004 ┼ IF I'M GONNA DIE, I'M GONNA DIE HISTORIC

[stylistic_disloyalty]

Who: Lucifer, Xanxus, Yuffie, Ace --and anyone crazy enough to join the crowd.
What: It's time for the Carnies to find another replacement. How can they top how they stole Poe?
When: Backdated to night, March 9th
Where: Starting in Vista, heading out of town
Warnings: Carnies.

A tweet goes out from Luci's account, it gets retweeted and passed around-- "Find a set of wheels and join the Carnival at the bus depot off 6th at 10PM. Time to ride. #newblood"

At the appointed time and place, there's a flatbed truck idling on the asphalt, outfitted with speakers and a bolted down drum set. A couple of tech people are doing final checks, testing some winches, et cetera. It could be an elaborate stage set up, but given the truck is running, it doesn't take long for fans to panic that they might not have enough gas to stay for the whole show...

Comments

[PRESHOW]

[stylistic_disloyalty]

[Tech is setting up, fans are buzzing with excitement and running off to find the closest gas station, and the Carnies are milling around preparing for the heist event. Are you going to try to tell them to rethink this? Why is this even happening?]

[bass_instincts]

[Shin couldn't resist checking this out. Thy might be from the other label and a rival band, but that just makes it all the more alluring. He walks up to one of them he recognizes, only wearing sunglasses to feebly hide his identity.] So, you're the competition. I like it.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

[Luci is getting wired for her mic when he approaches, but she's clearly not bothered by it. She grins fiercely, immediately recognizing him despite the glasses.]

Tell Parker I said hi, and Johanna that I'm sending her plenty of kisses. Don't think we've met in person yet, though.

[bass_instincts]

He offers a hand and a smile, "Name's Shin, their new guitarist. I'll let them know."

Already he's impressed by her style. As for him, he's wearing a suit jacket over a graphic tee that is riddled with holes. He's got black jeans with chains, and platform shoes that make him about three inches taller than he really is.

"It's Lucifer, right?"

[stylistic_disloyalty]

"Hey, you guessed my name. More than I can say for your diva," Luci grins, so there probably aren't too many hard feelings towards Johanna. She's mostly just still bent out of shape about being snubbed, moreso than when Johanna tried to stab her at that crazy party.

"You can call me Luci," she says, taking Shin's hand and shaking it. It's a little stiff, she's trying not to make her sound tech's life too hard.

"I know we're supposed to think of each other as 'competition', but I should tell you, I really don't give a shit about that stuff. We make music, it's similar in sound, but that's about it-- right?"

[bass_instincts]

Shin smiles at that, looking relieved, "I'm glad. We've got better things to fight for, right?" He pulls out a cherry-flavoured cigarette. Somehow he just couldn't stand any other kind. He then tilts the pack to her, "Do you smoke?"

[stylistic_disloyalty]

"Like a chimney, but usually not before a show. Unless I'm nervous."

...She says as she has her harness double checked by a stunt guy.

"But I'll grab one and smoke it later, if you don't mind."

[bass_instincts]

Shin offers a smile. It's a bit flirtatious, but he's far from laying it on heavy. It seems like he might not even know that he's doing it. "Sure. I plan on being around after the show too."

[riveres]

[Oscar usually avoids crowds, but he was sort of caught in one and he's confused as all hell to what's going on. He heard something with cars, but with who? He's about to find his way out. It makes him nervous.]

[cleartranquil]

[ Yuffie notices the nervous creature in the crowd, tapping him on the shoulder as she walks past, partly just to irritate whoever this guy is, and partly to let him know to sidestep so he wont get whacked with her guitar as she walks. Her guitar case is something of a hazard, what can she say. ]

What'cha lookin' at?

[riveres]

Oh um, all the cars here. Do you want me to get out your way?

[Straight to business, this one.]

[THE MAIN EVENT]

[stylistic_disloyalty]

[A large tour bus rumbles past the bus depot. Who's bus is it? Apparently Yuffie knows, because she's giving the signal for the flatbed to roll out. The caravan is off-- Carnies on the truck, fans following in a herd of cars, motorcycles, and even mopeds...]

[CLOSED TO CARNIES]

[stylistic_disloyalty]

"GO, GO, GO!" Luci bangs her hand on the back of the cab, though it doesn't make the truck accelerate any faster. It still gets her in the mood for an insane chase after Ace's tour bus.

YouTube had given them their newest guitarist, and after Yuffie, Xanxus, and Luci decided unanimously that Ace was it, they'd set out planning their next impressive wooing tactic-- performing on the back of a moving truck.

"We ready for this?" she calls back to Yuffie and Xanxus as the truck gains momentum and she clips her tether to the bolt in the floor. (What? She's not risk-adverse at all, but she's not insane)

[variaboss]

His tether makes a pretty impressive harness around his chest. It looks almost like he's ready for some dark club or kinky dungeon, not about to rock out on the back of a moving truck. This is probably the craziest thing he's ever done to this date. But he looks forward to this. To the huge jolt of adrenaline that would make this so worth it.

He checks his bass and the pyrotechnics one last time. He's not going to have some accident and burn them all. "All set! Let's do this thing!"

[cleartranquil]

Yuffie's tether is probably the most insane, she's wearing a full harness, because she's ridiculous, not stupid. She knows her stunts are the ones that have a chance of going wrong, which is why she's the one doing them. Sure, she feels a little sick to her stomach but she's taken a few things to settle her stomach, and it helps.

"I'm fine and freaking dandy!" She shouts, and plays a D, followed by an E minor to check her guitar's sound one more time.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

"ALRIGHT!" Luci roars, eyes wide and grin manic as the flatbed picks up speed and takes off after the tour bus. She stalks back to the edge of the truck to address the driving public. "HEY YOU FREAKS!! Did you miss us?" She raises her hand to her ear and screaming and honking starts up. Luci opens her arms wide and takes it in.

"Thaaat's right-- follow close, we won't be slowing this down for anything!!"

She turns around and grins as they start gaining on the tour bus, then catches Yuffie and Xanxus' eyes before counting them off--

"ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR--!"

[variaboss]

[ It's so exhilarating. The wind in his hair. The danger of it. He loves this. He feels like he misses this, always being on the edge of death. But he knows he's safe. This stunt is like every other stunt they've done, only more so. He's laughing wildly at the cacophony of horns and starts off with a wold thrumming bass line. The song this time is wild and unchained as they are. ]

[stylistic_disloyalty]

[Yuffie and Xanxus take the bass and guitar lines away while Luci works the crowd-- they're slowly losing their minds, she expects to see some kind of car accident and if she doesn't? She won't have done her job.]

Louder than God's revolver
And twice as shiny
This one's for all you rock and rollers
All you crash queens and motor boys,
Search and destroy
Time to make some noise!!

[She looks back and nods at Xanxus and Yuffie to join her in the, admittedly, repetitive chorus, but playing along with it is pretty simple:]

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na!!

[Luci moves to the edge of the flatbed and takes it with her arm extended while screaming into her mic.]

Chords, gimme chords, gimme chords, 'cause I need 'em
We can sell what we got, watch you reach for us screaming
Fill the floor to the wall, hit the gas, time to haul
And we crawl, and we crawl, and we crawl!
We're turning one more traitor!

[variaboss]

[ Hey, repetitive chorus just means they can focus on not falling off the truck. Plus there are pyrotechnics. That means having to concentrate a little more so not to end up with Ace and the Carnies and all the cars following them on fire.

He hops up on the roof of the truck to keep that pyro as far away from his band as possible while Na, Na, Naing ]

[ace_of_hearts]

[Ace is mostly checking out the motorcycles.]

Not bad, not bad....

[And he might be specifically focused on one with flames, for obvious reasons.]

[AFTERPARTY]

[stylistic_disloyalty]

[And of course, after the herd has broken off from Ace's tour bus and they've left the other band behind, the proverbial wagons are circled, beers are passed around, there's a bonfire, and the party just keeps on going.]

Re: [AFTERPARTY]

[variaboss]

Xanxus is definitely having the time of his life. That had been INTENSE. He feels like he missed this. The huge surge of energy that came from doing something that might get him killed. He downs his beer and gets another. Without a pause, he lifts his glass to the heavens.

"WE LIVE! WE DIE! WE LIVE AGAIN!"

He toasts, laughing loudly. Because that's what the Carnie's do. Every time they lose someone, they come back even stronger. Even better.

[cleartranquil]

Yuffie is cackling madly as she joins him in a toast.

"We're immortal, motherfuckers!" Yuffie lays backwards on the bed of a borrowed car, feet kicked up and grinning for all the world to see. She feels better than she has in a long time. And she feels like she could take on the entire world. Or maybe two or three worlds. It's a beautiful feeling and she wants to keep it forever.

Her hair's sticking up in all directions, having shoved the goggles she'd been wearing up on top of her head after.

[ace_of_hearts]

"ALL NIGHT EVERY NIGHT, NEVER SLOWING DOWN!"

Ace has no idea what's going on to be honest, but he also likes it that way. It's a blast, everyone is fun, and life is great.

Can he be kidnapped forever?

[variaboss]

He laughs and vaults up into the bed of the car to sit next to Yuffie and ruffle her hair even more messy. He's utterly glad they did this. It had been amazing and his heart was still going a thousand miles an hour. But he sort of hopes they can keep this one. A part of him worries that next time they lose a band member, instead of getting them a new one the powers-that-be will just finally break them up. Separate him from the only people that really matter to him.

"This is going to make any motorcycle I ride feel like a mommybike!"

He grins to Ace. "That's right! We're hitting this full speed ahead and watching the world behind us burn in our wake."