Brynn looked down at the small, shiny piece of glossy paper in her hand. That piece of paper alone unlocked the gateway to bliss: Flip Side's concert at the Tyrannian Concert Hall.
Like many other girls AND guys alike, Brynn had become a fan of Flip Side since their first single, Master Thief debuted on Tyrannian radio waves. Flip Side was one of those bands where you never really knew what the band looked like, due to excessive facepaint, decorative spikes and other metal counterparts of their outfits. However, the mysterious Ixi frontman still managed to garner the affection of hundreds upon thousands of fangirls, seeing as his still-visible smile was enough to make any girl fall head over heels for him.
Snapping out of the brief flashback, Brynn lifted her gaze from her most prized possession and, putting it in her pocket, rushed over to join the fans milling about outside the concert hall, enjoying the free soup provided by the Soup Faerie (for this occasion only, seeing as it was a huge event and what with the Soup Faerie being a fan too) and of course, Adee the Chia's famous multi flavoured icecream.
Brynn had not fallen short of going all out for the concert. Dressed in a limited edition 'vintage' Flip Side shirt, emblem and all, she had gone to the painstaking lengths of painting her face exactly like their frontman, Rogue. The young Kougra held her head high as she navigated the crush of Neopets and owners alike, and she noticed more than one or two people looking at her in awe.
The Soup Faerie's booth soon appeared in front of her. Brynn took some minestrone soup and moved away, unaware of the sudden tragedy that had befallen her in that brief moment.
FIVE MINUTES EARLIER, BACKSTAGE
"Ah'm itchin' fer some action!" Pickpocket, the bass guitarist of Flip Side complained. "Buhn a looooong time since ah set me eyes on summun's goods."
"You know we gave up stealing when we formed Flip Side, Pickpocket," Rogue said. "Now if you would just stay there and not steal anybody's things while I paint my face, we can start the concert fast and greet the massive crowd out there."
Pickpocket grumbled and strode to the other side of the room, where Animal, the mutant Kau drummer, was leaning against the wall, hitting the air with his sticks.
Rogue looked at his very, very satisfactory face in the mirror and began to take out his brushes and draw the outlines of his intricate paint mask. What he did not see was Pickpocket sneaking out of the room, muttering "Ah can't resist, Rogue, surry!" before disappearing into the night.
Pickpocket scurried around the field, making sure to duck if someone so much as turned their head. Everyone's items were in bags, and unzipping them here would be a bit conspicuous as for every two fans in the crowd there was one guard, armed with weapons from the lowly Faerieland Magic Dampener to the very advanced, spanking new Virtupets VLS that ranged up to 1800m.
A glint just outside his view caught his attention. He whirled around to see a shiny piece of paper sticking out of someone's pocket. Now, all that glitters may not be gold, but to Pickpocket, anything shiny was a must-have. The middle aged yet grey toothed Zafara smiled and without a sound, plucked the paper from its nest and made off with it, back to the dressing room.
Pickpocket sped off, constantly looking behind him to see if any of those ultra tech savvy guards were on his trail. He burst into the cover of the dressing room and turned in front, seeing Rogue's angry face in front of his.
"Pick, what did I tell you?" Rogue asked, like an angry mother about to ground her child.
"Ah... ah couldn't help meself! Just needed sumthin to get me by, y'knoe, to calm meself and all. What with this 'ere big gig and such."
Rogue sighed. It was hard to take him seriously when the top half of his face was covered in white, black and blue facepaint and the other half was not. "Just go paint your face," he said resignedly.
Pickpocket was so glad he had been let off the hook, he rushed to his dressing table but stopped as Rogue snatched his loot from his paw.
"Pick! You stole a ticket?"
"Whot? That pretty piece of gold? Naw! Ah thought that wus a gold sheet!"
"PICK!" Rogue raged, about to begin one of his long, and believe me when I stress the LONG, rants that ranged from a minute to rants that could go on for hours if he was not restrained by one of the band members or a bodyguard. He paused, in his Ready-To-Rant pose, chest puffed out and arms akimbo, and opened his mouth to begin the endless journey down Rant Lane.
"We could, of course, just tell the guards to bring us anyone that thought they had a ticket to us, and we'll let them sing onstage with us as a replacement offer," drawled Animal in his Mutanese accent, still air-drumming.
"Erh, yeah, we cud do dat!" Pickpocket hurriedly agreed.
Rogue stopped, still in his pose, looking like a Goldy with his mouth half open and nostrils flared. He composed himself and said frustratedly "Well, we could do that, but we would then have to admit that Pick is a thief, and that won't be very good for our image, is it?"
"With the kind of deal we're offering, the fan will probably be willing to keep quiet," Animal offered. "Well, they have to."
"Excellent, now you go tell the guards, since you don't have to paint your face." Rogue pretended to push Animal out of the room. The Kau clopped off, flipping his sticks in the air occasionally. Animal was a very committed drummer.
"What have you gotten us into, Pick?" Rogue whispered to himself, and sat down to continue painting his fur.