Concert Production
Following the presentation, the daily lives of the three girls simply filled with even further obligations, leaving them with almost no time of their own. By this point, even Riyxia could feel the keen difference between her nights and days, as even her spectre needed to relax overnight without any obligations.
Some of their first assignments had been in construction efforts for the city, projects they single-handedly advanced a year within the span of a day. Those projects were mostly Riyxia and Vwyx working together, Riyxia moving all of the parts in place so that Vwyx could mass assemble everything. Sryine’s most ambitious projects were much more ephemeral, such as altering entire weather conditions for major outdoor city events. Sryine made sure to charge a premium for anything that even pushed the capacity of their augmentations, resulting in a number of cheaper tasks with much less demand, some basic instrument crafting tasks for Vwyx, a few different illusionary performances for Sryine, Riyxia even spent a few days offering her services to some of the city’s medical facilities. As their popularity rose, the expectations fell, there were quite a number of events they attended that wanted nothing more than the presence of the three global celebrities.
More so, things quickly divulged from being local and started involving a bit of travel, another thing Sryine started charging a premium for the time any of the girls were taken away from the city. Riyxia was quickly seeing why Liyuzhe treasured having someone like Ieqyisa around, instant teleportation would really make this sort of thing much easier. Not that she was actually the only one with such an ability, though it seemed the services of such talented transportation artists were also of a premium. In more than a few situations, the girls were brought probably halfway across the world via the work of some expensive teleportation instruments, completing much of the same work for some exceptionally wealthy international individuals. Not that they could be missed as wealthy themselves, Sryine had made it fairly obvious by the end of the first lunar cycle that their overall capital was high into the billions.
Once profits started to come in, not all of their funds continued to travel in just one direction. Sryine began investments with opportune clients eager to be associated with the three girls, in order to provide the research and resources they would require in their lunar expedition. A good number of those investments were even a waste, places later discovered as simply incapable of delivering what they tried to offer. It was acceptable, even if unfortunate, no one in the world fully grasped what sort of requirements would be necessary for such an expedition, especially with the odd variables of the three girls involved. Flight was something the world remained familiar with, the three girls had already been on quite a number of flights themselves, Vwyx could personally attest to that, but the challenge was having something that could ascend beyond normal flight limits, to leave the presence of Celese behind, to pierce through the border to the stars and endure the even harsher climes beyond. Nothing about this was predictable, nothing about it was cheap, Sryine was spending vast sums just as they were bringing such numbers in.
Remaining one of their more lucrative ventures, the concert proposition had not been forgotten, becoming the only thing to even occasionally slip into a portion of Riyxia’s nights. Due to how her doll’s voice worked, she couldn’t practice singing without having someone in attendance, something she thought would keep her free for most of her nights. However, it just so happened that students make for terrible sleepers, even when they no longer had any academic studies to worry about. Eqriuxzl would then stay up into the night, listening to Riyxia practice an assortment of compositions Sryine had managed to acquire for her. It might have only taken her the span of almost three days to figure out basic speech, but it took half a lunar cycle for her to bring such a voice to a singing quality. Sryine made sure to comfort her, telling her that such was still impressively fast, but she hadn’t sat through the ear-splitting nights that came before.. nights she felt sorry for what hardship she had put Eqriuxzl through. To Eqriuxzl, while it had been a rough and painful experience at first, his studious nature had found the support of Riyxia’s learning process to be well worth it, feeling like a teaching aide of sorts in his own rights. He was well aware of some of the earlier failures his own projects often developed, nothing good ever worked right the first time. Meanwhile, the last few days had actually been more of a treasure, Riyxia’s hard work having such a great return that even the subtle flaws of her melody carried a beauty of its own. At his encouragement, Riyxia had even started applying her practice to her own actual voice in a few sparse daytime opportunities, often while otherwise already occupied by her work. While not being capable of quite the same degree of beauty, quite a number of the hunters had told her that her singing was actually really pretty.
Sryine thus took the opportunity to work out a subtle arrangement of her own, getting permission and clearance from the city to ‘make some noise’ at the downtown park in three days time, the same park they had graced briefly that day after the downtown mall when they had originally purchased their cells. Having secured their approval, the three girls started working on the details of their plan, and what would be expected of each of them. Vwyx would be in charge of setting up the stage, a performance and display in its own right if anyone accounts for her previous efforts at the atrium. Sryine would take over managing the stage from that point, setting up her standard illusionary concert in a much larger display, full of her own special effects. Riyxia’s doll would take to the stage, the only non-illusionary part of the entire assembly, carrying the only actual instrument designed to magnify her singing to the nearby crowd. Vwyx and Riyxia themselves would handle much of any issues that came up, being able to provide repairs or recovery for any objects or people that required it, and Vwyx would end the entire process by reverting the makeshift stage back to its original form. It would be an entire flash concert, organized by only three people.
While the details were kept from the city itself, the hunters quickly caught onto the ploy, with word traveling around about the major event. A vast number of hunters tried to book the same day off, three days ahead. Ayzherie couldn’t even properly scold the hunters for such gumption, having herself already secured the day off, but she did push the hunters to an understanding of the rules, if the day off was not approved, they would by no means be leaving their assigned post. Dhyinze and Nuiqhyx were almost ecstatic about the choice of day, they had that day off regularilly. Jwyexzn on the other hand was treating it like a day back at work, he was going to cover one of the biggest scopes of the day personally, while Hyusziq was similarly treating this as yet another project venture. Lastly, Eqriuxzl was already excessively ahead of his course material, he was completely free to take whichever days he wanted off, much as he had been doing for quite some time now. Overall, of all of the possible people stepping over expectations, it was only the three girls involved who were pretty much doing this in place of a day they would typically have been expected to work. However, they weren’t officially one of the hunters, and the past lunar cycle had made them an exception to every rule becoming part of the norm. It really was for the best, the Hunters certainly couldn’t afford to pay for their obedience at this point, Sryine in fact probably had enough capital to buy the service of the entire hunters instead. In fact, it was due to the association between the three girls and the hunters that the past lunar cycle had been filled with an actual assortment of hearty and tasty meals for all of the hunters, a fact that left no one to complain about the girls’ celebrity treatment.
The three days passed in what felt like the span of a moment, making it fortunate that there was very little left to prepare in advance. The girls had still been dedicated to their other obligations over the time between, from anything to do with the Hunters or any personal training to any of their actually financed contracts. Even though the girls were fine with having familiar faces for an audience, they still pressed the idea that they didn’t want to just show up with everyone else, and as such they would be making their own way with just the three of them. This same message had to be repeated at the bus stop across the bridge, to a still familiar black-cloaked shadow. Once Jwyexzn was sent on his way, the three girls, along with their singing doll, were given a moment of sanctuary waiting for the bus to arrive. This calm was short lived, as even the bus driver who arrived was capable of instantly identifying the four figures boarding the bus. Even filled in among complete strangers, the girls remained the center of attention, a battalion of questions thrown their way that they could hardly make out over all of the other questions. Fortunately, their stop wasn’t far away, but a crowd from the bus decided that this would become their stop as well.
Having had enough, Sryine threw an illusion over all four figures, first applying a complete invisibility as they all took to cover. Once safely hidden, Sryine modified her illusion to simply mask all four girls as complete unidentifiable strangers, wearing some plain black street clothes with simple black styles. Even their hairs were an unassuming simple black. Riyxia stifled her laughter, catching onto Sryine’s inspiration. It was easily obvious she had borrowed this concept from Jwyexzn’s pure black disguise, only then improving upon it further with elements that stood out far less. Properly under cover, the girls made their way onto the train, itself fairly packed and busy. Not even being offered a seat in their own consideration this time, the girls were thankful for their mask of tranquility. They arrived at the academy soon after, and switched over to one of the busses heading to the park.
“Oh, hey, I guess we’re taking the same bus then. Sorry, I know you girls wanted time for yourself, but going from the academy to the park is kinda my only option. Don’t worry, I’ll wander off on my own once we arrive.” “Eqriuxzl! Wait, how did you figure us out?” Eqriuxzl held up one of the instruments used to track the flame for Riyxia’s doll to see, itself having been brought so that he wouldn’t be lost in the park when the time came. Right, no matter how high quality Sryine’s illusions might be, it was still impossible to hide the traces of the astral flame within them. The bus ride continued in an awkward and uncomfortable silence, until the bus finally arrived at the park. From there, the three girls disembarked, Eqriuxzl going his own way as agreed upon.
Almost right away, the first people they discovered were Dhyinze and Nuiqhyx, both walking around in their hunter uniforms. The girls were well aware that the hunters who had the day off were typically left to go into the city in uniform, free to follow their own agenda, but still dressed to represent the hunters and left in a position of general enforcement. The hunters who had taken the day off, on the other hand, were prohibited from going out dressed as a hunter, and would be expected to dress casually instead. The girls were breaking that regulation too, having decided to wear their formal dresses given from the banquet for the performance, something they had currently packed away and would need to change into. This had sparked up a small argument, none of the three honestly liking the idea, but Sryine had instilled that such an outfit would have the highest quality of presentation, and no she wasn’t going to try and sustain that as an illusion as well while also focusing on everything else.
“Sir, do you know where there might be a good change room around here?” “Oh, the women’s room would be on the right side of that shelter behind the fountain. Wait, do I know you, you seem kinda familiar?” “I’m sure you say that to every passing lady. Anyhow, thank you for the directions, have a pleasant day.” “Nuiqhyx, did she seem familiar to you too, or am I just that tense right now?” Vwyx smirked as she left Dhyinze behind to figure things out. Sryine’s illusions might not hide the flame, but they seemed to be effective enough even among common acquaintances. The other two rushed to follow Vwyx, not wanting to stick around in the off-chance Dhyinze did figure things out. The three girls enjoyed a quick lunch near the fountain to prepare for their concert before switching out of their current outfits. Getting changed needed the illusion to be dismissed, but all four figures achieved enough privacy as to not let that be a problem either, and Sryine replaced the illusion right afterwards. With things proceeding smoothly, they would be ready to get in position right away and get everything started.
As the girls stepped out from the small shelter they used to get changed, they were all welcomed by a sudden downpour. Sryine put extra effort in applying her gift in making sure they stayed dry, all while actually letting the moisture appear to affect their illusions. This was putting quite the burden on Sryine in the process, though she was already spinning a plan of action to deal with the change with her own abilities. Leading the others forward, Sryine made her way towards the clearing she had scheduled for their use, itself already filled by spectators soaking wet. It was actually interesting to Riyxia how the four figures weren’t even allowed into their own staging grounds because they didn’t stand out at all. It was also interesting how that didn’t even matter, the four of them were already close enough to begin. Building from the ambience of the storm, an augmented Sryine produced a sudden barrage of lightning strikes, scattering around harmlessly but quickly getting everyone’s attention. A puff of smoke started to form in the very middle of the grounds, building in size dramatically as it spiralled outwards. The smoke drove the crowd back slightly, forming a small gap in the center, a place which suddenly burst into flame, discouraging anyone from advancing into the gap that yet remained. The smoke continued to build, but also began floating over everyone’s head in the process, having the added effect of sheltering those below it from any rainfall. Even in the rising shadows of the storm, the area beneath the smoke cloud suddenly lit up, first in a flash that was much like lightning, but then kept ambiently bright as a sunny day. The crowd was certain by this point, things were about to happen.
Vwyx picked up from where Sryine had brought them, shifting the very ground of the field to their needs with her own augmented ability. The area supporting the flame began to rise around 10 Uyn into the air, a slight staircase forming off from it, with a fenced enclosure forming at the bottom. As per plan, Riyxia’s spectre dove through the crowd, leaving a link in the doll as she prepared for what would happen next. Right on queue, a mass series of strange bars appeared to suddenly rise up in a collected sequence along the provided stairwell, making it appear as if the stairwell itself was rippling. More than simple bars, the sequence was a mass replica of simple collapsible chairs, already in a collapsed state. The now augmented spectre dove along the entire collection, ensuring everything was properly linked before having everything step into action, each chair swarming towards the crowd and providing individual seating for every person present. As the waves of chairs extended backwards, so too did the staging ground of the audience, the ground itself lifting up in waves to match the seats provided, reorganizing the crowd in turn in all of the motion into inclined stands. In this process, it also reshuffled the crowd, so that there was a portion behind the still developing stage where no one sat, a section of the stage which quickly became enclosed by a partial dome. With the area behind it free and open, the stage itself started to expand backwards, providing even more space to work with.
In all of the chaos, no one around the four girls had noticed that they had been excluded by this process, a process that now left the four girls alone behind the stage. With their path now cleared, the four girls approached, the back opening for them once reached. As one girl stepped through after the other, the illusion covering them faded, leaving them revealed on stage. First Riyxia, then Sryine, then Vwyx, and finally the doll they would be leaving to the center of the stage. The first three girls waved as they entered, immediately taking a spot at the edge of the stage once the cheers paused for the moment needed before the next person arrived. Riyxia’s spectre returned in time to intercept the doll’s approach, her link to each of the chairs fading away in that moment along with her augmentation. Her spectre thus took to the center of the stage, waving to her entire audience as cheers resounded. The back of the stage started to rise up a wall of apparent shadow, with nothing actually there in all reality, while the spectre stopped waving and just tilted her head forwards, her eyes closed as her hands grasped the vocal magnifier in her hands motionlessly. Once the back wall was in position, Vwyx’s augmentation ending in result, Sryine let loose with a brilliant flash that sundered the cloud above everyone apart, continuing further to dismantle the very storm over the city and leaving behind a bright sunny day. In that same flash, her illusions had filled the back wall with a visual projection of musical instruments, with no one present to play them.
Even despite appearing understaffed, an instrumental melody faintly started to build from the stage, as if played by invisible staff. The entire produced stage started to faintly build with the melody in a gradually growing intensity. The tone built to a dramatic spike, followed by a subtle pause, and Riyxia’s spectre began to sing. The song was titled “walking in the moonlight”, something Riyxia had been very personally familiar with doing frequently, the entire ambient song building with a subtle tone of suspense and mystery, of hope and discovery, of ambition and will. As per normal, she hadn’t actually taken any opportunity to give her cover any introduction, moving instead right into the performance. All through the song, the audience was mystified, still and silent as a statue. At the end of the song, the audience’s applause was resounding, silenced only as yet another similar song began. Another five songs followed this same pattern, songs reasonably similar to their opening act, leaving the audience with much the same reaction. The next song would be the last of their random production, leaving Riyxia with yet another random impulse and a sudden break of script. Using her spectre to recover one of the backup vocal magnifiers they left at the back of the stage, she brought it over to her actual body, settling it into her own hands as she moved to take the stage with her doll form. Her spectre back into position, she then proceeded to sing their closing song as a sudden duet, a performance she had inadvertently been completely prepared for. She still left her doll taking the lead role, only acting as a vocal accompaniment. Both Sryine and Vwyx were initially alarmed for a moment, only relaxing as they realized that they should have predicted something like this might have happened, matching slight grins taking up place upon both of their faces.
As the final song started to end, the melody gradually started to fade, and along with it the whole setup began to move once again. The audience found their seats slowly returning to the ground, the whole setup gradually fading away. The illusion of instruments began to fade into shadows, the sound fading away in kind, before they too were returned to the ground of the field. Vwyx and Sryine took the opportunity to recover their stuff while Riyxia brought the entire performance to a close, the last line of the song sung in what had once again become a plain and ordinary field. After the song had ended, the eruption of cheers began, massive shouts that resounded around all of those in attendance. Riyxia took note again of the important people she had found in attendance, those she had personally provided a chair for. Dhyinze and Nuiqhyx were cheering together off at one side, Hyusziq had found Eqriuxzl and were watching from another angle. Jwyexzn was a distance in the back with some news equipment, keeping really busy the whole time trying to capture a record of every single moment. Ayzherie.. she hadn’t found yet, or at least never recognized. As everything was brought to a close, she took a moment to wonder where Ayzherie was in all of this mess.
“Wow, you owned the show, Star Seekers!” “Star Seekers? Where did you get that totally lame name from? They’re the Yhxtaeqi.” “Wow, you’re both obviously living under a rock, haven’t you heard that it was confirmed that they’re the Angelwings?” A sudden argument started to break out among the crowds, building rapidly into a riot. Starting with nothing more than shouts turning to insults, things rapidly escalated into outright violence. Dhinze and Nuiqhyx begun taking action to try and break up the building aggression, but things were quickly becoming too much for such minimal security. Jwyexzn had simply already vanished, taking to the safety of the shadows to keep recording events without having to worry about his own wellbeing. Hyusziq and Eqriuxzl were tending to their own safety, pulling away from the crowd to a safe distance.
“You two, settle down and stop slugging each other like that. It’s just a name, it’s not something to hurt each other over.” “Atnizhyq, how dare you belittle them like that!” A familiar shrill scream resounded over the field, bringing a lot of people back to their senses. As a section near the scream parted, Riyxia scouted forward using her spectre so as to dive through the crowds far quicker. On arrival, she found an only faintly familiar woman in a peach dress stained red with fresh blood, flat on the ground. Nearby, a guy stood suddenly shaking, the long bloodstained icicle spike in his hands melting away rapidly in the sun, the girl not far from him who he had been previously arguing with shaking in fear of her own life, her own fear leaving her frozen where she stood. Riyxia knew this was a very bad situation, she didn’t have time for anything anymore. Calling upon her rage, she vaulted instantly over the entire crowd, slamming down nearby in the same moment as her leap, leaving a deep crater in the ground where she landed. She then rushed to Ayzherie’s side, committing her gift into healing the wound that had torn her heart wide open. However, even with the near instant healing, she wasn’t getting much of a response from Ayzherie’s fallen form.
The gift-based wound Ayzherie was suffering from had achieved something much similar to the effect possible from Sryine’s own gift, leaving the body itself convinced of its own death. No matter how much of Riyxia’s gift she put into getting the body healed, her gift had no means to deal with a wound whose damage extended beyond the mortal vessel.
Luminaeris 