Snippet #1831327

"What the hell kinda fuckin' crowd is that? They're...just standing there. Are we sure we came to the right venue? 'cos that out there ain't no crowd of real metal fans."

Izzie Maisuradze was not, suffice to say, happy with the state of things. Her guitar slung over her shoulders, bare arms, every inch covered with an amalgamation of lean muscle, scars, and tattoos, crossed over the wickedly edged guitar (it looked like you could use it to disembowel someone), cigarette held loosely between two fingers, Izzie scowled as she turned back towards the rest of the band, allowing the screen that was obscuring the backstage area and the band from being seen by the strangely complacent crowd to fall back into place.

Of course, Legion was not an established band. They'd only formed not long ago, and thus the list of venues at which they'd performed was none too extensive. But still--all the clubs they'd played at, the small, cramped venues stuffed with metalheads--those were real metal fans. The ones who weren't afraid to jump right into the mosh pit and give some other fan a black eye. The ones who really moved with the music. The ones who at least looked alive. These people looked like they were just there to stand there and watch people play music. And what the hell kind of concert was just people playing music?

For his part, Lenchi merely shrugged. "They came here. I don't think they would've if they didn't want to hear us play death metal. s'not worth getting worked up about."

Lenchi's words seemed to impart some sort of reminder on the irate guitarist. "Oh yeah. Well, we're not the only ones playing here."

"Huh?"

The genuine confusion in Lenchi's voice caused Izzie to snort, before she took a quick drag of the cigarette in her hand. "There's a rock band called Chicago Loop coming to play on the same bill as us. If you paid any fucking attention to anything anyone says to you, maybe you'd've known."

"Well, you know how paying attention is just..." the metal drummer tried and failed to restrain a yawn, as if he had only just awoken from a slumber that would rival that of Snow White. "so much work sometimes..."

"Well look alive, Sleeping Beauty," Izzie cut across him caustically, the sarcasm heavy in her low, raspy voice. "'cos here they come."

Lenchi turned to see their fellow band approaching. He didn't recognise a single one of them. But that was kinda par for the course for Lenchi; Izzie was of the firm opinion that it was probably all the lazy jackass could do to remember what the hell he himself looked like. Guess he deserves the nickname I gave him, she mused with a dark smirk as Chicago Loop approached.

One of them strode right up to her. "Izzie, is it?" he remarked, holding his hand out to shake hers. "I'm Mikey from Chicago Loop, nice to meet you."

Izzie placed the cigarette between her chapped, dry, thin lips, and then held out one tattooed hand to shake his. "Legion," she said simply, before looking over Mikey's shoulder and seeing someone she vaguely recognised. Hang on, I know that dude... "Hey," she called over at him gruffly, nodding in his direction. "I know you. You auditioned for Legion, didn't you?" Yes, she remembered him. After she'd decided to go for lead guitar, they had a few people audition for rhythm. But in the end, Xander Coltman just hadn't been the death metal type of musician. Ultimately, Izzie decided to do something that was kinda unprecedented for a death metal band: she decided she was gonna go at it with one guitar. Which she compensated for by tuning her guitar down so low it was more than heavy and brutal enough to compensate.

The imposing woman cracked her tattooed knuckles, and reached up to retrieve the cigarette that had remained between her lips belching smoke. "Well, this should be interesting," she smirked. "Who ever heard of a rock band and a death metal band sharing a bill on a venue?"