Snippet #1832655

It was time.

"Alright, y'all remember the setlist, right?" Izzie couldn't help but bring herself to ask the group. She didn't like to think of herself as a worrywart, but...hell, it was public knowledge that Izzie was all but waiting for the moment when someone, not least of all her, seriously fucked something up on the day of the show. Pessimist, not worrywart, she retorted mentally as she looked to the other three.

"We have a setlist?" Lenchi replied blankly, seated at his drumset. News to me. I thought we were...okay, yeah, I have no idea what I thought we were gonna do.

"Yes, we have a--how in the fucking fuck do you completely forget we had a setlist at all? Wait, don't answer that." Izzie gritted her teeth and breathed out her nose. Sometimes, Lenchi and his utter inability--or refusal--to remember anything remotely of importance was amusing. And sometimes it just irritated the fuck outta her. "The first three songs are covers, the other band's doing the same thing. So we're starting with Trifixion to get the crowd going, then we'll move on to Spirit Crusher, and finish that section off with Liege of Inveracity. And before you ask," Izzie was quick to add as she saw Lenchi's mouth open to speak further. "They're playing first."

"Oh. Okay. Gotcha." The drummer visibly relaxed at the drumset, though his heart was practically beating out of his chest as the curtains fell open and the stages were slowly revealed. That's....a lot of people, he observed, breathing in heavily. How'd they even get a crowd this big when they were just an upstart metal band? He tried to estimate the number. One thousand? Two thousand? Hell if he knew. Lenchi'd been used to small crowds and small venues. Nothing like this. Huge crowds and one hell of a huge-ass fucking venue. If I fuck up here... Legion'd get rid of him. Fast. He knew that. Why else would he spend every waking hour (and Lenchi's 'waking' hours were few and far between, but still) ensuring he was constantly at the top of his game? He was well aware that Legion only kept him around for his drumming skills. Johnny, he was pretty sure, wouldn't want to keep around a drummer who couldn't play what he was supposed to, and as for what Izzie'd do if he fucked up on a song...

That elicited a brief shudder.

What would Juniper think? The thought weaselled its way in. And it made him want to scoff at himself. What made him think she gave two shits about him beyond his drumming skills either? She doesn't, idiot. No one does. So don't bother wasting time thinking about that, and focus on the music you're about to play. He disengaged himself from his thoughts just as Chicago Loop began to play.

For her part, Izzie's reaction to the size of the crowd and the venue seemed to be...well, a lack of reaction, at first. She displayed outwardly no indication of anxiety or concern, because there was none within her. A surplus of confidence was not characteristic of the Legion guitarist, regardless of her general attitude to the contrary, but she couldn't help but smile when the curtains fell away and the crowd began cheering for the bands. And it was not a haha, we're gonna kick everyone's ass, our music is gonna lay waste to this crowd, Chicago Loop doesn't know what it's getting into type of smirk that may have been expected. No trace of malice or aggression was to be found in the lifting of the corners of her lips that Izzie called a smile. She looked genuinely happy--genuinely pleased, genuinely looking forward to playing the music she loved on this huge stage, for this huge crowd. The possibility of making a mistake here wasn't anywhere to be found in her mind--any semblance of irritation, of detest towards Chicago Loop had long since vacated the premises and left behind no ill will whatsoever. To play music...it was a high greater than any drug she'd ever tried to find comfort in, more effective than any bottle she'd tried to find happiness at the bottom of.

"Hey Izzie, what was that about it not working!" the singer called over as the crowd went wild. In her usual perpetually pissed off state, that would've merited flipping the dude off or something equally disrespectful and rude. But in that euphoric state in which Izzie often found herself right before a concert, right before she began playing, she merely responded with, "Yeah, turns out they're not half bad as they look!"

"Hello, LA, are you ready to rock?!" the singer of the rock band roared into the microphone, causing the crowd to surge forth with unparalleled energy and enthusiasm. "Oh, hell no," she mused. "If anyone's gonna get this crowd moving, it's Legion." Except there wasn't any malice in her voice when she said it. It came out almost good-natured, light-hearted in a way.

Chicago Loop went through their three songs quickly--though Izzie honestly did not recognise the first, wasn't a big fan of the second, and found herself getting into the third, since it was actually a metal song. "Damn," she smiled to herself as she watched--being a guitarist, she instinctively paid attention to the guitar tones. "Dude can pull off those Randy Rhoads solos, that's for sure." After all, what good metalhead or plain-out rocker didn't respect someone who could play Randy Rhoads?

When the final note of Crazy Train was completed, the crowd went wild--and the stage was set for Legion to fire off their performance.

Stepping forward, Izzie's smile widened as she approached her mic. "Come on now," she boomed, her low voice echoing right down the stadium and throughout the crowd. "Have we got any real Legionnaires here?" In responce to the mention of the moniker many of the fans Legion had won over thus far were fond of calling themselves by, the metalheads of the crowd unleashed a nigh-unearthly din that echoed within Izzie's head and got her blood rushing. "Let's get this place fucking moving!" she called out, and as the crowd began to rapidly converge into vast mosh pits, Izzie began to rip out the opening leads of Trifixion...

((The 'let's get this place fucking moving' is a reference to something Frank Mullen (her father for those who do not know) does at every concert. As you can see here at about 4:09 :v))