[Plot] The Beat Is Always True

[Shane Marsh]

Next up was "Keep on Swingin'" by Rival Sons. It was a more direct headbanger that did more to highlight his vocal abilities, but it didn't live up to the creative tweaking done to the first song.

But then came the opening to their original take on Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower, done in the same "dirty rock with a pinch of jazz and a dash of bardcore" style but with a Middle Eastern influence instead of the European. The flourish was a little familiar to fans of a certain spacefaring show about undercover robots, but at the same time wholly different. Or at least different enough that it wasn't plagiarism.

It wasn't Hendrix, but it was a fresh and new take on a classic that they had successfully made their own. And in epic fashion. He was more proud of the number than even his original song.

Speaking of which...

When any applause died down he said. "Alright folks. Now that you've heard what we can do as a cover band, it's time to hear something you've never heard before. I present to you a song inspired by both a near-death experience and by one of my stranger X-Men experiences where I thought I was a bloody medieval fantasy bard. Which, of course, explains the outfits.

So imagine, if you will, a smokey tavern straight out of Tolkien. And our hero, the bard, is about to sing his tale." he said, singing the last six words.

And it began as just that: a song about second chances and roads not taken, wrapped up in fantastical imagery. But after the first verse, it blossomed into something as fresh and interesting as it was full of laid-back classic rock energy. All of their talents were on full display and, even more than before, it just kind of... clicked.

When the last note played, he anxiously waited for possible applause.

[Will Stanton]

Will had been playing some thick bass, locked in with Drake, and ended the song with a flourish, lifting his arms high to soak in the cheers from the crowd.

[Narrator]

The applause indeed comes, although there's some pockets of confused murmuring here and there at Shane's abridged tale, but overall people seem into it. Somebody in the crowd even throws a rose onto the stage. It's one of those cheap ones sold by hucksters but still! It's probably what they could get their hands on at an open-air concert.

[Tereza Rozanov]

While waiting for their turn to go on stage, Tereza seems uncharacteristically subdued. She sits as out-of-the-way as she can get in the crowded backstage, holding the neck of her green electric guitar and leaning her head against it as if it were the hilt of a weapon. She's dressed in the ripped jeans as Will suggested and a white tank top with her "Leader of the Pack" jacket thrown on over it.

[Shane Marsh]

In return for the rose, Shane grew roses of his own under his cloak and, with a twirl and a flourish, launched them into the crowd.

[Narrator]

Most of the crowd erupts into a cheer at the power display and where it doesn't the amused scoffs outweigh the rolled eyes as Kingkillers wraps up their performance.

[Samantha McManus]

"We've got this, love." Sam sends with a meaningful look to Tereza as Shane milks the crowd and the next band gets ready to go on.

[Will Stanton]

Sam!'s Will gave a mental wolf-whistle at Tereza's outfit -- thematically appropriate, if missed by the non-telepathic members of Bitchcraft.

[Will Stanton]

Bass!Will thundered off the stage, high-fiving and whooping.

"Yeah! Alright! Gauntlet laid down! MAN, what a rush."

[Drake Martin]

"Man, we were on fire out there!" Drake cheered as he joined in on the whooping.

"But what did you expect with me on the team?" he smirked proudly.

[Shari]

"Uhm, it was definitely me. I didn't play the drunken street lick a single time, thankyouverymuch." Shari nods as they head off the stage to make room for Three-Armed Sally who is, in fact, not a three-armed mutant but rather a very grungy collection of twenty-somethings.

[Tereza Rozanov]

"We've got this, love." Sam sends with a meaningful look to Tereza as Shane milks the crowd and the next band gets ready to go on.

Tereza doesn't respond to Sam's reassurance, not even mentally. Her sense seems to be radiating that she's okay, relatively speaking. Probably just stage nerves. Probably.

[Will Stanton]

...Maybe she's just in 'the zone'?

[Will Stanton]

Meanwhile, Acoustic!Will was still giving friendly heckling to Kingskiller.

"Wow, man. Didn't know you had it in you to use all four strings at the same time. Multi-tasking!"

"Well, har-de-har to you, too. Hope you liked the looks of us up on stage, 'cause you'll be looking up at us in the final standings, too."

[Will Stanton]

Acoustic!Will turned his attention to Three-Armed Sally.

"You know, I kind of feel bad for them, sandwiched between all the mutant bands. I bet 50% of the audience out there assumed they would have actually had three arms."

[Samantha McManus]

"With clothes that baggy, there might be a third arm in there somewhere."

[Will Stanton]

No sense of aesthetics, Sam'sWill agreed. You'd think it was still the '90s out there

[Narrator]

Three-Arm Sally is... passable. For garage band grunge. Three point six out of ten, not great, not terrible. It does give Bitchcraft some time to sort out their nerves at the very least and going on after this is bound to make them sound pretty good in comparison no matter what.

[Will Stanton]

I think we're up next. We're gonna kill 'em.

[Narrator]

As Three-Armed Sally wraps up their set to a... polite amount of applause, one of the event staff circles back around to the members of Bitchcraft.

"Alright, you guys ready? It's go time."

[Samantha McManus]

Sam heads out onto the stage to take a seat behind the drums.

As her bandmates take their places, she counts out the beat by striking her drumsticks together over her head.

[Tereza Rozanov]

Tereza gets in position, waiting for Viv to get set up before she strums the first chord, setting up tone for the first song.

As her part picks up, she starts to play, putting on a show for the audience. But through their connection, Viv and Sam can tell it's just a show. Her heart isn't in it, though she's doing her best to hide it.

[Will Stanton]

The other Wills stood off to the side of the stage, listening.

"Very...Imagine Dragonzy..." Bass!Will noted. "With a dash of Avenged Sevenfold in there."

"Very apropos, though," Acoustic!Will countered. "Fits them like a glove, right down to the lyrics. I can dig it."

"Were we saying it wasn't dug? I don't call saying it wasn't dug."

[Samantha McManus]

Sam's presence roves over the members of her band as she plays, making sure they're holding up. She makes a mental note to talk with Tereza after it's over.

Soon, she's leading them into the next song.

[Will Stanton]

"They sound good," Bass!Will concluded. "A bit...nervous, maybe? But good. Not bad for a debut showing!"

"Look good, too."

"Well, obviously. They always look good. But not thanks to...

"Oh, lord, no, not thanks to him at all. Entirely secondary. And demeaning, too."

"Yeah, you'd think he'd have the stones to ask to be part of the band rather than part of the...ensemble."

"Absolutely."

An awkward pause.

"So, the acoustic is..."

"Uh, yeah. Other than the strings; they weren't firm enough so I had to restring 'em with some D'Addario phosphies.

"Kinky."

"Shut up."

[Narrator]

After the mediocre performance preceding them, the crowd is ready for some action. And whether it's Sam's mental presence, the music or both, a bit of a mosh pit forms in front of the stage as people are popping off.

[Shane Marsh]

"They're good, but I can tell Tereza's heart isn't in it. That's a point for us," Shane said to Bass!Will.

[Samantha McManus]

Slowing things down a bit, Sam leads the band into a duet between Viv and Tereza.

[Tereza Rozanov]

The duet seems to give Tereza an excuse to focus on Vivienne and settles her a bit through their connection.

[Will Stanton]

"Spoke too soon, bossman -- they're getting into a zone now.

They've got natural talent. If this wasn't show #1, they might've really knocked this out of the park -- and even as is, I think they got past the nerves pretty dang solidly


AcousticWill didn't respond, getting into the zone for his own performance and re-tuning a stubborn string.

[Drake Martin]

"Yeah... Hot, girl on girl love ballad? We're so hosed," Drake said.

[Will Stanton]

"A bold move, playing a piano ballad as a power trio, but it sort of works," Will nodded. "And yes, ha ha ha, lady love."

[Tereza Rozanov]

As the last bits of the duet linger, Tereza makes some adjustments on her guitar and just as things are mellowing a bit, she launches into an opening riff for Sam and Steph to pick up after.

[Will Stanton]

Sam's Will, especially, seemed to enjoy this track, bouncing up and down slightly at the heavy riff and bassline.

[Narrator]

After a kind of break that went along with the occasional hooting and hollering, the crowd is ready to go hard when the final song does and it's bit of an exhilarating feeling even for those who aren't a fledgling war goddess.

[Will Stanton]

And, of course, for those in the crowd who knew there was a fledgling war goddess on stage, and the weaker-willed ones in the audience, the effect was magnified.

Both of the Wills backstage had stopped their sniping and back-and-forth, and had watched Bitchcraft's final performance, staring at the stage from the moment Tereza's voice kicked in until the last chord rang out. The one wrapped around Sam's legs was almost anticipating each kick of the drum, shaking slightly as the music flowed through them. Practically a siren's call, with all three letting the music nearly hypnotize them, taking them away to memories of different places and familiar faces.

[Shane Marsh]

Though strong-willed, Shane's combative nature was a conduit for the Morrigan's aura. When his own reverie ended, he cursed.

"God damn cheating war goddesses... No way to compete with that."

[Samantha McManus]

Sam finishes the song with an exultant whoop, tossing a stick before bringing it down with a clash on the cymbals.

"Thank you! We are Bitchcraft! You've been awesome! We hope you'll be seeing more of us!"

She rises from the drums to depart the stage like a conquering queen, tossing her hair back.

[Will Stanton]

Fuck. Yes. More of that, please"

[Tereza Rozanov]

As the set finishes, Tereza spins her guitar on its sling so it's across her back and takes a bow to the audience and then walks backstage, following a bit in Sam's wake.