AN: Alright, another chapter! I tried to get this one out fast after the overwhelming support for the last chapter, so everyone would get a little chance to read something for a little while. I'll try to get the next one after this out before Thanksgiving, but I'm not sure I'll be able to do so. Regardless I will try my best.
Only one song by A Wilhelm Scream appears in this chapter; Cold Slither II. I highly recommend listening to the song when it comes up in the story.
To once again reiterate the lyrics system I devised;
Any lyrics in italics are sung by Diana.
Any lyrics in bold are sung by Akko.
Any lyrics underlined are sung by Amanda.
Any combination signifies a harmony.
Thanks again for the support and continue to critique as always!
-Symbiotic
They all stood in a triangle esque shape, absolutely quiet as the noise gates held back the hiss of their high gain amplifiers in the low basement. This silence hung over the room until the bespectacled drummer raised her drumsticks over her head and tapped them together.
"One, two, three, four!"
With that the song began, taking off into a fast melodic section that set the tone for the song.
cobra...
cobra...
cobra…
Dead weight!
cobra...
cobra...
cobra...
The world gets dropped, left covered in rust.
We'll rule it with an iron fist
behind a drum beat...again!
The song then sped up quickly. Diana held onto her voice tightly, trying to deliver her vocals as melodically but rapidly as possible. She kept up the pace as Akko and Amanda played a slick tapping riff in unison.
It's all over you motherfuckers!
The moral to story is shit to a rug,
two fingers up if judgement comes
and one keg stand
for satan!
Weak hearted sorry fakers,
in times of danger
they just fold up and run.
If you are, you are
dead weight!
cobra...
cobra...
cobra...
Dead weight!
cobra...
cobra...
cobra...
Infection spread like iron to rust
the cure for the disease
like chain links surrounded me.
Sometimes they are.
Weak hearted sorry fakers,
in times of danger
they just fold up and run.
If you are, you are
dead weight!
At that line the song slowed down into a staccato, almost broken sounding section.
And we might just show the world
the hopeless anger in us.
Every other day is just more time to kill. We want to wake
to find the sound
in aching waves from our heart.
Nevertheless, we're just staring at a wall.
Manners , missed conscience
where are you now?
Left staring at a wall.
Before that sound
forces us to stop, drop, and run,
Hear me now
or watch the bodies pile!
Weak hearted sorry fakers,
in times of danger
they just fold up and run.
If you are, you are
dead weight!
When all the monumentous
lecherous imitations you pull off
start wearing off
to show what you are.
If you are, you are
dead weight!
With a quick grasp of her Les Paul and Amanda of her Schecter the song ended and everyone looked around at each other. They were still silent. The wait seemed agonizing for Akko. Silence was never something she dealt with well and she went to speak up. But before she could, her red haired bandmate spoke first.
"Hell yeah!" Amanda cheered with a fist pump. "That was sick!"
"I agree," Sucy said with a small smile, about the biggest Akko knew she could give sincerely. "It was pretty fun."
"Told you these new songs were absolutely killer!" Akko reminded everyone as she set her Les Paul down. She took time to marvel at her achievement. "It's fun playing this up tempo isn't it?" Akko watched Lotte reach down for a bottle of water, her forehead glistening with beads of sweat. "Well, I hope it's fun for you too, Lotte."
"Oh I'm fine," Lotte assured politely. "It's good to get pushed like this." She gulped the water down her parched throat. "Trust me, I'm doing well."
"Well I'm glad because the direction this album is going is sick," Akko said with pump of her fist.
She was all too thrilled of where things were going. The songs were fast and heavy, the perfect harmonious balance between punk and heavy metal that defined A Seed of Sorrow, but with a much sharper edge and a sense of speed that had not been consistently found in their music before. It was just what Akko had intended when she set out to write what Amanda had dubbed "the turbo warp drive album", nicknamed such for all the songs' high energy pace. Lotte and Sucy, especially Sucy, had taken to calling it "the coke and roids album", after the way the songs seemed to develop so furiously off of an implied drug binge. Diana just called it "the fast album", which made Akko gloom slightly but she was glad that the opera soprano turned punk rock vocalist was getting in on the fun.
Ever since the camping trip Akko noticed Diana making more conscious attempts to get along with the members of A Seed of Sorrow. She no longer said that songs Akko had come up with like 'I Wipe My Ass With Showbiz' or other incredibly vulgar songs that she had written in the pool of music that she had come up with were obscene. She showed no resistance to singing profanities, even if she didn't welcome it, and she was doing her best to match the vocal patterns with an equal balance of power and fun that Akko hadn't seen out of her. Her voice made the whole thing fit together perfectly, along with the push they got from the rhythm section now that Sucy was free to employ all the trickery in her bass playing arsenal and Lotte was unleashed in terms of raw speed. But Diana was still the icing on the cake that made it all an appealing package, and now she was getting in on the spirit of things in a way that made Akko smile.
In fact, Diana seemed to be doing more than a few things to make Akko more than smile, chief among them just how vulnerable Diana appeared in front of her recently. Akko thought for a moment about seeing Diana's typically intense and almost lethal gaze completely subdued in the parking lot when they had went to leave for their camping trip. It was something entirely unique to her. Seeing that side of Diana made her open her mind up to a side of Diana that she had never knew existed. Was Diana always this vulnerable and just covered it up so well with a sense of regality and dignified grace as to ensure Akko and the rest of the band would never have seen it? It raised some questions, but Akko appreciated that she got to see it. If she was honest, it was kind of the most appealing thing she had ever seen in Diana, maybe even more appealing than the voice she brought to the table and the somewhat imposing stage presence she brought with her to each gig. There were other little things too, like how Diana accepted the beer and didn't grimace and now wore her punk attire to rehearsals and not just whatever business like attire she wore before. The latter Akko thought made Diana look not just like she was fitting in, but also kind of cute if Akko was honest with herself.
She watched as Amanda again passed around the Blue Moon and Diana took hers readily and drank it slowly. Akko still felt Diana sort of nursed the bottles, but that was another thing she found kind of cute about the blonde singer. Now she was convinced she was going a bit crazy. Diana couldn't actually be this cute, could she?
"So everyone likes all of the songs so far I take it?" Akko asked as she sat against her Mesa cabinet. She sipped her beer.
"I know I do," Amanda said as she sipped her own beer. "I think we've written some great new shit. It's gonna be fun to lay it all down."
"Speaking of which, Akko," Sucy spoke up. "When do we leave for The Fountain again?"
"The Fountain?" Diana muttered perplexedly.
"The Fountain of Polaris," Akko pointed out before taking another swig of her beer. "AKA Polaris Studios. It's where we go to record our albums." She looked back over at Sucy. "We'll be going there soon. I just want to finish demoing out all the songs before we actually leave. I think I've only demoed about half of them so far."
The room was briefly silent for a moment before Diana spoke up. "So, if you don't mind me asking, just where is this Fountain of Polaris?"
"Colorado?!" Hannah exclaimed with a distressed look on her face. "You're going away to Colorado?!"
"It would appear so," Diana stated as she sat at her poolside table with Hannah and Barbara. "The studio is there and we're going to be there for at least two months."
Hannah felt her heart sink deep in her chest and her face go white with fright. She had come all the way to the Cavendish estate so Diana could explain just what was going to happen in the next few weeks.. She had already been practicing night in and night out on the new material with Akko and company, but now things were going to a whole new level that Diana didn't know if she was entirely prepared for but had to get ready for fast. Initially she had planned on doing it out for the night, so Hannah and Barbara could better absorb the shock of what she was about to explain over alcohol and some booming loud music, but she changed her mind right before they were due to arrive and decided she would just tell her two friends at home. She figured it wouldn't matter, since Barbara had revealed herself to be supportive of Diana's new habits and she knew Hannah would go along with whatever she said for the most part. She did not expect Hannah however to get so emotional over her news.
"But the summer has only just started!" Hannah protested sharply. She had to make her point come across as best she could to Diana.
"It's actually been going on for awhile," Barbara stated as she took a sip of the wine Diana had poured for them.
"Barbs!" Diana rolled her eyes at the way Hannah was acting. She couldn't believe her auburn haired friend was this hapless. Diana watched Hannah turn her attention back toward her. "Are you actually going to be away for that long, Diana? Can't you just come back to Dartmouth for a little while?"
"I'm afraid not," Diana stated calmly and with a sigh. Her friends seemed relentless. "I'm in the studio for the whole duration of the album's recording. I don't get any say as to whether or not I can come or go as I please."
"But that's bullshit!" Hannah exclaimed with a smash of her fist on the table. Both Diana and Barbara looked over at the auburn haired girl, whose hands were tightly clenched and her brow furrowed in distress. Quickly she realized the folly of her outburst. "Sorry," she said meekly.
"It sounds like you're trying to be a real team player," Barbara pointed out. "That's really nice of you to do that."
"Yeah but it's going to make life around here really boring for us, Barbs," Hannah groaned as she drummed her fingers on the table. "Diana, you're your own person. You can just leave and come back as you please, can't you?
"That's not the point, Hannah," Diana said as she threw her head into her hands, desperately wishing the auburn haired girl would quit pressing the matter already. "I'm doing this for Akko and…"
"Wait what did you say?" Hannah interrupted.
"You're doing it for Akko?" Barbara muttered perplexedly.
Diana froze in her tracks. She was doing it for Akko? Did she seriously just say that? She held her hand close to her chest and wondered just where that came from. What was the source of such a comment? She couldn't seriously mean such a thing. She was just trying to be a good bandmate, not go above and beyond for a teammate, right? Could that actually be so?
"I'm doing it for the whole band, not just Akko," Diana stated as she composed herself. "It's important that I stay put with them as long as they are recording. Besides, what if I want to stay?"
"You can't be serious, Diana," Hannah replied back with an open jaw. "You actually want to stay the whole time in Colorado? Aren't there bears all over the place there?"
"And isn't it really cold too?" Barbara questioned.
"Yeah why waste what is left of your summer in a cold state surrounded by bears when you could stay in Dartmouth by the coast? Seriously, there has to be a studio close by where A Seed of Sorrow can record, isn't there?"
Diana rubbed her temples. Entertaining the concerns of her friends sure was hard work. "I have no say in the matter of where we go to record, ladies," she explained. "Akko booked the studio time for us and we can't exactly change. Besides, we'll be in a city the whole time and I've never been to Colorado before in my travels. I am trying to be open minded and am looking forward to going somewhere I've never been to try something I've never done. Sure, I have been in studios to record librettos, but they were always with accompanying musicians who just played along. Going with a band is a totally different experience that I am eagerly looking forward to."
"Well I'm certainly glad that you're going away to do something you've never done before, Diana," Barbara stated as she sipped her wine. "I'm sure it will be fun for you."
"Well I demand that we're allowed to come visit you!" Hannah proclaimed. "We can't let Akko and company have you all to themselves while you're in Colorado."
Diana sighed again. She never thought going away would be this hard on her friends, and that they would make things this exasperating for her.
After all the weeks of practicing, demoing, practicing again, and demoing again it was finally time. Messing around was no longer an option. It was now do or die time. The journey started right here, right now, from the driveway of Amanda's house on Cherokee Street in New Bedford. Everything that A Seed of Sorrow had prepared for over the past several months had built up to this moment, a moment they could not possibly turn away from now. There was nothing that could possibly steer them away from all that they could achieve if they just seized this moment right here, right now, without any hesitation, without any second thoughts, without any…
"Are you just gonna keep staring off into space, Akko, or are you actually gonna help us load the van up?" Amanda called out.
Akko shook herself out of the trance that she had been caught in. She was so excited to begin this venture that she had completely drifted off into a sea of thought and wasn't even trying to help load up Old Unreliable with all their equipment.
"Coming!" she called back.
Once she packed up her Mesa amplifier head and hoisted her amp cabinet from the basement up to the van she went back to pack up her guitar and her effects pedals. Meanwhile Sucy and Amanda helped Lotte pack up her drums. As she packed up her gear she watched as a blue BMW X1 SUV pulled into the driveway of Amanda's house. Akko and company looked over to see Barbara Parker behind the wheel, with Hannah England and Diana sitting as passengers. They watched as Diana disembarked the BMW and grabbed a luggage case and a backpack out of the back before the other girls got out and followed Diana over to the van.
"So this is how you're going to get to Colorado?" Hannah remarked snidely as she looked at the van. "You know you could do so much better. Or do you just not have the money to do so?"
"Well last I checked you can't buy talent and that's what you need to make it," Akko shot back sharply. "Isn't that right, Diana?"
"Akko, please…" Diana groaned as she walked with her bags.
"Why?! Why shouldn't I say something? All she does is talk down to us and…"
"Akko, it's time to act like a punk rocker and pack up the van before we get going," Sucy called out as she lugged her Ampeg cabinet up into the van.
Akko clenched her fists and growled sharply at the auburn haired woman. She hated when people decided to be condescending toward her and the way she went about her business. Still, she knew it wasn't worth it. Sucy had made her point at the show back in Lowell, and she wasn't about to let the snobby sycophant that Diana kept in her company bring her down from how she was feeling. This was her time to bask in anyway.
She watched Diana sigh at Hannah's insult and set her bag down before going up to Akko. "Is there anything I can do?" the blonde questioned.
"You can start by keeping that jerk away from us while we load the van up," she asked. She looked back over at Hannah with a piercing stare. "But other than that I think we got things under control. Do you have everything for the trip out?"
"I'm all packed," Diana said. "I triple checked my belongings to make sure I was set."
Akko gave her a light smile and a nod, The thought of Diana checking over her stuff like a boy scout was highly amusing. She looked over at Hannah and Barbara, who were standing around in the night air. "The lap dogs don't listen when you tell them to sit and stay, I take it?"
"Akko!" Diana retorted sharply. Akko couldn't help but smirk. She had to get back at the auburn haired girl somehow. The black haired one was alright in her book, but still the fact that she followed Diana around so bad meant she wasn't all that much different from Hannah.
In short order the van was packed up and locked for the long trip ahead. The members of A Seed of Sorrow stood in a circle in the night air. Hannah and Barbara stood outside and watched as Akko pulled out a bunch of straws from her jacket pocket.
"Shortest straw drives first," Akko explained. The other girls nodded and reached in for their straws. Akko watched carefully as her bandmates looked at their straws and compared them to one another. Diana had one of the longest. Only Akko's was shorter. Amanda's sat in the middle, while Lotte and Sucy's were among the shortest, actually tying each other's in length. Sucy ultimately whipped out a coin and flipped it to see who would drive first. The coin decided that Lotte would be the one who would drive first.
"You gonna go say goodbye to your groupies, Princess?" Amanda snarked with her hand on her hip. Diana rolled her eyes and walked back over to Hannah and Barbara, who both had longing looks on their faces.
"I guess this is farewell," Diana said bittersweet smile. Hannah and Barbara looked at her the same before reaching over to envelope Diana in a tight hug. The blonde was caught off guard by the gesture, but returned it gently in kind. "I'll miss you both."
"We'll miss you too, Diana," Barbara replied.
"I'm gonna miss you the most," Hannah choked out of her throat, nearly on the verge of tears. Diana raised her eyebrows at just how emotional Hannah was. This wasn't something that was unusual for her ever since she had befriended Diana many years ago, so Diana didn't know why this excursion was any different. "Don't hesitate to let us come visit you. We'll be out there in a heartbeat."
"I'll be sure to let you know if that's possible," she assured Hannah. She remained embraced by the two girls for a few more moments before pulling away. "I must be going. Goodbye ladies."
"Have fun, Diana!" Barbara called out.
"We can't wait for you to come back!" Hannah shouted.
Akko watched the exchange and rolled her eyes. Hannah and Barbara were away more clingy than anyone she ever knew in her life. It was rather ridiculous. Thankfully for her sake she wouldn't have to deal with it anymore once they got on the road, which they were about to do now that Diana had embarked the van. With a turn of the key Lotte started Old Unreliable and they were off on their trip. Amanda and Sucy sat up front, Sucy sitting in the fold down middle seat while Akko and Diana leaned up against the doors of the van and fell asleep. Thirty hours of road trip laid ahead of them.
Thus far on the ride Diana's trip had gone swimmingly. She slept through almost all of the first six hours of the trip, which cut A Seed of Sorrow down Massachusetts, into Connecticut, and further south into New York and northern New Jersey. They made their first stop at the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, near the town of Phillipsburg, stopping for a quick breakfast and a driver change at a Wawa convenience store. Diana was careful to relieve herself and then make a cup of tea in the convenience store, standing in the company of working individuals such as truck drivers, paramedics, construction workers, and other types who were getting up and starting their day with coffee and cigarettes. She took careful note of these people at the stop.
At the next stop, somewhere near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, Amanda took over the wheel and drove the next six hours. Once again Diana saw more working class individuals along with traveling families who seemed weary on their journeys across the highways of the United States. The sight of all these different kinds of people made Diana curious, and she pulled a Moleskin notebook out of her backpack and began to toy with ideas in her head.
This musing was not lost on Akko, who stirred awake after a long stint of sleeping through most of the stops while Diana herself was awake and listening to opera tunes on her iPhone. Akko, wanting to have some fun at Diana's expense, reached over and pulled Diana's expensive pair of wireless over ear headphones off of her head in a manner that shocked the blonde and made her drop her notebook. "What are you doing?" Diana questioned.
"Diana, it's time!" Akko proclaimed.
"Time for what?" she asked with a furrowed brow.
Amanda held up the communal iPod in her hand and went to press play on the song. "Time for Domination!" Amanda shouted. Diana raised her eyebrow at the odd proclamation but wasn't allowed to think on it before three cymbal hits gave way to a loud heavy metal riff that had every member of A Seed of Sorrow except her banging their heads. Diana had to cover her ears as the song picked up speed. The volume was so loud that Diana could swear that she would be able to hear the song if she was outside of the vehicle traveling at speed on the highway. She remained with her ears covered by her elbows until Akko went to sing the song. Diana then decided that even with Akko's voice she couldn't take it anymore, and shouted Akko's name at the top of her lungs.
Amanda paused the iPod and watched as the other members of A Seed of Sorrow, even Sucy, laughed at Diana's reaction to the loud music. "I guess we know that you aren't a fan of Pantera eh, Princess?" the redhead remarked.
"Not at that volume," Diana stated poignantly. She shook her head and huffed before going back to her notebook and her opera music. Akko again pulled her headphones out of her ear. "What, Akko?"
"Whatcha doing?" Akko questioned childishly, glancing over at the notebook that Diana had in her hands.
"I'm writing something, if you must know." Akko raised her eyebrows and looked at Diana curiously. "What?"
"What are you writing, Diana?" the Japanese girl questioned.
"It's nothing of your concern," Diana replied harshly. Quickly she had realized the tone in which she had spoken and looked back over at Akko, who had a look on her face that indicated she was stung by the venom Diana had projected in her voice. "Sorry, it's just something very personal is all."
"No no it's okay," Akko replied in a downtrodden tone. "I was just curious is all. I didn't mean to be a jerk."
"Oh. Well thank you," Diana stated courteously. She looked over at Akko and still saw the Japanese girl frowning and looking away bashfully. "Maybe I'll show it to you when I'm done."
Diana watched Akko's eyes go wide with glee. "Really?! You will?"
"Maybe, the keyword is maybe I will, Akko," Diana repeated. Akko nodded her head and Diana shook her head, though inwardly she was mildly amused. Akko could be so childish and Diana was surprised to find that she didn't always find it exasperating. On the contrary, sometimes she found it amusing. "Do you understand?" Akko nodded her head up and down rapidly, making Diana turn back to her work for a moment before she realized she had a question she wanted to ask. "Say, Amanda, where are we?"
"Where are we?" Amanda parroted. "That's a good question, Princess. Um…" She poked at the smartphone with the Waze app. "We're somewhere in Illinois, that much I'm certain. Beyond that I don't know much else."
Diana raised her eyebrow. Were they already that far away from coastal Massachusetts? It hadn't seem like much time had gone by at all. "Are you serious?" Diana questioned. "How long have we been driving for?"
"Not counting bathroom breaks and food stops we've been on the road for about sixteen hours," Sucy explained. "We still got another fourteen or so left to go."
"And what is our plan for the rest of the day?" Diana questioned.
"Keep driving," Akko replied. "We still gotta get to Colorado and we can do it all in one sitting like we've done in the past."
"Are you out of your mind?!" Diana exclaimed. "You're going to do this drive all in one sitting? What about if we want to shower and maybe sleep in a bed? What are we going to do then?"
"Diana, I've explained this to you before, we don't have the money to stay in a hotel," Akko stated, this time in a less condescending manner than the first time she had explained it to the blonde. Diana still wasn't convinced. "Look, it's just the way it is."
"I didn't raise any protest when you refused my offer on our way to Stafford but now I'm not going to withdraw it so easily," she explained. "We have been on the road since midnight and have been driving straight through the day. You haven't even driven the van yet. Lotte, Amanda, and Sucy must be incredibly tired after all the driving they've been doing." The other three girls remained silent. "I want to get out of the van for more than just an hour, walk around, and take an actual shower tonight in a place other than a truck stop. So I'm proposing, no I'm actually insisting, that we stop for a hotel."
"With what money?" Akko shot back. "I already told you we don't have any money, and I'm not stopping to get a hotel just for one member."
Now Diana herself couldn't help but be absolutely dumbfounded at just how ridiculous Akko was being. "One member? You really think I was going to make you pull over and stop at a hotel just for me? You really think that was the case?" Diana paused and shook her head. "My goodness, Akko, I was suggesting I purchase a night at a hotel for all of us. I think we could all use a break and an opportunity to sleep in a warm bed with a hot meal."
"That doesn't sound too bad actually," Lotte interjected. "I'd be all for that."
"I think I would like that too," Sucy said in her typical plain tone
"I wouldn't mind it at all," Amanda stated. "I think it'd be good to get off the road for a bit."
"Aww come on we've done this drive before and never stopped at a hotel," Akko protested. "Do we really have to stop?"
The members of A Seed of Sorrow went silent, putting Diana and Akko at a standstill. The impasse they were at pitted silence against silence, a clash of two wills to see who would relent and go with the other's plans. And strangely enough Diana didn't want to take part in it. As much as she wanted to stop and take a break, Diana didn't want to get into a fight with Akko, and not because she was tired. She was about ready to withdraw the demand before she saw Akko's face go to a frown and her head hang low. It was a graceful surrender.
"We can get a hotel," the Japanese girl relented. The other members of SOS breathed out a sigh of relief and happiness, looking forward to the night that they would be spending out of the van and in a soft bed. Diana actually frowned at the sight. She only wanted to make things easier for Akko and her company. Now she felt like she had done the exact opposite.
Of all the places Diana could possibly pick of course she picked a race track resort casino to stay in. Akko should have known better. It only made too much sense. It was just the kind of high class establishment, the classiest establishment to be exact, that one could find just off the concrete leyline carrying them across rural Illinois. They couldn't just go to some Super 8 or other chain motel; they had to go to Cape Giradeau racetrack and Resort Casino, right near the border of Illinois and Missouri.
After walking through the bright neon lights of the casino and to the desk to check into the room Diana had booked Akko only wanted to sigh. She held this sigh all the way as they went up to the room. It was only when Diana unlocked the room did her expression change. Diana hadn't just got some regular old hotel room for A Seed of Sorrow to stay in. On the contrary, she had picked out the "Presidential Quarters", a three room suite that was complete with three separate bedrooms and a jacuzzi along with an expansive living room space to relax in.
Okay, Akko thought. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea. Still, she wasn't about to get too comfortable. As far as she was concerned this was a one time deal. Still, she couldn't help but snap a quick video of the space and upload it the official SOS Snapchat profile for people to see.
The other women seemed more than happy for their accommodations. Lotte and Sucy quickly picked out a room for themselves, while Amanda called shotgun on getting a room to herself. This left Akko and Diana in an interesting predicament; the prospect of sharing a bedroom. Akko felt her heart do a somersault at the thought.
"You know what you can have the room," Akko said bashfully. "I'll just sleep on the couch."
"Are you sure?" Diana replied.
"Y-yeah," Akko stammered. "It's fine." She felt like she dodged a bullet potentially sleeping with Diana, an activity she wasn't sure why she was so nervous over. She went to set her bag down near the sofa and sat down.
After settling down Amanda found a local pizza joint and called in a pizza along with garlic knots and a salad for the band to eat. Lotte and Sucy went out and grabbed some beer and liquor from a local liquor mart. Akko and Diana stayed back in the room. At first the two remained awkwardly silent, but that didn't last for long.
"So do you like to gamble?" Akko asked as she sat on the couch.
"Oh no not really," Diana said. "I don't believe wagering my money on chance is a worthwhile investment. I have dabbled occasionally into off track betting but I no longer engage in the pastime."
"Why'd you stop?" Akko asked as she flipped over on the couch.
"I'm firmly against horse racing from an animal welfare perspective," Diana stated as she sat across from Akko in an armchair. "The drugs they dope injured horses up on, the cruelty by which the jockeys treat the animals, it all just disgusted me after awhile. I understand that champion thoroughbreds are treated well but the sport is full of so much seediness and corruption that I just couldn't stand it anymore, and I come from a family that owns race horses and tries to do things right. Regardless when I take over the Cavendish estate I plan to sell off that part of our estate."
Akko nodded her head. Taking over a whole estate was something she couldn't imagine herself ever doing, especially given the fact that Akko didn't come from nearly as wealthy a background that Diana came from, not that she ever grew up with money being an issue to her knowledge. If only it was the same for her in the United States.
Eventually the pizza arrived and Lotte and Sucy came back with a selection of liquors and beer; the band's standby Blue Moon along with some Smirnoff Vodka, Kraken rum, Jose Cuervo Tequila, and a few bottles of Coca Cola, cranberry juice, and tonic water as chasers. They even got lemons and salt for tequila shots. After unpacking all the liquor and setting up the pizza, the women of A Seed of Sorrow gathered around with paper cups gathered from the bathroom as Sucy poured vodka shots and they stood in a circle.
"To the album, ladies," Akko said as she raised her cup up in the air. "May it kick ass and go down in underground infamy as an absolute ripper."
"Here here," Diana said with a roll of her eyes. With that every one of them downed the vodka and slammed the cups into the table. Diana coughed as the liquor went down her throat. "My goodness that is strong!"
"I know right?" Akko gasped as she came down from the burn in her throat. "That's some hard stuff."
"Who wants to do a round of tequila shots?" Sucy proposed with an insidious smirk on her face. Akko looked over at Diana, who was swallowing at the sight of drinking more liquor at the hands of Sucy.
"Why don't we wait on the tequila shots and do something else," Akko proposed as she went to get a slice of pizza.
"What do you suggest beyond doing another round of shots and getting completely wasted?" Amanda questioned as she opened up a bottle of Blue Moon for herself.
Akko looked about the room curiously for a sign of something to do. It didn't take her long. Nestled on the table where Sucy had set the liquor upon was a complementary deck of playing cards. Akko walked over and picked up the deck before showing it to the girls and proposing they play a simple game of moneyless poker.
"Well that's boring," Amanda said. "We gotta spice it up a little bit." The redhead paused and then a nefarious smirk grew across her face. "And I got just the idea?"
"And what's that?" Akko asked as she ate her pizza.
"Two words, ladies. Strip poker."
At the sound of those words Akko nearly choked on her pizza and the beer she was using to wash it down, and she wasn't alone. Lotte and Sucy nearly spat out their slices, and Diana went almost completely pale. Akko looked around at her fellow bandmates and friends in the room. Surley they wouldn't go along with the idea of playing strip poker, now would they? She could count on the fact that Diana would refuse, but she wasn't sure about Sucy and Lotte. The bespectacled Finn in particular was increasingly becoming a wildcard with all the drinks she was ingesting, which quickly went against her light weight and got her rather tipsy.
"Come on, it'll be fun," Amanda proposed lasciviously. "It's not like anyone will be watching either. We're all just girls and we all know what each other's bodies are supposed to look like, so nothing will be weird about it. Lets just give it a go."
"I-I-I think it'll it'll be fun," Lotte spoke in circles. Sucy went and put her hands around the orange haired girl to prevent her from falling over.
"I guess I'm in," Sucy stated. "Not like I have anything better to do." Akko sighed in exasperation. Now she had to go along with it per the communal rules she had set for the band. On small matters like this the majority always won out, and so far the majority was turned firmly against her and Diana, and Akko had her reasons for not wanting play.
"I'll play," Diana stated firmly.
"Eh?!" Akko let out of her mouth. "You're really gonna play?!"
"I have a feeling that if I don't play I'll never hear the end of it," Diana sighed as she walked over to the couch and sat down with her beer. "So I might as well get it out of the way. Besides, I suppose this is all just being part of a band, isn't it?"
"Not necessarily," Akko said nervously as she took her seat in a chair across from the sofa. "But I'm glad that you're in the spirit."
"Can we get this going, Amanda?" Diana asked. "The faster we can get this done the faster I can go to bed without any incident."
"Yeah yeah, Princess," Amanda sneered as she took out the deck of cards and began to shuffle them. "Now the rules are simple. Whoever's turn around the table will put in a piece of clothing, and it can be any kind of clothing. Clothing can be wagered at any time and doesn't need to be matched. If one so pleases they can fold and not wager any clothing whatsoever. Simple enough?" The other women nodded their heads and leaned in to the table. With that the cards were dealt and the game began.
There was a lot of folding in the initial couple rounds, but eventually the game began to pick up speed. To the surprise of almost everyone in the room Lotte was the one who was actually winning despite her inebriated state, collecting every kind of article of clothing from Sucy's shoes, Amanda's socks, the small beaded wristband Akko wore around her wrist that was a piece of merchandise from her favorite musical artist of all time, and even Diana's golden necklace. From there it didn't take much longer for actual clothes to be piled on, and Lotte continued to rake in the winnings. Akko continued to fold, not wanting to strip down any further than the socks and bracelet she already had given up. She was deeply nervous about doing anything else.
Eventually it was her turn to put some clothes into the pot. Nervously she pulled down the pants she had been wearing and put them into the pile, revealing a pair of red boy shorts that she was wearing underneath. Amanda wolf whistled at the sight of Akko being down to her underwear on her bottom, even though her underwear was far from sexy. Lotte and Sucy didn't seem to show any reaction and simply folded their hands. Amanda continued on and put a necklace that she wore around her neck into the pile. Then it came back over to Diana, and remarkably the heiress didn't fold. She merely took the fancy watch she had on her wrist off and put it into the pile.
Shit, Akko thought. Now she had to wager. Nervously, she took the one article of clothing that she still had left other than her underwear, the infamous "Balls" t shirt that she had wore when Diana and her first met and put it into the table, revealing her simplistic bra covering up rather small breasts that Akko was deeply embarrassed by. More than anything in the world outside of the band getting bigger Akko wished she had more in the chest department.
Amanda was forced to put in her own shorts and reveal a pair green panties, putting the pants into the pile. When it went back to Diana Akko expected her again to fold. Diana was now down to her shirt and her pants, and there was no way that Diana would ever take those off. But much to Akko's surprise, Diana pulled her arms up and slipped her white shirt up over her arms and put it onto the table. And with that Diana revealed the most perfectly shaped bust in what Akko found to be the sexiest bra she had ever seen in her life to the entire room. While Lotte, Sucy, and Amanda didn't bat an eyelash, Akko wasn't so stoic on the matter.
That's when she found herself in a massive predicament. "I'm folding!" Akko called out quickly as she slammed her cards down on the table. But before she could let that slip by Amanda picked up on something that she simply couldn't ignore.
"Akko, are you staring at Diana's chest?" Amanda snickered.
Both Akko and Diana's jaws fell open and they looked over at each other. Akko expected to be brutally scolded and left out to dry for what she had been doing. And yet Diana remained silent, not even muttering a word after Amanda had outed the Japanese girl for just what she was doing to the blonde heiress. And even though she looked shocked, something was off about the way Diana was staring Akko down. It was nothing like what Akko expected.
"I was not!" Akko quickly blurted out. "I was...I was…" Akko needed something to say. "I was staring at Diana's...I was staring at her bra! That's right, I was staring at her bra, not her chest!"
Lotte felt her head fall flat onto the table and Sucy face palmed herself while Amanda began to laugh boisterously. Akko nervously glanced over at Diana, who had a shade of pink running across her cheeks and nose and, most surprisingly to Akko, wasn't even bothering to cover up her chest. Her jaw still hung open and there was an almost cruel silence between the two of them, but she wasn't necessarily protesting the way Akko thought she would. Regardless, Akko had clearly demonstrated she was badly afflicted with foot in mouth syndrome.
"Sounds like you were staring at her chest," Amanda replied with a shake of her head.
"I was only staring at her bra!" Akko repeated sharply. "It's a really sexy bra, that's all!"
"Oh it's sexy now isn't it?" Amanda purred lasciviously. "And I suppose how red your face is tells just how you really feel about Diana's 'bra' now doesn't it?"
"Amanda!" Akko shouted. She covered her face and went to look away, but nothing could take her eyes off of the lacy white bra in front of her. It had a highly ornate lace pattern with ribbons covering its clasps, an expensive piece of lingerie befitting for a woman of Diana's social class and personal net worth. It perfectly cupped Diana's chest, making her appear immaculately shaped. Akko still couldn't take her eyes off of it, and by now everyone other than Diana was noticing how hard Akko was staring at Diana's chest through her hands. "I'm just a bit drunk is all, and you know we Japanese people get red in the face when we're drunk. But I still think Diana has a really sexy bra. That's all I was looking at."
Sucy again face palmed herself and Lotte let out a muffled sigh from the pile of clothing her face was buried in. All of them expected Diana, who was still frozen in place, to cover herself up and scold Akko furiously. But instead she only muttered something that took everyone off guard.
"I appreciate the compliment, Akko," the blonde said bashfully. Now it was Amanda and Sucy's turn to drop their jaws, looking over at Diana with wide eyes. Diana was now blushing like a tomato and nervously holding her fingers over her mouth. Akko couldn't believe her ears. Diana actually appreciated what Akko was doing? She must be sick. Something had to be wrong.
With that Amanda decided that the strip poker game had gone on long enough and everyone should get some sleep. Akko was thankful that the game ended and went to go put her clothes on, but not before again taking a glance at Diana's 'bra' once again.