ArchivedLogs:Stage Presence

Stage Presence
Dramatis Personae Dakota, Marinov, Nic
In Absentia	2017-02-24 "Tough crowd."
Location <WES> Westchester
Less than an hour from the city proper, Westchester is accessible by train but far enough removed to play home to extensive sweeps of farmland, as well as enough parks, reservoirs and riverland by the Hudson to make people feel like they have gotten away from urban life. It's around 6pm, and Marinov has found a cafe with a karaoke night that's both near to the school, and allows minors in. They sent a text to a few friends to invite them to come out to the place, and have even put their name on the signup sheet in order to encourage others to join in the fun. This evening, the teen wears a sort of punky looking black dress, with a few spikes on the shoulder, and a few chains hanging off of it, with a bit of brass jewellery hanging around their neck and wrists. "I think I might be coming up. Geez, I'm actually nervous, been awhile since I've done a karaoke thing with friends... thanks for coming out here." "You bet, thanks for inviting us out." Nic says with a grin to the felinoid teen "I don't know how well I'm going to do for Karaoke though I haven't really done the public singing thing before." The teen is wearing a navy blue long sleeved shirt with a red stripe going across the center of the chest, and upper arms. The sleeves are rolled up and show light blue cuffs of the shirt he must be wearing underneath. He's wearing dark tan comfy fitting jeans for the lower portion. "I'm sure you'll do fine, and you look amazing in that dress, it's a real different look than I've seen you in before. I'm a little worried I might get skewered if I try to give you a hug after what I'm sure is going to be a great karaoke performance though." Dakota wears a green sleeveless dress which hugs her body and then splays into a pleated skirt reaching her knees. Beneath this, she wears a black tank-top and a pair of dark grey leggings. Her footwear is a pair of calf-length black boots with an inch heel. The girl nods silently along with Nic's words, "Yeah. Thanks for inviting us. Though it's not like I had anything better to do," she replies to Marinov. While her words might be considered a bit apathetic, her tone is friendly. "If you sing as well as you dance, I'm sure you'll be fine." A glance is given to the current karaoker and their attempts to sing. "Probably'll do better than them." Indeed, Marinov has been called up to sing next. "Alright, I'm gonna kill it," says the teen flatly. They start to rush up to the stage, stepping quickly in nervousness. They get up on the stage, and the crowd that was chattering a fair bit in between performances before is starting to hush. The prompter reveals that the teen has chosen 'I'll Make a Man Out of You', from Mulan, mostly because they thought it was funny that it was an option. The music starts up rather eventlessly, and Marinov starts to sing. They are not exceptional, but certainly not bad. One heckler, off to the side of the stage, is quick to boo, but it is easy to ignore. Nicodemus whoops and gives a cheer for Marinov as they head for the stage. He peers at the prompter when it displays the song choice "Make a man?" He shrugs "Interesting choice, that's a fun song." The older teen leans over towards Dakota "By the way, you look incredible as well, nice dress hun." he says with a wink "You know, in case I didn't say so before." Marinov starts singing and the young man shifts to pay attention to the song, when the heckler starts booing he frowns deeply "Always has to be some asshole in the audience doesn't there?..." Calling towards the direction of the booing he says "Hey pal, trying to enjoy the song here!" Although not as loud as Nic, Dakota also cheers for Marinov as they take the microphone. When her boyfriend leans closer to her, she grins with only a small blush. "Yeah, I think I remember you saying that once or twice before." The girl doesn't get the chance to say much more before the song starts. She seems to be familiar with the song they choose, even going so far as to sing some of the lines under her breath. A frown is sent towards the heckler with narrowed eyes. Nic's calling out of them earns the boy a quick glance. Still, she applauds when the felinoid mutant finishes off the song. The booing at the start of the song, even with Nic's protest, only serves to get a few others to pipe up, with jeers like, "Get off the stage!" "This ain't a freak show!" and "No pets allowed!" along with some other booing and comments best left to the imagination. Marinov at first is able to ignore it, but towards the end of the song has suffered a bit of dry mouth, their voice falling, prompting even more rudeness. What would be the triumphant finale is Marinov putting the mic down on the floor of the stage and walking off stiffly back towards their table. While some still harrass, there is a good deal of people who look very uncomfortable, but say nothing, even at the same tables as the hecklers. "Tough crowd," intones Marinov to the others at the table, not quite having sat down. As the booing and jeering gets worse Nicodemus grits his teeth, the glance from Dakota goes unnoticed, and when the heckling gets the worst near when the finale should be starting he abruptly stands up and angrily addresses the crowd "What the hell is wrong with you people? You can't even keep your bigotted faces shut long enough to let her sing her song!?" He flops heavily back into his chair and crosses his arms "Unbelievable..." As Marinov rejoins the table he shakes his head "Right... tough crowd... I'm pissed off..." Looking up towards the teen he continues "Hey you... want to get out of here? I don't really want to share air with them." Letting out a huff the boy's expression softens "I thought it was a nice song, you have a lovely singing voice." Dakota tenses at the shouting, her narrowed gaze still focused on the hecklers. As Nic abruptly stands up, her head turns to him before she follows suite. While she doesn't say anything, she bears quite the angry expression, returning to glare harshly at the other table. Even as Marinov returns, she has not stopped staring at the harassers. She only turns away once the group has gone back to talking amongst themselves and the next person starts to sing. "Let's get out of here," the short girl agrees, grabbing her burgundy jacket from the back of her chair. "Come on," she insists, one hand reaching for Nic's. The other hand rests against her side, palm facing outwards. To the astonishment and surprise of the hecklers, they suddenly find their drinks falling over and spilling into their laps as they begin to argue amongst themselves in regards to who was shaking the table the most. Marinov's expression doesn't change, and they glance about the crowd. "Maybe some fresh air would do a bit of good." Their ears swivel towards the table that gets wobbled suddenly, and their pace hurries up when one of the table sitters look right at them with narrowed eyes, seeming to connect the presence of a mutant with a weird happening. "Spasibo. About the singing voice," says Marinov as they hit the outdoor evening air. Their voice is still flat as they try not to show emotion. "That was a sort of ill-conceived idea," they admit. Nic nods and grabs his coat as well taking his girlfriend's hand as she reaches for his seeing the table wobble and the drinks topple he hurries along with the others outside. Once outside he lets out a long sigh. "Bah... that sucks, totally ruined your nice night out." He gives Dakota's hand a little squeeze then looks to Marinov again "You can still have that hug if you want one, feels like maybe you could use one?" He offers by holding out his free arm to them. Whatever the other party might be thinking as the group of teens leaves the building, Dakota never spares them another glance. Still, there's a small self-satisfied grin on her face when Nic leads her outside. "That was stupid!" she exclaims, albeit in a quiet manner, a frown now on her countenance. "Those people were idiots. You were amazing and -they- should have been the ones made to leave." Her anger seems to defuse when the older teenager squeezes her hand and she pulls herself to stand closer to him. "Yeah. I can give hugs, too...if needed." "I don't think I was amazing," says Marinov, "But I was not as terrible as the crowd reaction. I just figured the place was close enough to the school that they've seen, well, people like me before." They hold themselves a bit anxiously and say, one hand cupping their other elbow, tail flicking in a sort of jittery way. "I think I'm... alright on the hugs front. Spasibo, though." Nic shakes his head "I guess close proximity to Xavier's doesn't exclude people from being assholes... You weren't terrible at all, too good to sing for them." Nodding when he's told the hug isn't necessary he lets his arm go back to his side, the other moving from holding Dakota's hand to around her waist as she moves closer. "Alright, well just lemme know if you change your mind... Still feel like doing something tonight?" "Pozhaluysta," Dakota replies to Marinov. "On dayet..." Trailing off, the short girl furrows her brows and looks askance. "On dayet...On dayet..." She lets out a disgruntled sigh before concluding, "Nice hugs." The fifteen-year old's face reddens with surprise as Nic reaches around her waist, but she does not seem opposed to the gesture as she leans into her boyfriend with a soft smile gracing her lips. Dakota appears momentarily distracted as her eyes follow up Nic's side to his face before returning to the felinoid teen. "They were jerks. I wish I could have done more than make their drinks spill, but I didn't want to get in trouble. Did we still want to get food?" Marinov's ears twitch back and forth slightly when Dakota speaks a bit of Russian to them, eyes extra widened in surprise. "{Are you taking Russian at school?}" They pause a moment and then huff, speaking dryly, "I dunno. I wish I coulda done more, too, but I really don't feel like having the cops called on me today." They cross their arms tightly around their stomach, eyes narrowing in thought. "I sort of want to just hit stuff, that's what I feel like doing tonight. But I think that's... mostly illegal. Food, yeah, I guess..." Nicodemus looks between Dakota and Marinov “Hey guys, I don’t know what you’re saying.” He comments as his companions speak Russian “I sort of gathered that Spasibo is like a thank you, but gotta stick to English or Spanish, or I’m going to be totally lost.” He turns his eyes towards Marinov when they say what they’d like to do tonight. “Well… we could go to the gym and take a crack at a punching bag.” The teen looks down at himself then gestures with his free hand to the others “We’re not exactly dressed for it though… food would be good, anywhere we like to eat?” Dakota looks fairly amused at Marinov's reaction to her Russian and gives them a slight nod. "Ya. Vy tozhe?" Then, looking up at Nic, the girl says, "It's good practice! Doing it in class is just boring. But I don't know Spanish - where'd you learn that?" Her eyes flick down to a level position as she gives a small shrug. "Nothing wrong with hitting things. I'm up for that, but I thought we came out here to get food. I don't know any places - going to a restaurant alone just gets you weird looks. And then it's just plain boring. Sitting there eating alone. It's stupid." “Well, I don't sweat, so I am not worried about ruining my clothes or anything, but… yeah, I don't think the gym is a great idea for other reasons,” says Marinov, a bit awkwardly. They keep their arms crossed, tail still betraying frustration, “I dunno. There’s that greasy spoon not far from the school. I mean, I’ve gone there a few times. Too late to go anywhere properly good. Wherever we go, it’s gotta have carnivore options.” They take a deep breath and then add, “Should have a karaoke night somewhere properly good. It can be fun sometimes…” “Back home” Nic answers to the shorter girl’s question “My parents made sure of it, it’s the language of our heritage or something like that. I guess the Montoya’s go back a long way, and keeping Spanish in the family honours that or something?” He shrugs “I don’t really get that part, but a second language can’t hurt. I’m sure Marinov will be happy to help you practice, but it’ll feel like you’re keeping secrets if you’re doing it when I’m here.” He stays playfully sticking his tongue out at his girlfriend. He turns his attention back to Marinov “Don’t sweat? I guess that’s good… sweating with fur seems like it would be… really unpleasant.” He nods at the suggestion for where to eat “Greasy spoon sounds good to me, and I’m sure they have meat dishes… You know a place that could have a Karaoke night, and is reasonably good?” Dakota returns her boyfriend's silly expression, narrowing her eyes and sticking her own tongue out back at him. "Might be fun to keep you guessing," the girl replies with a wry grin. "You should teach me Spanish. Then -we- can keep secrets, too." Then, directing her gaze to Marinov again, she remarks, "I'm down for eating wherever. Anywhere but the place we were just at. They suck. Never going there again." Despite her definitive tone, the short teenager lets out a sigh with a little shrug before resting her head against Nic's side. "Food first, punching things later. At least I won't have to change for later. Aside from taking off the dress, that is." "Umm, I guess so, yeah. I mean, wet fur isn't actually so bad... I swim sometimes and it's fine," says Marinov, "Though ocelots are a jungle cat and swim, so, maybe it's just some property of the fur." They shake their head to shake out the thought, "I dunno. If I crossed off every place to eat at because they were shitty to me once, I'd... probably eat at like two places." “Water is one thing, but sweat?” Nic shakes his head “Anyway it doesn’t matter.” He sighs when Marinov talks about crossing places off her list “That really sucks… it is hard to condemn this place because the audience was shitty though, anyway definitely not going back tonight. Lead the way to the greasy spoon? I don’t think I’ve been there yet.” Considering Dakota’s request he nods slowly “Well I can try to teach you, but I’m not sure how good of a teacher I’ll be.” The older boy gives the girl on his arm a sideways glance at her last statement “And just what is it you expect to happen later that you’re taking off the dress for hun?” "Punching," Dakota offers in answer to Nic's question. "You do realize I'm wearing a tank-top under it, right? Don't want to tear the dress. It'd get ruined. That'd be a waste." She tilts her head up to look at the boy again. "If you teach me Spanish, I'll teach you Russian. And then you can laugh at how bad -I- am at teaching," the short girl teases. "Wherever the two of you want to go, I'm fine with that." Marinov quickens their step a bit as they start over towards the greasy spoon in question. "Heh, well, I'd suggest that you pick up a bit more Russian before offering to teach it. It's my dad's native language, but even him talking it to me wasn't enough for me to be great at it... Still had to take classes. Spanish is a better language to know in the city, though." They glance towards Nic and nod, "Yeah, well... their management coulda put a stop to that shit, probably, but didn't." Nicodemus chuckles at Dakota’s answer “Punching huh? Well that sounds good. And of course I don’t know you have a tanktop on under there, a gentleman doesn’t look down his date’s dress.” The teen says teasingly to his girlfriend, then steps quickly to keep up with Marinov. “I guess Spanish is probably is more commonly spoken, any language is an asset though, least that’s what mom says.” He sighs and nods at Marinov’s comment “Yes that’s true the management definitely could have done something at least… well like you said we’ll have to find a decent place to have a good Karaoke night.” "Well, I'd only teach him the important things," Dakota informs Marinov. "Like {You are the best} and {You look amazing} and stuff," she says with a grin and a wink at the felinoid teen. "And, yes, punching!" the short girl replies to Nic with an indignant huff. "And how would I know? You're always having to look down at me." She hastens her pace as well, having to compensate for her shorter legs to keep up with the other two. "Well, those are pretty important phrases from a boyfriend, I guess, along with {I promise to give you cake}," remarks Marinov, nodding their head slowly. "I don't really have anything to change into for punching stuff, so even though I really really want to, well... maybe punching's not for today. I should think about practicality more, you know, wear things that you can run and climb and punch in." Nicodemus eyes Dakota suspiciously when she explains she’ll only teach him the important things “You’re not going to teach me to say weird embarrassing things are you?” Peering down at the shorter girl as she catches up he shrugs his shoulders “Well just because you’re not as tall as me doesn’t mean I’m always staring down your shirt.” He pokes his tongue out at her “That’s just once in a while.” He nods agreeing with Marinov “Yeah I don’t have anything to change into either, well… unless we go to my gym then I have some stuff in my locker, but yeah another time for punching, and climbing? Climbing sounds pretty fun actually, for next time. How far is this greasy place?” "Once in awhile?!" Dakota seems somewhat amused as she playfully gives Nic a very gentle shove with her hands. "I thought you said you were a gentleman!" Then, to both of the other teens, "I'm not saying what I'm wearing underneath is ideal. Just saying that it could be done. Anyways, I'm a little too hungry to punch right now." She narrows her eyes, squinting at an establishment not too far away from where they are. "Is that the place?" "Yeah, that's the place," says Marinov, their hands searching for a moment for pockets to dig into, and then upon finding none, they cross their arms. "Yeah, next time. Climbing. I don't know what to climb that's like... climbable, you know? Anyways. Sausages." Nic laughs as he’s shoved, and takes a small step to the side to keep his balance. “Well technically I implied it, but hey, nobody’s perfect right? Even gentlemen can show moments of weakness.” He looks towards Marinov and shrugs his shoulders “I dunno, any gyms around here that are mutant friendly and have a climbing wall?” As they reach the greasy spoon Nic steps to open the door for his companions “Ladies first?”