Gavriel wasn't exactly surprised when Evie said she had thought her bandmate might break something upon entering jokingly or not but that was probably because he'd already met Gabrielle. Either way sharing the same studio with them was most likely going to be...interesting. He just hoped it would be for the better rather than the worse. He was guessing that Daisuke would probably have preferred if they had the studio to themselves since he didn't really strike him as the kind of guy who liked having a lot of people around but Gavriel himself didn't especially mind either way, if anything he liked having people around him with that constant buzz of energy but he knew good and well sharing a studio with another group could potentially cause problems. "Well, let's count ourselves lucky then." He replied, jestingly.

He nodded at the confirmation that she was indeed the drummer. He had been fairly certain she was but not quite completely sure. She was pretty small but there were loads of scrawny male drummers out there so he saw no reason why smaller women couldn't be drummers as well. When she tried to take a guess at his and Dai's roles he smiled. "Close," He replied, a bit surprised by her accuracy. "I'm the vocalist but I do also play guitar and you were right about Dai, he is our drummer." He gestured toward the other man who nodded. Gavriel again wondered if he might be able to get Akira to drop by if she didn't have anything to do. He knew she was curious about the album so he figured she might like to stop by the studio at least for a little while and so quickly typed her out a quick text asking if she was busy.

"I don't usually see too many female drummers in the metal scene so it's always nice to meet one." Dai told Evie.

So far Gavriel thought the other group seemed fairly friendly - both Evie and Gabrielle certainly were however the bassist seemed shy and the guitarist hadn't really seemed like he had wanted to talk to anybody at all and had even looked uncomfortable with his own bandmate which Gavriel found somewhat strange; when he glanced over toward the others he saw that both he and the bassist had vanished which he didn't find too surprising.






Kai listened as the two bands prattled on with small-talk. He supposed it was a good idea to get to know the people they would be sharing the studio with but he didn't think it was truly necessary to continue speaking to them beyond the necessary pleasantries. The newcomer Vivi was already looking for a reason to get out of the room and he was inclined to follow them since there was really no reason to continue to stay. The front woman went on saying something about waking up in Arouba and Marx and Kai had to suppress the urge to sigh in exasperation before silently following after the bassist, bearing in mind the front woman's directions.

Sure enough, there was the room right where Gabrielle had said it should be and he quickly ducked inside. The room itself was quite average, reasonably sized, and clean which was a plus. He had recorded in everything from garages and basements to proper studios of varying quality and he wasn't overly impressed nor was he immensely disappointed. He set his guitar case down near a few of the other instruments already there. Kai didn't bother disturbing the bassist as they probably didn't really need or want any help from him so he instead busied himself by looking over the recording area and memorizing where things were within the studio although he kept in mind that some of it was likely going to be susceptible to change once the others were inside and getting to work which usually meant putting things where they were convenient at the time. He didn't know when Gabrielle or Evie would be done talking with the other group however he had the feeling that it had the potential to be a while.

More small talk? Well, I ain't gonna complain, I suppose-- Gabriel figured there wasn't much wrong with getting to know the folks they'd be sharing a studio with. And anyway, Gabrielle liked meeting people! Unless those people were assholes. Actually, even then, she liked meetin' 'em, since that meant she got to put an asshole in their place, and that was always nice. Hell, Vivi, their newest addition to the revolving door of various faces and names that was Gabrielle's band, was here 'cause Gabrielle had dragged the previous bassist out of their rehearsal space by the ear for, you guessed it, bein' an asshole. Puttin' assholes in their places was easily in her top five hobbies. She wasn't sure what the other four were, but that was definitely up there.

Then again, she wasn't sure how that was relevant to this at all. Nobody here was an asshole. Except K. K was totally an asshole. But the tolerable type, y'know? Not too bad. Way too uptight for his own good, but that wasn't no business of Gabrielle's. Dude could play and didn't start shit, that was enough for her.

Wait, this still wasn't relevant to anything, was it? Dammit, every fucking time she was stuck trading little bits of small talk with somebody, her brain went to every conceivable place. Like the other day, she'd been in the middle of chatting a bit with the lady bagging her groceries, and right then and there, Gabrielle had totally solved the issue of the unified field theory. No no, seriously, bear with her on this one. So you know that whole thing about putting the cat in the box and then the cat's both dead and alive or whatever? Which is actually morbid as hell for a 'thought experiment', if you really think about it, physicists are some pretty fucked up folks--

... goddammit.

Reluctantly but firmly, Gabrielle forced herself to stick with what was going on around her, which was always difficult when she wasn't actually moving or doing anything. She listened as Oliver, the guitarist, talked about their band name, mentioned something about a video game (Gabrielle didn't know much about those except that playing them turned you into some sort of psychopath), and then asked her how long her band had been together. She proudly puffed her chest out, grinning, and answered, "Band's been a thing for nearly two years now." Then, deflating somewhat, she paused, and then added, "Though, this lineup..." She rubbed at her chin thoughtfully, and then finished, "One or two months, I reckon."







Farah hadn't been lying when she'd said she knew when to hang back and let things play out; with Vivi having headed into his band's little nook of the studio (and the other guitarist having followed suite-- kinda amused her that two so reticent folks had ended up in a band with two so... totally not reticent folks), she was left to herself. She watched the others exchange animated words-- the tall burly dude was chatting with the short burly lady, and the drummer of the other band was doing much the same with the other two members of Azmodan (Azmodanians? Azmodanese? Azmodanites?).

Actually, the drummer didn't look all that enthused with the conversation. I mean, Farah'd gathered by now that he wasn't much more of a social dynamo than that bassist, Vivi, but she sure got the notion that he preferred to be doing something else, and she could guess what that was.

She stepped up to where he stood beside the vocalist, a little detached from the conversation the other man was having with the other band's drummer. "Want to head back in?" she suggested, nodding her head vaguely towards their room of the studio. "Maybe get a head start on some of these basslines I've got for your drum parts."





Vivi gave a start as she heard somebody step into the studio after her-- she really didn't need to look, it was hardly up in the air who had decided to detach themselves from the conversations in the hallway to come here, but still, she glanced over to find Kai walking in. He didn't waste much time before setting to taking stock of the studio, so Vivi turned away again, setting her bass down against one corner of the room before moving towards where her set-up had been... well, set up. There was a chair, a stool really, in front of where her stuff was, so she plopped down on it and dug around in her pocket for her phone.

Call her spoiled, but hey, she sure did love being able to scour the whole of the internet from the palm of her hand. Mostly she used it to check up on her blogs, see if there were any new comments, any new arguments to be had, though she probably shoulda known better; she was way too easily drawn into the dreaded 'internet argument', and it tended to ruin her mood for hours at a time. Not exactly something she needed to deal with now, in the studio, but fortunately, there was nobody looking for a fight this time. She flicked through some new comments, replied to a couple, and then shoved her phone back into her pocket to wait for Gabrielle and Evie to get finished with chatting.

She frowned. I'm gonna be waiting a while.

"No, there aren't very many of us." Evelyn started, then seemed to think about it. There probably were a lot of female drummers, she just hadn't seen very many in popular bands. "I haven't met them, at least." She added. As she beheld the man in front of her she noticed that he looked toward the members of her own band. Two of them had left and it wouldn't strike her as surprising if Vivi came off as awkward and shy. Which he was. Contemplating on commenting on it, Evie stood and watched the rest of the gathering talk to each other. Quietly she decided not to say anything about Vivi. She figured that Gavriel might want a chance to get his own impression from each member, instead of hearing her talk about them. "Anyway," Evie put a hand on Gavriel's shoulder and flashed Daisuke and Farah a grin as they turned and walked into the room they'd come from. "I'm sure we'll get to talk later, I better report for duty." She finished with a wink and a wave of her hand, turning around and heading for the room Vivi and Kai were in. Only the Gods would know when Gabrielle would join them.

Kai and Vivi were both in there, and it was a stark contrast to what had just been going on. Silent as the grave. Vivi had just put her phone back in her pocket as Evie came in and Kai was fiddling about with something and looked around the room. For a moment she just stood there and looked at the two of them, hating how awkward this silence was. "We're not forbidden to talk to one another, you guys know that right?" She attempted in a typically Evie sort of manner. "Even though it can be hard to get a word in when Gabby starts." And just as the words had left her mouth, she froze and went pale. "Don't ever tell her I called her Gabby."

---

He had done his very best. His very, absolute best. Still, he found it difficult to keep up with this phenomenon that was Gabrielle. This force of nature. When she finally landed and answered his question, he nodded and smiled. "I see." Oliver smiled. "Which is the newest member then? It seems like you and... Evie, was it? It seems like you have known each other for a little while longer than the rest." Given that they had only been a band for a few months, it might be hard to pick out the newest member. Azmodan wasn't the original lineup either, so he could kind of relate to how it was. Now he was just as excited to hear them play as he was to get working on his own stuff.

Dai nodded, having not seen or met very many of them either. He didn't mind more or less being on the sidelines but he was glad when Farah came and asked him if he'd like to get a headstart on the basslines she had in mind. He would rather be working on music than more or less just listening to Gavriel and the other drummer talk and he was curious to see what Farah had in mind since he had never worked with her before. "Sounds good." He said, happy to leave the chatting to Gavriel and turned to head back into the room. He glanced back just in time to see Evie put a hand on Gavriel's shoulder and then flash him and Farah a smile. Gavriel smiled back at Evelyn with thinly veiled flirtation. Dai had to refrain from sighing as he offered the other drummer a small smile and a wave in response. As his sister had said on one occasion, Gavriel was somewhat what one might call incorrigible - he had already seen him silently appreciating their new bassist earlier that morning, now it was the other band's drummer. Daisuke just hoped that Gavriel would use his common sense as he stepped into the room and prepared to get to work.





Gavriel gave Evie a bright smile in return, just faintly flirtatious. He knew he was starting to edge toward a line that he probably should stay away from but he couldn't help himself. Anyway, he figured she probably wanted to get started soon and talk with her own bandmates although neither of them had appeared terribly talkative, at least when he had seen them whereas he got the impression that Gabrielle could be talking with Oliver for a while. "I'll see you around." He said as she departed to go see to her other bandmates and get to work or at least be ready to work. He was about to head back into their own room and see what Daisuke and Farah were up to since he should probably be doing the same when his phone dinged in his pocket, notifying him of a received text. When he held up the screen he was pleased to see it was from Akira, informing him that she wasn't busy. That was good news for him, it meant he could probably get something to eat without having to leave the studio as he really didn't want to delve out into the lovely Los Angeles morning traffic. He sent her another text asking if she could bring him by something to eat and then waited which only took probably a few moments in total to receive. Apparently she needed to head out anyways because she had something she wanted to pick up for her next project and so it wouldn't be any trouble to her to swing by. He was in luck today, he had hoped she would be more or less free - or at least curious enough to be able to carve out a little time to come drop by. He smiled and pocketed his phone after sending her his thanks before he stepped back into the room where Dai and Farah were probably already working on some basslines.





Kai turned as Evelyn entered the room and then turned back to the recording area he was inspecting. Apparently she didn't care for the lack of conversation in the room which did not come as a surprise for him, they struck him as one of those people who always needed to fill the silence. Vivi had seemed perfectly inclined to let them both keep to themselves which Kai had appreciated as he wasn't really all that good at striking up conversations and he really didn't know what he would say to the bassist so he had been more than content to let them do whatever on their phone. Besides, perhaps the bassist had been doing something rather important that he didn't want disturbed. He knew she was probably poking a bit of fun at him and Vivi with what she said but he simply nodded once in response to her question and then smiled faintly when the realization that Evelyn had called Gabrielle Gabby set in, more he smiled because she could in fact sometimes be called gabby, although not so much as a name as perhaps the adjective. He wasn't sure why she would be so frightened if the frontwoman had heard the nickname if it wasn't for that reason considering the fact that she had paled significantly but then again he supposed that some people might really not care for nicknames and Gabrielle didn't seem the type to not voice her opinion on a matter. He could understand why nicknames could come in handy for someone with a longer name however for persons such as himself with such short names he saw no purpose in them. He thought it reasonable enough that the frontwoman have a nickname however he had never heard her referred to as anything but her first name so he assumed that was her preference. "Sworn to secrecy." He replied after recomposing himself and heading back over to his guitar case as though nothing had struck him as amusing mere moments before.

Farah followed the drummer into their little nook of the studio, absent-mindedly considering some of the materiel she'd come up with for Azmodan's tracks. One of the studio's sound engineers had stepped into the control room while she'd been out-- must have been in the recording area itself when they'd come through-- and she shot a polite smile and a monosyllabic greeting her way as she entered. The other woman reciprocated in kind but otherwise neither dawdled nor gave Farah cause to dawdle as she grabbed her bass where she'd left it and continued with the drummer into the recording room.

She whittled away a few moments checking over equipment and familiarising herself with the studio's set up before she plopped down on a stool next to her set up and began hooking up her bass. Tune up, tinker with the equipment a bit, warm up, the usual shit-- she even decided to be a bit cheeky and throw in just a little showboating, some sweeping and high-speed runs, just to indulge herself a bit. And once she was finished with that (crucial) step, she turned to face the drummer.

"Alright," she drawled. "Want to just jam through 'em a bit?"






Out in the hallway, where Gabrielle and Oliver were still chatting away, most everybody else had vanished into their respective band's recording space-- but Gabrielle certainly hadn't noticed yet. She tapped her chin thoughtfully before musing, "Yeah, now you mention it, pretty sure E's been 'round the longest. Gotta be, what, a few months now? K and V pretty much threw in 'round the same time, though. Our last bassist was an asshole and the guitarist I had before K vanished under 'mysterious circumstances'--" She threw in the scare quotes with her fingers for added effect, shaking her head ruefully. "Speaking of which, hey, I--"

She turned in search of one of her bandmates, only to find the hallway derelict of anybody but the two band leaders. She blinked, scratched the shaven bristles of her hair, and said, "Well, either I've been hallucinatin' a whole lotta folks, or it's time to head into the studio. Gonna go with the latter. Nice meetin' you, O!" She gave him an enthusiastic slap on the back that may well have broken a smaller person clean in half, before gallivanting off.

Vivi had only just shot a small smile Evie's way, about to murmur something to the tune of 'Oughta know better than to play nicknames with Gabrielle' when the door slammed open like a tank firing its main cannon and she damn near had a heart attack. Naturally, it wasn't a tank firing its main cannon, but the source was liable to be just as destructive: Gabrielle came marching into the room with her guitar in tow, loudly proclaiming, "Sorry for the wait! 'nough fuckin' round though, it's time to lay this shit down. Y'all know what you gotta do, so let's get this done quick 'n fast. Y'know, like pretty much all our songs. Quick 'n fast. Get it?" She grinned broadly at the lot of them, quite pleased with herself.

He wasn't at all sure how he was supposed to react to the statement about their previous guitarist. Oliver didn't know Gabrielle well enough to know if she was joking or not. He may never get to know her that well. Perhaps no one ever would. As he was given room to think he made a mental note to always prepare himself for a conversation with Gabrielle. One had to do that in order to keep up. Even thinking about that had cost him valuable time in which he should have listened, but the woman in front of him had trailed off for a brief moment. Oliver raised an eyebrow, surprised. Partially by the fact that she had paused, but also by the fact that he too had not really noticed people leaving them. This prompted Oliver to look at his watch just to keep track of time. He wanted to know if he was now suddenly busy. It wasn't so bad. Thankfully, they had been reasonable and gathered at the studio early.

Oliver blinked and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think we've been abandoned." He said and shrugged. Seemingly, the rest of the respective groups were ready to start working and that only inspired him to get going as well. Farah seemed very nice and he looked forward to working with her. Before rushing off, Gabrielle slapped him on the back. "Likewise!" Was what Oliver managed to get out. The slap had moved him. Physically. Gabrielle had fucking slapped him on the back and he'd moved from it. He wasn't used to that. Especially not from women, so he stood there for a few moments looking confused before snapping out of it. Oliver then turned around, shaking his head but still wondering about this thing that was Gabrielle. He stepped into their part of the studio and began taking out a guitar of its case. "Did someone say 'jam'?" He asked with a smile.

---

I'm going to figure this man out sometime. She thought to herself and sighed almost inaudibly. Kai wasn't easy to get close to and that was the first thing Evie wanted to get. She wanted the best for everyone else than herself. Still, he was the only one who got to say anything to her before Gabrielle slammed the door open. Evie's eyes had just fixed themselves on Vivi's and it had seemed that the bassist was about to say something. Evie visibly flinched where she stood. "Fuck's sake, Gabrielle." Her British accent filled the room. "You're going to be the death of me someday, do you know that?" She had been so busy getting her heart rate under control that she'd forgotten to laugh at the frontwoman's joke. "I could do with something fast, if you're game." Evelyn took her seat behind the drums and twirled on the chair a few times, shaking her hands to warm them up and straightening her back.

She looked at her bandmates and smiled, waiting for everyone to get ready. She figured that jamming a track or two would be good, just go get the juices flowing. When everyone had found their instrument, she nodded and counted them in.

Daisuke passed a sound engineer as he made his way back into the room, offering them a nod of greeting. He plucked his sticks off of a chair as he walked back into the recording room where his drum kit awaited, absentmindedly twirling a stick between his fingers as he went. He was curious about Farah's style and he silently tried to recall what he had heard about her but for some reason he couldn't quite remember. Had Oliver mentioned anything? He glanced at Farah, half-contemplating asking her about it before he decided not to. He supposed he could just be surprised as he continued on making sure to check and ensure everything was in proper order before he started warming up - nothing too fancy just to get started but gradually he ended up just playing around and having fun with it as he always did which naturally led to some showy stuff.

Farah also started warming up around the same time, throwing in some sweeping and high-speed runs just for kicks as it looked like. He stopped for a moment and listened, curious to see what her style was all about. He didn't really know anything about Farah other than that she was tall - taller than him even - which was unusual, he wasn't sure he had ever met a woman that was taller than him before (Hell, she was even taller than Oliver which was really saying something) and that she had to play pretty good bass, otherwise they wouldn't have hired them on for the job. She also seemed fairly quiet and sensible which he thought would make working with her a bit easier however this was all pretty much from first impressions so she could be completely different once they started on the album. She certainly seemed more than capable though just based on her warm up which didn't come as a surprise to him in the least. He was looking forward to seeing what all she had in mind so far. "Sure, sounds good." He told Farah when she finished her warm up and then he began counting them in.





Gavriel returned to the room and upon finding that both Farah and Dai were busy he hurried back to his new guitar and started warming up so that he would be ready to go whenever need be as he didn't really much consider himself to be one for procrastination - at least where music was concerned. When Oliver suddenly reappeared through the door, Gavriel was somewhat surprised he had to admit. He'd had a feeling that Oliver was going to be detained for at least a while longer on the account of one Gabrielle Santamaria and her whirlwind of a conversation, but he had returned to them at long last. Okay, he had been busy chatting too so maybe that was a bit dramatic but hey - it was probably a good idea to get to know the people they'd be sharing the studio with at least a little so it probably wasn't really time wasted but it'd be nice to get started on some things. "Ah, you're back." He said cheerily, and then nodded toward where the other two were playing. "I do believe so." He replied to Oliver as the other man fetched his guitar, seemingly eager to get started. Gavriel shifted his own guitar slightly as he looked back toward where Farah and Dai were currently jamming. "Should we go see what they're up to?" He asked, curious as to see how they were working together so far.





Kai had just plucked his guitar out of it's case and begun the process of ensuring that it was properly in tune when suddenly a great force came barreling into the room, sending the door crashing into the wall with a sound like that of an explosion of some sort. Or, at least it rattled the walls like one. Kai gave a start, relieved that he had bothered to use the strap on his guitar otherwise it undoubtedly would have hit the ground. He tried not to visibly sigh - whether in relief or exasperation or both he wasn't entirely sure - when he saw that it was simply Gabrielle marching purposefully into the room. He wasn't the only one who had been alarmed by Gabrielle's entrance, both Vivi and Evie appeared equally startled. He wondered if Gabrielle did these things often, surely eventually she had to settle down? He then turned his attention back to his guitar and the process of carefully tuning it while the front woman spoke animatedly to the others. Apparently she'd had enough fucking around. He wasn't sure if her 'quick 'n fast' remark was supposed to be funny or not and therefore he didn't laugh, instead he more or less shrugged it off and plugged in his Ibanez, proceeding to get to work warming up so he'd be fully prepared when everyone else was.

Which ended up being sooner rather than later since the drummer went right to work warming up seemingly immediately. He then waited quietly until everyone else was prepared and then jumped in once they were counted in.

"Good jam, y'all."

It was evening by the time Gabrielle decided their first day in the studio was done with-- they hadn't laid down any final tracks for the album, but Gabrielle figured that was fine, y'know? Spend a day just gettin' accustomed to the studio and gettin' in the groove of the album. That was how it'd been most of the time in Dissent; hell, half the time they'd spent in the recording studio had been spent less on recording and more on drinking and being assholes. She wasn't about to institute a similar policy now-- a lot had changed in the seven years since her first band had gone its separate ways-- but she didn't mind if they weren't 100% business all the time. That was just boring.

In fact... As she knelt down, snapping shut the clasps on her guitar case two at a time, she glanced up at the others, and said, "Hey, we should grab drinks or something. Celebrate our first day in the studio!" She looked at Vivi in particular, who blinked like a deer caught in headlights before answering, "Uh, I uh, I think I oughta head home, I gotta... check my..."

"Yeah, yeah, go and check on your borgs or whatever--"

"Blogs."

"-- yeah, those." Gabrielle glanced at the other two, and added, "Well, if he ain't in, how 'bout you two? Don't make me go out drinkin' alone, that's just sad."

How it felt to be back in the studio, jamming again, was indescribable. It only confirmed Oliver in his belief that playing music was what he was born to do. And it was so exciting having someone new in the band, playing with them. He was impressed. Farah was good. She fit in well. That was his first impression. He was sure that their time in the studio could produce something good. But that was Oliver for you. Optimistic and willing to work. When they stopped playing he set his guitar down and set his amplifier on standby to let the tubes cool. "Well..." His voice filled the room as the cymbals died. There was a smile plastered on his face. "That wasn't half bad." Oliver's face revealed that that was an understatement. Sense of time was lost, but that didn't bother him. It had been spent in a good way. He looked around at Dai, Farah and Gavriel. "What do you think?" It was an open question and he genuinely wanted to know what everyone thought. If they were all up for it, drinks didn't sound so bad. He was sure at least Gavriel would want to go.

---

"Fuck. Yes. Gabrielle!" The excitement still pulsed through her veins, and the suggestion her singer had put forth was perfect. Evelyn had made sure to say her full name though, and not use one of her many nicknames for the woman. For the briefest of moments, a sad expression appeared on her face at the thought of Gabrielle never getting to hear all those wonderful nicknames. She snapped out of it quickly and re-entered the conversation. "Aw, you're not coming Vivi?" Being Evelyn King, she wanted them all to go out and have fun. "The borgs won't go anywhere." She added, glancing at Gabrielle, suppressing a laugh. She put her drumsticks on the snare drum and disabled the snare. "What about you, Kai?" Whether he wanted to go or not, she wasn't sure. At all. Actually, she leaned towards him not wanting to go. It would be an eventful evening with Gabrielle, as it always was.

Dai leaned back slightly and let the cymbals die down, still twirling a stick as he looked to the others. He knew he at least felt good about how today had gone. He had arrived somewhat nervous, his last project having been only a bit of piano work for a friend's group and he hadn't done too many albums prior to that. He felt significantly more relaxed now, getting an idea of how everyone worked in the studio, including Farah which was something else he had been a little concerned about - how they were going to work together. He was relieved that they seemed to work so well together, she seemed to fit into Azmodan really well so far and he was looking forward to continuing to work with them. He was also feeling better about his own capabilities since he hadn't done so many albums before. Oliver was grinning as he told them that they hadn't done half bad while Gavriel went about setting his new guitar down and laughed. "Not half bad." The vocalist repeated, nodding. "I think we're onto something with what we have. I say we head out for a couple of drinks, I think we deserve it." As usual he was out to have a good time.


Gavriel smiled and stretching out his long, lean legs as he took his seat again. He thought the day had gone well - Farah was definitely going to work out and he was liking some of the ideas they had going so far for the album. It would be nice to go out for the night too - they hadn't been out as a group in a little while and Gavriel thought it would be fun to hang out for a while and it would probably be a good way to get to know Farah too - that is, if she wanted to go.

"Are you trying to be a bad influence again, Gavriel?" Came a teasing voice from the door. Gavriel looked up, somewhat alarmed to find a young woman standing in the doorway. Her hair was cut short with little blue sections on each side of her face on the bottom layer of her hair and she had bright, almond shaped dark eyes. Her combat boots were splattered with various colors of paint though her dark skirt was clean as was the oversized sweater she wore and what looked to be a sketchbook peeked out from the flap of her satchel.

"Me? Never." The vocalist replied, feigning offense as he rose to his feet however that lasted mere seconds before a bright grin lit his face as he crossed the room and swiftly swept the intruder into a hug. "Kira, my angel, you have returned." He said, which made her laugh. She smiled and patted him on the shoulder as he released her and stepped back to face the others.

She offered a wave and a greeting to them before turning back to Gavriel, still smiling. "I take it today went well?" Kira asked, sounding hopeful as she glanced out at the group shortly before Daisuke came and embraced her as well and confirmed that he thought that the day had gone well.

"How are your monsters?" Gavriel inquired, looking faintly amused.

"Oh, quite well. Thank you." She replied, looking quite pleased that he had thought to ask. He smiled at the memory that had prompted the question - he had asked her if she might like to stay at the studio a while after she had brought him breakfast as he hadn't really thought that Oliver would mind. She had shaken her head and sighed, "I'd love to but I'm afraid I can't. My monsters need me." And with that she had stepped back outside and disappeared into the morning gloom of the parking lot. Gavriel had had to text her later to find out what exactly she had meant by that but he supposed that was just like Kira - she had always reminded him a little of a hummingbird always flitting to and fro. Apparently the theme of one of her projects was angels and demons - hence the monsters that she was drawing and painting. Gavriel had to thank the ever difficult lord of the stars for being such a massive piece - and pain in the ass - because Kira had run out one of her highlight colors and therefore had needed to leave her apartment anyway so bringing him something to eat hadn't been any trouble to her. He was glad that she had come back, he had been hoping she would since he hadn't seen her in quite some time.

When he looked back to his bandmates he suddenly realized that Kira and Farah had yet to be introduced. "Oh, right. You two haven't met. Farah, this is Akira. She's Daisuke's sister. Kira, this is Farah. She's playing bass for us now." Gavriel said, gesturing to each person in turn. Kira smiled up at the towering bassist. "Nice to meet you." She said, warmly.





Kai was closing the last of the snaps on his guitar case when Gabrielle said they should head out for a couple of drinks. He didn't especially care for the idea, if he wanted to drink he thought he would probably prefer to drink in the peace and quiet of his own home. It seemed that Vivi wasn't terribly excited about the idea either, saying that they needed to check their blogs however Gabrielle seemed to think they were in an episode of Star Wars and they needed to check on their borgs. Kai picked up their case and glanced at Evelyn who seemed to be trying to persuade them all to go. He really wasn't in the mood to be in a noisy bar surrounded by drunken fools. "I should probably just be heading back home." He told them, thinking of the last time he had gone to a bar. He had come back out with a split lip and several bruises because he had made the mistake of telling the man perhaps two inches away from him at the bar that what he was saying was both wrong and stupid. Which it had been and Kai hadn't been able to help himself because the fool man seemed to be shouting it for the whole bar - if not the whole world to hear. Kai didn't really want a potential repeat of last time, so he thought it would probably be best to try to avoid putting himself in a similar situation.

Well, this was nothing if not different.

Of course, Farah had known this job would be quite a departure from her usual fare-- no fusion, no prog-rock, no jazz, certainly no death metal. She'd made a point of trying to venture out of her comfort zone time and again throughout her professional career, but straight up heavy metal was unfamiliar territory. She wasn't exactly averse to it, for what it was worth, though there was a very distinct feel to the music that she wasn't quite accustomed to. Perhaps that bled through in the bass lines she'd come up with for this practise-- perhaps they brought too much of that jazz swing into the mix, or came in with too much of the hard-hitting aggression of her work with technical death metal groups.

I'll continue to review those lines, she figured silently. If nothing else, today was enlightening-- listening to the rough tracks that had been sent to her had been enough to get an idea of the music and even write up some rough tracks of her own, but actually playing the music along with the band, that was what it took to really know what the music needed, what she needed to contribute. She had a better idea of that now.

At least the others seemed content. "What do you think?" the burly guitarist queried, looking not only at Farah but at the other two as well, and she gave a placid smile. "I certainly have a clearer picture of the music and where the bass ought to fit into it now," she answered, although only after the other two had offered their thoughts. Drinks, on the other hand, were a whole other matter; nothing against the lot of them, of course, but Farah was here to work with them, not drink with them, so she was already set on politely declining when, wouldn't you know it, yet another new face showed up. She might have feared that yet another band had booked this studio-- two was odd but workable, three was pushing it-- but it quickly became apparent this woman was more of a... a friend of the band, she supposed. Farah merely hung back and let the woman and the band exchange a few words until the pale man, the singer, saw fit to draw her in by way of introduction.

"Farah, this is Akira," he explained. "She's Daisuke's sister. Akira, this is Farah. She's playing bass for us now." The woman cast a friendly smile her way, and Farah answered in kind as she held out a hand-- a standard greeting, one that had taken a little getting used to but had since become second nature. "Charmed," she drawled, before glancing up at the rest of the band. "Now then, I think I ought to head back to my hotel room-- see what I should tweak in light of this little jam. If we're about finished here... ?" She trailed off, letting the question imply itself.







There was little in the way of implications happening in the other band's studio space, however-- Gabrielle Santamaria did not traffic in implications, not when she could simply let the whole world know, thoroughly and unequivocally, just what she was thinking. And in fact, she did just that, as she reared her head back and gave a hearty, rasping laugh. "Tryin' to get this guy to do anything social!" She gave another chuckle, shaking her head ruefully as she reached over to where she'd left her jacket slung over a nearby chair. She shrugged it on, and added, "I admire your optimism, E, but it's a lost cause. It's like tryin' to get Vivi off that phone of his for more than a minute-- you might as well just lop his hands off!"

Vivi gave a weak chuckle-- y'know, the sort of chuckle that says 'I'm pretty sure that was a joke, but I actually couldn't put it past you to do that, so please be a merciful deity?'-- and said, "Well, uh, please don't do that. I need 'em to drive back home. And play bass."

"Aw," Gabrielle waved a hand in dismissal. "Nonsense. You'd just have to learn to play slap bass with your stumps." She shooed the bassist on out, and then turned back to Evie, still all grins and laughter. "Guess it's just me 'n you, E!" She reached a frighteningly strong arm out to latch around Evie's shoulders in what would have been a friendly gesture if not for the fact that it was a hair away from being a chokehold. "I know this real great bar around-- well, actually, I don't know any bars 'round these parts. We'll just have to find one!"

Oliver wasn't exactly surprised by the suggestion Gavriel came with. Not that he constantly thought that way about his bandmate, but it would be just like him to be the first to suggest they go out for drinks. And Oliver agreed. But before he could voice his willingness to come along, someone interrupted them. It was good timing though and he had a good feeling with the band. He looked over to find Kira standing in the door and a bright smile appeared on his face. They were talking about her sketches and Oliver reminded himself to ask about that later. Firstly, he wanted to wrap her in a big hug. Gavriel kindly introduced Kira to their new bassist and he was again glad to find Farah so polite and kind. He'd set down his guitar and run his fingers through his hair before he approached. "Kira!" He said in his deep voice, smiling. "It's been much too long." And then his much larger frame wrapped the smaller girl into a tight hug.

He didn't hear Farah's full sentence behind him, but understood that she wasn't coming with them for drinks. He released Kira and let a hand rest on her shoulder as he turned to the bassist. "Well, if you'd like to come along another time, the offer remains." Oliver said. He could understand if she felt like staying home instead of coming with them. "Anyway, Kira. How have you been?"



Evelyn shrugged and tilted her head slightly, pouting at Kai. She wished that he would come along with them and have some fun, but he really seemed like that was something he would never do. Evelyn decided to leave him alone and stop pestering him since she kind of got the message from the body language. She merely chuckled at Gabrielle's comment about cutting Vivi's hands off. It was insane, but it was Gabrielle. What followed was actually pretty funny though, up until Evelyn got that mental picture in her head. Stumps. Instantly she decided that she hated that word.
When Gabrielle wrapped her arm around her, she tried not to flinch, but failed. When it was clear she wasn't in danger, she relaxed a little and nodded. "I'm sure we can sniff up some alcohol, mate." She sounded certain, figuring that they would find plenty of bars around.

"Hey, do you think the other band's going out too? There's one or two of them in there I think are up for some drinking..." The words were more a case of Evelyn thinking out loud, but now she had said it and so expected an answer. It had been a long time since she last got drunk. Part of her wanted to get drunk and do something stupid, but another part didn't. They had to work, after all.

Kira shook hands and exchanged greetings with Farah and no sooner did she turn around than she heard Oliver's deep, rumbling voice and she found herself enveloped in yet another hug. She looked up slightly and saw only their broad chest and couldn't help but think to herself now that the entire band was overrun by giants. Oliver and Farah were certainly over six feet in height, as was Dai and even Gavriel came in at about six foot. "It's good to see you again, Oliver." She told him as he released her.



Daisuke listened as Farah more or less told them that she wouldn't be joining them on their little trip to the bar. He was glad that Farah felt like she had a better understanding of the music now though and while he thought it might be nice for them all to get to know her over a few drinks and maybe talk about some of things they had gone over today he could understand her wanting things to be a little more professional - or just simply not wanting to go in preference of staying in as there had been plenty of times he had opted out of such outings himself as sometimes he just didn't feel up to going out that night.



Gavriel looked slightly disappointed to hear that Farah wouldn't be joining them, however he smiled anyway and nodded his agreement with Oliver's offer for her to come join them anytime if she wanted to, although he sort of had the feeling that she was more one to keep to herself. To each their own. He thought and then turned back to Kira as Oliver asked her how she had been. They had talked only briefly today but it had nice getting to see her again as he hadn't seen her in a while before this morning.

"I'm good." She told him, nodding. "Busy, but good. How have you been?"


Being back in the studio reminded Gavriel of one of the first times that he had met Akira. They had just finished up discussing some ideas for the album artwork and she had hung back in the room and was working on something when he had come back and started messing around with one of the songs when he had noticed she would occasionally glance up from whatever it was that she was doing at him - quick, shy, almost furtive glances before looking back down at the sketchbook in front of her. He wasn't sure if he had just grown to be conceited or not but he had just assumed that she fancied him and he wasn't going to lie, the idea had pleased him. So he had looked back at her every now and then and after a little while his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he set down his guitar and made his way over to see what it was she was working on and strike up a bit of conversation as well as maybe see if she had plans for the evening. However when he had stopped by the chair where she sat, legs crossed and eyes fixed on the paper before her she had looked up, startled. He had smiled and asked her what she was working on and she suddenly looked as though she wanted to fold in on herself like a peculiar piece of origami until she just vanished from existence. She then, awkwardly held up the sketchbook for him to see and apologized profusely saying that she should have asked first. To his surprise what he found looking back at himself was, well, him. The sharpness of his cheek bones and strong lines of his jaw, as well as the darkness of his hair contrasted with the lightness of his eyes all beautifully captured in the sketch. Gavriel had to admit he was flattered that she had chosen to draw him and also had to confess that he had hoped it had something to do with her attraction to him. She had offered to tear out the page and give it to him since he said that he liked it - and he did but he had told her to finish and keep it. After that they had talked and jested for a while before she had laughed and said, "Well, would you like to see what I was working on before I got sidetracked by your beautiful face?" before showing him the rest of her sketchbook which included a lot of what she was working on for the album artwork. He had flirted with her a lot and they bantered but she had never quite expressed any real interest him - though she had said to his face that he had a beautiful bone structure and eyes that just couldn't be captured by pencil. So, he took that as a compliment. Not too long after that she had introduced them all to Daisuke and they took him on for a drummer and from there he had decided it was probably best to just forget about it, especially since he liked her as a friend as well.




Kai wasn't sure if he should take offense to Gabrielle's comment about his sociability, however it wasn't as though it were exactly untrue so he really didn't feel like he could take any offense to that. But hey, he was better than he was a few years ago and so he counted that as an improvement. He cast a glance over at Vivi when Gabrielle made mention of removing their hands and the bassist laughed, somewhat nervously claiming that they would still need their hands in order to drive and play bass. He felt like the vocalist was joking, but he would still take no bets on their sanity as he watched her shoo the bassist out of the studio. Evelyn had pouted when he said he didn't really care to head out to any bars tonight. He still didn't really see any reason to go aside from the obvious - that it would probably be good social interaction however frankly, he didn't think he could take another idiot claiming that Pluto was completely comprised of Plutonium tonight. Kai really shouldn't have said anything, he should have just found another place to sit rather than sit there listening to them jabber on. But that hadn't been how it had happened that night and he had wound up being punched in the face because of that. He had probably deserved it though, truth be told. Just staying in tonight would be nice, but he half-wondered if perhaps he should try to be a little more social, even just for a little while and then heading back home..."Perhaps I could go for a drink or two." He said at last.

And so, exit Farah al-Suyuti.

It was evening by the time she emerged from the studio, bass slung over one shoulder-- a warm, dry Los Angeles evening, the distant sound of traffic mingling with the warbling of cicadas and the gentle ruffle of the breeze through leaves. She crossed the steps leading up to the studio in one loping stride, and then settled down to perch on the highest one, cradling her bass between her legs.

She'd been figuring on calling that cab service again when she yanked her phone out of the pocket of her jeans and began flicking through the contacts. Scrolling down to 'Taxi service', however, brought her straight to the name 'Taki', and she hesitated, her long finger wavering between the two contacts. There wasn't much point calling now, she tried to reason with herself-- she'd come all this way to LA to make herself scarce, after all-- but she couldn't help that little twinge of stubbornness, that desire to fix it herself that had as often gotten her in trouble as it had gotten her out of it. Finally, gnawing on her lip, she pressed the touchscreen over Taki, and brought the phone to her ear.

It rang, and rang, and rang, and went nowhere, and that didn't necessarily mean there was nobody on the other line to hear her calling. She frowned, but waited until the plastic voice of the operator invited her to leave a message, and then summoned up a smile. "Hinan, Nataki," she began, attempting a voice that was blissfully ignorant in its cheer. "Just got done with my first jam with this band. It's pretty unfamiliar territory, I must admit, but I'm enjoying the thrill of trying to adapt to a new style. Anyway, I hope you're well-- I just wanted to... just thought I'd call because--" She tapered off abruptly, suddenly far less confident in herself and in this call, and frowned dourly. Just wanted to what? she demanded of herself, before shaking her head ruefully. Stupid idea. Would've only made things worse.

She set the phone down and then deleted the abortive message before it could send, before calling the taxi service.








Farah was long gone by the time Gabrielle was ready to go marching out of the studio with Evie in tow-- she was set on the two of 'em hittin' the LA bar scene with a vengeance, livin' it up, maybe a fistfight or tw-- okay, maybe not so much that-- but you could imagine her surprise when Kai of all people piped up, "... perhaps I could go for a drink or two."

It was the voice of somebody who really wasn't sure this was a good idea, and Gabrielle's reaction was the reaction of somebody determined to prove that doubt 100% right. "Now who're you and what'd you do with K?" she demanded, before chuckling heartily and clapping the guitarist amicably on the shoulder. "Sure, man, come with us. Hell, E's got a pretty good idea, even though I'm pretty sure she only suggested it 'cause she don't wanna go drinkin' with me alone." If she was in any manner insulted by the notion, it was little indicated by the broad grin on her face, nor the enthusiasm with which she bounded out of their little nook of the studio, narrowly avoiding slamming her guitar into this or that wall as she went.

She all but rocketed her way over to the door into Azmodan's part of the studio-- which is to say she slammed facefirst into it. She stepped back, blinked, and then was all grins again as she shoved the door open. "Hel-lo!" she boomed, as if she were attempting to greet somebody on the other side of the Atlantic and not a group of people two feet away from her. "We were talkin' about goin' out for some drinks and we figured, hey, we're sharin' the studio with y'all, might as well get all friendly and rub shoulders and such, right? So how 'bout it? I'll even buy the first round. Unless any of y'all's into those fancy cocktails that cost more than my apartment, ain't payin' for none of that shit."

He watched the ongoing exchange of looks and words but remained silent for the time himself. Being Oliver, he was confident that they would be drinking beers and having fun with Farah as well, and have her rightly included in their little gang. When he finally realised that their new bassist actually wouldn’t be joining them on this trip to the bar, he nodded as if he accepted it under protest, but still didn’t say anything to the woman.

“Same.” Oliver said to Kira instead. “Well, probably not as busy as you. Our scales don’t quite match I suppose, but compared to my usual workload, I’ve been quite busy.” He elaborated. He was happy that she was there appreciated it very much. He did care very much for this girl. She was sweet and happy and a wonderful person to talk to. Qualities that all carried a lot of weight with Oliver. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Farah leaving and waved. “We were talking about going out on the town and have a few drinks,” He trailed off and smirked playfully, shrugging. He figured that Kira knew just as well as the rest of them that they didn’t always just settle with a few. “Will you come along? I think we’re going for food first and foremost. I’m starving.” All the time they could steal from Kira, they would steal.

---

Evelyn King was not at all done pouting. Because she hadn’t really realised what was going on by now. She really looked forward to going out with Gabrielle. She was fucking batshit crazy, yes, but she was always good fun. It did require someone of considerable stature to tackle this woman, should the need arise and she got out of hand. As fun as she was to go out with, just as unpredictable was she. “Well I’ll be fucked.” She said, accent clear as she flashed Kai a wide smile. “You are persuadable… I’ll keep that in mind.” Evie added, smirking. Persuading Vivi to join them would be a much more difficult task, one that Evie wasn’t sure she was up for. But fuck if that’s going to keep me from trying!
When Gabrielle remarked that Evie might be scared of drinking with her alone, she shrugged and nodded as if that was logic for any man. “Of course, I mean. I know how you get when you drink tequila.” The look that appeared on her face spoke volumes. “Naked and violent.” With a shake of her head and a shudder she pushed that memory out of her head. It wasn’t disgust as much as it was a sheer mental shock to recall that memory. A moment later she heard Gabrielle’s voice again. From the other end of the hall. She had gone into Azmodan’s part of the studio and was in the process of asking them to join them as Evie crept up behind her, footsteps feather light compared to the woman in front of her. She said nothing but merely looked at Azmodan sweetly, hoping they weren’t too shocked by her entrance.

---

It was like the noise the washer makes when it speeds up. Oliver wasn’t at all prepared for Gabrielle. Again. He finally caught up after the initial shock of the door being blasted open. “Christ, I thought S.W.A.T was here.” He let out and exhaled deeply. When he finally figured out what the woman had said, Evie had snuck up behind her and peeked over her shoulder. Oliver nodded politely in greeting and then re-focused on Gabrielle. “As a matter of fact, we’ve talked about going out too.” He waved his hand in a gesture that put the question and the decision to his bandmates. “What do you guys say? Dinner and then some drinks?”

Daisuke offered a wave of farewell along with the others before turning back to the conversation at hand.

Kira nodded understandingly at what Oliver said. Dai knew that she was familiar with how busy musicians could be sometimes as well as just how much time and effort went into making an album as she had several friends who were musicians of varying genres. "I think I have an idea of how much work goes into making an album and I'm pretty sure you're more busy than me right now." She replied, shaking her head at the guitarist and smiling.

Dai wasn't surprised when Oliver asked her to come along, he knew they got along well and Kira liked to spend time with Azmodan when she had the opportunity although as of late she had been rather busy with work lately. He himself had been going to ask her to come for a while tonight if she had the time. It had been a good day and he thought it would be a nice way to end it by spending some time with everyone. He was glad that Oliver had suggested they grab something to eat first before hitting the bar though, it had been a long day and a good meal would be welcome, Dai thought. Kira smiled when Oliver said 'a few' and seemed to consider for a moment. "I think I can join you for a while, I just need to get back home at a reasonable hour so I can keep working." She said, nodding.






Kai shrugged at Gabrielle's question, as apparently she couldn't believe he would really want to go. She wasn't completely wrong and he reminded himself that he could always head back home if he wanted but for now he thought he should at least give it a chance. He swayed slightly when she clapped him on the shoulder but he managed a small smile at the exchange between the two women although he couldn't help but wonder if Evelyn was joking or if she was serious. He hoped she was joking, however with Gabrielle he wouldn't put it past them. He began to follow them out of the room and an expression of alarm flashed across the guitarist's face repeatedly as Gabrielle's guitar case flew this way and that as she bounded down the hallway and he had to force himself not to gape at them in horror. He had the disturbing feeling that they might be the type to wreck an instrument on stage for cheap entertainment factor. Kai continued on his way, still looking a little bit perturbed as Gabrielle thrust open the door to another room and called a greeting to those within. He hovered a little ways from the doorway, casting a glance inside he saw the Azmodan group standing around, accompanied by a woman he had not seen before. The tall bassist named Farah was missing. Naturally everyone seemed alarmed by Gabrielle's entrance as it was quite...abrupt. However they did seem inclined to join them. The tallest, dark haired man - Oliver, he thought his name was - asked his bandmates if they wanted to go. Both the vocalist and the guitarist nodded their agreement.

"Sure, sounds good to me." The Azmodan vocalist said, smiling.

Gabrielle threw her head back and gave a hearty bark of laughter, her face creasing up around the expression. "Shit man," she chuckled ruefully, turning to her bandmates and jabbing a facetious thumb over her shoulder at O. "Didn't figure when I came to the studio today I'd be gettin' asked to dinner by some Hollywood-ass lookin' hunk. Man, ain't nobody asked me to dinner since before prrrrrrrrrrrrr--"

Mid-sentence her brain caught up to her mouth and the syllable drew itself out like motor stalling as Gabrielle realised there were certain pieces of information she was not supposed to share-- not with these people, not with her bandmates. Instead, she (rather ingeniously, if Gabrielle did say so herself) finished fluidly with, "--ehistory! Since before prehistory." She waved a hand as if to dismiss her own fretting, and then finished, "But uh yeah, cool, dinner and then some drinks, sounds mighty fine." She blinked, as if she'd only just realised a very sizable absence in the room, and then peered around as though she were an officer of the law looking for contraband for a moment before glancing back to O and grunting, "Y'all lost your bassist too? Man, is it like a genetic thing that people who got no social acumen are drawn to the four strings?"

She shot a glance over to K, and then snickered. "Man, bet you was meant to be a bassist at birth, would explain a whole lot."