Not Quite Human
Talking
Thinking
Alternate Personality/Mask Speech
Disclaimer: I own nothing and I blame this chapter on lack of sleep and two liters of Mr. Pibb. The song is called Desolation Row and the version is from My Chemical Romance. Enjoy.
Chapter 2: The Gig
I shoveled the waffles into my mouth as if they were going to escape at any moment. Max looked on in horror and Randi poured me another mug of coffee. My advanced healing made me so hungry that I would probably swoop down and eat a cow if I needed to. Hopefully I wouldn't, I think cows are kind of cute. I chugged some coffee before digging into my waffles again. I probably wouldn't sleep for awhile so once I was done I would pull out my guitar and practice the music for the show later tonight. I jumped from my chair and clamped a hand over my mouth as pain shot up my tongue and I tasted blood. I bit my damned tongue again and I wanted to pull my fangs right out. I always did this when I ate waffles.
"You were born with those fangs D you should probably know not to bite your tongue by now." Randi laughed and chucked a washcloth at me and I stuck it against my tongue and bit back my tears. My tongue was super sensitive and it hurt like hell every time I bit it. After a few moments the pain faded and I pulled the bloody fabric from my tongue before throwing it in the sink and looking back at my now empty plate of waffles.
"Hey who stole my waffles?" I whined and looked at Max who gave me the deer caught in the headlights stare.
"I thought you were done." He inched out of his chair and started creeping behind my sister for safety.
"When am I ever done with waffles? Seriously I would eat nothing but waffles if you all let me." I cleaned my plate off and put it into the dishwasher.
"Good thing we don't, with how you eat you'd be as big as a house within a week." Bernard walked into the kitchen and sat down in Max's seat. His neon green hair drew my attention and I stared until his hands covered his hair.
"D stop obsessing over my hair. Its green get over it." He glared at me. Bernard didn't like it when I stared but he should have thought of that before he made his hair green.
"Relax Benny; she can't stop from staring at green. That's why we try not to use any green lights or costume pieces. It's this weird thing she has." Randi shrugged it off before pulling me into the living room and handing me my guitar and the stack of papers for tonight. "Now if you don't know your part by three we're going to have a problem."
"Yes mother." I adjusted my guitar and set the papers on the hutch before strumming along the music. The music was easy enough I would just need to memorize the words; that would be a little more challenging. As long as I had coffee I would be fine. And thanks to Max I would never run out of coffee, he was as addicted as I was. I droned off into my own little world and focused on the music.
"Hey D its three you almost done?" Max tapped me on the shoulder and I jumped. I turned to face him and he was smirking a mile wide.
"Yea I've about got it down. So when's the show I'll need to get dressed up." I ran my fingers along the strings out of nervousness.
"In an hour, Randi has your outfit cleaned so go get dolled up and let me handle your baby." He pulled my guitar away from me before stroking it and rocking it like a child.
"Break my baby and I break you." I walked off in search of my sister.
"Just don't throw a car at me and we'll be fine." He snickered and headed off to put my guitar with the other equipment for the show.
"Oh common that was one time and the jerk deserved it!" I huffed and walked into my sister's room. She was dressed up like Catwoman and even had a toy whip tied to her right hip.
"Finally D. Let's get your metal strapped on then get you into this thing." She slammed the door closed before ripping my clothes off and helping me into my now clean outfit. She could attach the metal workings blindfolded and it was so much easier to pull the material up with someone else helping me. We left the metal claws off; I didn't want to hurt anyone tonight. She strapped my horns on but didn't attach my mask, which would stay home.
"Do I have to wear makeup?" I whined as she pulled her makeup bag from her dresser. I hated the stuff and she always had to pin me down to put it on.
"Oh come on D. You have to look nice. We may get some groupies and you want to have some very sexy men and women throwing themselves at you." She batted her eyes at me as I rolled mine.
"I don't want women throwing themselves at me, I'm not Bernard." I sat on her bed and braced myself for the ensuing barrage of powders and colors that would go on my face. I flinched as she tried to put mascara on me. I didn't like having my glasses off and I always got disorientated when she pulled them off.
"Oh relax I'm almost done. Just a dab of this here and you're finished. Go see how sexy you are." She slid my glasses back on and I walked over to her mirror and stared at myself. She made my eyes look bigger then they were and I had a dusting of red and brown eye shadow. My lips were black and my teeth popped when I smiled. I had a pair of black armored boots that I wore for performances and I slipped them on. Max walked out dressed as a gangster, complete with fake guns strapped to his hips. He lit a cigarette and his outfit looked complete. Bernard came out dressed as some guy called the Joker. He wore a purple suit with a green vest and shirt underneath. He had scuffed black shoes on and a goofy smile painted on his face. Randi laughed and took him into her room to fix his makeup. We then lugged all our equipment downstairs into Max's van and took off for the show. All too soon we were set up and I was standing in front of the crowd, my glasses off so I wouldn't see anyone. I always got stage fright so I preferred playing blind. A man dressed up in a simple suit introduced us and I checked to make sure my guitar was plugged in.
"And now for your listening pleasure I present to you the Demonic Punks!" The man slipped the microphone into the stand in front of me and I heard Randi and Max start the opening riff to the song. I smirked and prepared to rock out.
They're selling postcards of the hanging
Well they're painting the passports brown
And the beauty parlor's filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Oh now look, here comes the blind commissioner
Well they got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other's in his pants
I was enjoying the song and didn't miss a beat. I saw someone move to a table closer to the stage but I couldn't make out his face. I just looked back up out at nothing and continued on.
And the riot squad they're restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row
Cinderella, she seem so easy
"Well it takes one to know one," she smiles
And she puts her hands in her back pockets
Oh Bette Davis style
And now here comes Romeo, moaning
"You Belong to Me I Believe"
And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend
You better leave"
And then the only sound that's left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweepin' up
On Desolation Row
Randi was jumping around playing her guitar and I could hear Bernard slamming on his keyboard in time. My fingers were flying over the strings and I tried to ignore the strange blob shaped person sitting off to my right. I couldn't see more then a few feet from my face clearly but it almost seemed like he was staring right at me. I was getting a bit unnerved but brushed it off blaming my blindness.
Now at midnight all the agents
And superhuman crew
Go out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
(Knows more than they do)
They're gonna bring 'em to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that no one is escaping
To Desolation Row
'Cause right now I can't read too good
Don't send me no letters no
Not unless you're gonna mail them
From Desolation Row
We stopped and the crowd exploded in applause, judging by how big the smile was on Randi's face I was sure that some of the patrons had jumped up and been dancing. We moved into the next set and the lights above us turned blue as we moved into a slow song.
All too soon we finished our set of seven songs and we let the music trail off as we all bowed together and walked off stage. As soon as we were off stage I walked over to where I left my glasses and slipped them back on.
"Geeze D you should have seen that guy staring you down. It was like he was stripping you with his eyes." Randi slapped me on my back and she whimpered and pulled her hand away quickly. She forgot about the metal again but she'd heal after a few drinks.
"Not like I could see anything anyways. How do you think we did? Will we get more gigs from the owner or do we need to start begging for work again?" I turned and sighed as she was wrapped around Max as if no one was around. Figures the heat of a gig would get her wound up.
"I think we did alright. I'm gonna grab some drinks want anything?" Bernard had rubbed his face paint off and fished his wallet from his case.
"Sure I'll come with ya. Hold up." I followed him out onto the main floor and to the bar. I would pay Bernard back later and he knew it. I didn't know if any of the patrons were wearing green so I tried to keep my eyes on the floor.
"Hey I'll take a rum and coke." Bernard paused and looked back at me.
"Oh I'll have a margarita, go light on the tequila please." The bartender nodded and soon we were both sipping our drinks and relaxing against the wooden bar.
"There was a strange guy staring you down during the show though." Bernard sounded tired and he nearly chugged the drink in his hand.
"Really? Glad I couldn't see him then, would have thrown me off." I puckered a bit tasting the tequila instead of the sweet juice. "What did he look like anyways?"
"I didn't get a good look. My paint was running and I was trying not to miss my cues, you were a little fast in the third chorus."
"Oh, I'll work on that tonight."
"Don't worry about it, don't think anyone noticed anyways." He pushed off the bar and started walking backstage with what was left of his drink. I stayed leaning against the bar relaxing, no one seemed to give me the feeling of being a freak. Most of them were talking amongst themselves and not even looking my way too much.
"Excuse me but this is compliments of my boss. He enjoyed your show." A voice from my side drew my attention and I saw the bartender taking money from a man in a two toned suit. Another margarita was set by me and the guy just tipped his hat and walked off.
"Thanks." I set my empty cup on the bar and dug into the new one. I watched the guy walk back to a table in the shadows but I couldn't make out anyone in particular sitting around it. I just shrugged and enjoyed the icy beverage until my sister popped out to wave me backstage. Time to go. I left my cup on the bar and headed backstage to help load up the van. All too soon we were back on the road and I was dragging. I would need to sleep soon. No free running tonight.
"Hey it looks like she's actually going to sleep for once." Randi tugged at my hair making me smirk.
"Oh hush. I sleep just like everyone else." I stifled a yawn and stretched a bit.
"Yea you sleep like what once every three or four days. Seriously I'm surprised your still up and walking around." Bernard piped in from the front seat. I stared at his green hair until he scowled and put his hands up into his hair again. "Damn it D stop that, its creepy as fuck. You don't blink or anything."
"Sorry." I wasn't sorry. I couldn't help it, green drew my attention and I focused on the color. It made me feel warm and squishy inside, sometimes even drugged.
"Hey remember that time we all went out for drinks while D was under house arrest?" Max looked back through the rear view mirror at me.
"Oh shut up." I blushed and crossed my arms over my chest.
"Yea we put green light bulbs in the lamps and she spent six hours staring at nothing until we got back. It was priceless." Bernard looked back at me again with his lopsided smirk.
"Oh shut up I fell asleep and you all know it." I huffed and looked out the side window as our apartment complex came into view. Once we parked I grabbed what I could carry and headed upstairs. I took the stairs while everyone else hopped into the elevator. I ran up all ten stories and was dragging so badly when I finally reached the door. Randi opened it and helped me unload the speakers and my guitar. I locked myself in my room and managed to wash off my makeup and strip out of my outfit before collapsing on my bed in nothing but my underwear and the metal framing of my outfit. I was spent.