into a scroll. Using this scroll, he peered through its centre and surveyed the room. An impatient cough brought him back to attention.

"Sorry. It's the questions, you see. I didn't study." Scapegoat explained, flattening out the sheet again against the table.

"What? It asks for your name and music choice." There was an exasperated sigh.

"Well do you know my name?"

"No."

"And there we are. You wrote the test, but not even you yourself knows the answer. You shouldn't rush me." Snatching the pen, Vernon hunched over the table and gave the page his best considered expression, as if that alone would get it filled in.

"There are people waiting. C'mon."

Looking it over, Vernon then leaned further forward so as to be more clearly heard, "How many- hey you- how many 'v's are there in eviscerate?"

"Eh?"

"If I put 'kill', will you know what I mean?"

"Hand over the form, buddy."

Scapegoat passed back the page. He was finished, "I drawed a picture of you. In case you couldn't tell, those are stink lines."

"Next!"

The waiter stopped by as Haruhi got his attention, thinking she was going to order something.

"The prize? Can't really say I know for sure, but knowing the manager it would probably be gift vouchers for the cafe and a small trophy of sorts. Wouldn't be too far-fetched if he offered a trinket from his collection too. Heard he has an archeologist friend who sends him all sorts of things. For employee of the month, he's offering this neat tribal necklace in addition to a bonus. He's a real generous guy."

"Speaking of employee of the month.. is there anything else I can get you miss?"

***

Back at the line, Vali barely noticed the hold up at the front because she was paying more attention to the performance. The duo was performing heavy metal with no vocals. They were really shredding it. This was the first time she was hearing it live. She couldn't say she was a particularly huge fan of the genre but it was interesting. The different types of music in the world amazed her.

The line began to move again until finally it was Vali's turn to sign-up. She paused for a moment while looking at the form. If she wanted to win, she would have to do something a little special. Moments later she passed it back to the man in charge.

"Let's see, Ms. Prana... And you'll be using drums and a guitar at the same time?"

The man had a slight look of disbelief on his face. But there had been weirder contestants that night so he didn't bother commenting.

"And you'd like a lot of smoke. Yes, that can be arranged. Interesting choices. Please proceed this way."

"Next!"

Vali walked towards the backstage area where the rest of the participants were line up and seated. Those seated near the passage leading to the other side of the stage were the pre-registered ones. It was easy to tell as some were even wearing costumes. Clearly they prepared beforehand. The performance of the first group outside finally ended and it sounded like the next one was called up. It was a keyboardist this time, playing techno.

Haruhi smiled up at the waiter, "thanks." She said while getting up and walking towards the registration table. Once signed up she walked to the backstage where the contests were waiting their turn. She sat and waited for her number, or name. She sat down next to a girl with black hair. "This sounds so exciting." She said, even though she had asked about the prize, she had really just signed up to pass some time. She sat there humming quietly and tapping her hands on her jeans in a catchy rhythm.

Seated on a stool backstage, Scapegoat was busy pondering his lack of preparations. He could see folk clutching their music cases, pouring over lyrics on sheet or by phone connection, practicing their air guitar... no wait, that guy was just drunk. But the point still stood; spontaneity was lost tonight and that was a crying shame. He was a big fan of improvisation. As he used to tell his old school teachers when they began to insist he read the textbooks.

A new musician took to the stage. Or at least that is what Scapegoat had originally thought. Imagine Vernon's surprise when the gentleman began testing his laptop's sound module instead. What resulted was the garbled amalgam of ring tones and smoke alarm whining. Furthermore, the lights began to flicker at the exact moment this ruckus began. Awkward.

"What's this?" The ghoul inquired of a nervous performer, eying up another person's beer contemplatively.

"Electronic music." The youngster scoffed.

Vernon blinked straight-faced, "Naaaaaw!" He turned back to the bopping noise and heard the performer try to speak. No words were discernible, if anything it just added to the noise, "This ain't music! Listen to it. Where are the lyrics? Is there humour? Is it catchy? Can I sing it in my shower? Hum the first few notes at the barman. He'll hand you a lozenge." The person did not reply, uninterested in distracted himself. "And his cap's fallen round the wrong way."

When she first signed up, Vali had a pretty good idea what she wanted to play that evening. But as she sat there listening to the other contestants, her competitive side was tugging at the back of her mind trying to sway her into doing something better. The first few contestants were just that good. But she wasn't going to let that dampen her spirits. She was the best musician back home. Surely she had a chance.

There were all sorts of musical performances that night too. For instance, the latest contestant to take the stage was playing electronic music. This was her first time hearing it. The first few "notes" surprised her a bit and it took a few measures before she finally picked up on the melody. Was this kind of music popular in the city? It was hard for her to call it beautiful but the sound had a certain mesmerizing quality to it and it was definitely unique.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of raised voices near the backstage entrance. It was hard to make sense of it over the music playing but it sounded like someone was arguing with the registration guy.

"Hey man, we were pre-registered! Look it up! Our name's right there!" It was a tall blonde man speaking with a loud but slurred tone. His face was full of piercings and he wore a predominantly leather attire. Behind him were two of his buddies, also tall, pierced and clad in leather.

"Yeah, I see your name here. But the problem is, you guys are late! So you gotta go to the back of the line! No exceptions!"

The registration guy was a little shorter than the disgruntled musician but he was not going to let himself get intimidated. The tall blonde was clearly drunk too. His breath gave it away from all that shouting. It wouldn't be good for the café if they let a drunk man go on stage.

But the three did not seem to have any plans of backing down and continued to argue. Behind them, a few of the other people who had thought of lining up went back to their seats one by one, not wanting any trouble.