3, 2, 1

[blindfoldcode]

Who: Kido, Genos and You!
What: A performance
When: Jan 13, evening
Where: Club Medusa
Warnings: feeling manipulation from people who don't know they have it

MANTICORE's frontman guitarist and System Crash's "please stick me as far in the back as possible" bassist are accidentally putting on one hell of a show.

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[wounds]

"My ego's not nearly as big as you think it is. You're only around me when there's paparazzi and I've got an image to maintain." But he'll still give Keith a wink behind his glasses.

"This is what I'm like when I'm trying to boost somebody up who doesn't believe in themselves." Fussy, kind of sweet Genos, in his own kind of way.

[agains]

She seemed confident on stage, but Keith doesn't know enough to judge -- especially not to pass judgement aloud.

"Just as comrades should do," he acknowledges. Encourage each other, that is. "Maybe it wouldn't hurt to learn more about the man behind the princely mask."

Deja vu, or something like it, grips him. A real memory comes into focus. (A bar. Blurred faces, familiar voices. This is the first time we've gathered together outside of work too. I think today is a good opportunity. He remembers people deferring to his opinion that spending time together is a good idea. Of course Keith Goodman would be held in high esteem, but what sort of work would require keeping up a facade, even among one's coworkers?)

"You sound like family when you speak that way." He doesn't mean to sound a little bit distant, but he does smile to prove he's still on earth with them, and that his pause was only because he was thinking, really.

Like hell he's going to admit his head hurts as his programming aggressively attempts to reassert itself and make him forget.

[blindfoldcode]

"I'm not sure you really want to know. He's got some dark secrets." She had some damned good baked goods from him not too long ago.

But that pause is one she continues to recognize. The people she deems safe are growing. This guy is definitely one of them, and she's only known him two minutes. She'll carry the conversation because he doesn't seem to want to dwell on it. She's not going to ask him if he's okay if it might get him in trouble--what she's really worried about.

"He's annoying as a brother might be."

[wounds]

He glances over. She wouldn't. That was a gift, she wouldn't betray his trust like that.

"I don't mind her as a little sister." He'll rest his elbow on her shoulder- never mind that they're almost the same height. "Even if she does think I'm the annoying one."

Genos. You're the most mom-like.

[blindfoldcode]

She elbows him in the side. Hard. She'll keep your secrets, not put up with your shit, Genos.

keith no

[agains]

"It's decided!" Keith raises his hands and plans to draw them both into a huddle-slash-hug. "And resolved! You must be squabbling twins. Brothers from other mothers." A pause. He's been back-and-forth on Kido's gender. Not that it matters one way or another. "Siblings from other beings?"

If he could thank her for not making an issue of the slip-up, he would, but he's as subtle as a chainsaw is quiet. Better to focus on idle chatter. Safer.

[blindfoldcode]

She shrugs. So long as he's not calling her his genderless angel she doesn't give a shit. "It could be worse. We could actually be related."

[wounds]

"At least we've got that." Probably. He is an orphan, and Kido has apparently run away from home. The chances they're related are pretty dismal.

Thank goodness for that.

[agains]

"What band are you signed with?" he asks Kido, realizing he has only fringe knowledge of most Pride musicians. He's probably still huddled near them like a bear with no sense of personal space. "You have very different styles, but you work in such harmony..."

[blindfoldcode]

Kido's learned to let her discomfort of physical contact go since signing on. "I'm with System Crash. I never meshed with that style either." She's not vibrant or outgoing like they are. She's always going to be surprised they want her around.

[wounds]

"Bet you never thought metal and electro pop would work so well." Genos isn't vibrant but his vocals are nice and smooth and his play is always exceptional.

[agains]

System Crash. The one with all the kids. That one. Does he even see Kido on stage or just in their promotional pictures? Like a certain photobomber in Flowers Over Bones... "You should insist on singing more often."

[blindfoldcode]

Kido is always on stage and forced into the promo shots, yeah. She's never been happy about the latter but...

Who wants to see her panic?

"Singing?! No! That's for Pinkie. The reason I'm on the bass is to keep me out of the spotlight!" She comes out for very special performances with people who aren't her band. Not on the regular.

(sorry to jump in for an extra!)

[agains]

"But--" Keith steps back and places a hand over his heart. "Your performance could be felt throughout the room! You were as powerful as Genos!"

Emotionally compromised as if by magic is a lot harder to articulate. He only knows that he felt it in his bones. And people should never, ever downplay their talent.

[wounds]

"That just makes these performances all the more special." They're as powerful as each other and it's more than a little confusing when their feelings are the same in some ways and completely different in others.

[blindfoldcode]

"I don't want to steal the stage from anyone else in my band, either." She looks away, uncomfortably. She's the only shy member of System Crash.

[agains]

"Asking for equal time on stage is hardly stealing." Who's he to give advice to a rival label, anyway? "But you must embrace your own comfort zone. Thank you for this performance, and thank you, Genos, for inviting me."

[wounds]

"It wouldn't be. But some people are shy." He looks over at Kido.

"I'm glad you could come out."