haven't you noticed

[starseedling]

Who: Steven, Peridot, Lex, and potentially YOU!
When: Second half of May.
Where: The Haven, the Outskirts, the Outer City.
What: Steven plays music for the poor saps outside of the Bright Wall, explores the city, and also does some other things. Faerie traits begin to manifest. Sleep is disrupted. Includes some closed top levels, but also open stuff!
Warnings: Pop music.

★BUSKING PRO BONO (MAY 20+)

Power or no powers, if there's one thing Steven can bring to the table, it's the magic of music. Specifically, he's volunteered to lend his skills to the Outer City in the form of entertainment, playing his ukulele and singing his heart out while other people do tasks that could be considered more critical.

Not in his opinion, though. These people need food, and healing, and protection, but they clearly also need something to brighten their spirits. Unfortunately, his brand of otherworldly music may not be all their familiar to their ears.

Not quite comfortable enough to break out some of his newer creations, Steven has been running through a long list of Earth-based musical covers. Currently, he is performing a spirited rendition of Haven't you Noticed (I'm a Star), which seems to be drawing an equal mixture of interest and bafflement from the locals. He may have to fine-tune his set list in the future.

"Haven't you noticed that I'm a star?
I'm coming into view as the world is turning
Haven't you noticed I've made it this far?
Now everyone can see me burning~"

He finishes with a dramatic flourish, only now really turning his attention to the uncertain audience. Hm. Tough crowd. Maybe it doesn't help that after the recent full moon, he'll have developed the beginnings of glittery scales around his neck and shoulders, as well as to pink dots on his forehead that are clearly destined to be antenna.

★JUST STRAIGHT UP BUSKING (MAY 20+)

Beyond charity work, Steven can also be found around Aefenglom proper, playing music for pocket change. He can be found in a large variety of places, still playing mostly modern Earth music as well as a couple he's written himself. He's also using this as an opportunity to explore the city, now that he's feeling a bit better than when he arrived.

Also, his big pink lion is with him, playing chaperone and also giving Steven a ride. While Steven plays, Lion will happily nap nearby - though maybe that's not the best way to attract donars.

Comments

[starseedling]

"I dunno how much difference it would have made," Steven says, shrugging a shoulder helplessly. "This is a really new thing for everybody..."

Then, he perks up, doing his best to focus. He feels his forehead, where two tiny antennae buds seem to be forming.

"But! Now maybe you can figure out what you're turning into! I guess... I'm gunna be a fae now? Or something. It was like that in the dream, too..."

[alienwear]

"Hhhhhhhh," Peridot creaks dispiritedly. She's trying to go along with his optimistic train of thought here, but her condition feels a lot more difficult to nail down.

"In the dream, I think I recall I had some kind of... tail," she supplies, putting an emphasis of contempt on the last word that leaves it hanging in the air. "I'm pretty sure half the varieties of monsters in this stupid city have tails and/or horns."

[starseedling]

"Yeah, I guess so..." Steven says with a thoughtful frown. He wishes he'd encountered her in the dream, so that he'd have more to offer. "What kind of tail was it? Like... scales, or fur, or what?"

Admittedly, the idea of her having a tail is mostly cute to him, despite her contempt, so he finds himself smiling just a little at the thought of it.

[alienwear]

"Ummmm... It had a pointy barb. Thing. On the end of it. That's about all I remember," she supplies, fortunately missing Steven's smile because she is finally getting up on that chair to get a look at herself in the mirror.

She blinks at her own reflection with a frown. Those sure are tiny little horns right at her hairline! She makes a face, prodding at them experimentally...

[starseedling]

He smacks his fist into his palm.

"Maybe you're a manticore! They can have horns and a scorpion tail, right?"

He mostly learned that from fantasy novels.

[alienwear]

"A manticore," Peridot repeats thoughtfully, having never heard the word before. "Is that a kind of monster that they have here in Aefenglom?"

[starseedling]

"Yeah - they're also a thing on Earth, but not in a really... real way. They're just something they write about in stories."

He tries to remember.

"I think manticores are like... a lion, and a goat, and a scorpion, all mixed together. They call that a 'chimera' here."

[alienwear]

Peridot pauses to consider this information.

"...I think I know what two out of three of those things are," she admits. Obviously she knows what a lion is. She's pretty sure she's heard of goats before? But a scorpion. What in the heck is a scorpion?

[starseedling]

"A goat is a little hooved guy with horns that they can use to ram into stuff," he explains. It's easier doing this than thinking too hard about the fact that he has scales now. "A scorpion is, like... you've seen crabs on the beach before? It's sort of like that, except they have a tail with a poison stinger on the end!"

Scorpions are super scary but very cool.

[alienwear]

She listens attentively to his explanation. There's still a vague look of worry on her face that she doesn't seem ready to shed just yet, but that's an improvement over completely losing her shit at least.

"Uhhhh....hhhhuhhhhh..." Peridot creaks out finally. Perhaps she needs some time to let this sink, in before she can reassess how she feels about it. "So that explains me. What the heck are you turning into, then?"

[starseedling]

Don't worry Peridot, Steven is basically just putting off self-analysis by focusing on you. So when she turns it around to him, he immediately looks self-conscious, and at least a little ashamed.

"Um... I think... I think I'm becoming a fae," he says, quietly. He crosses his arms around him, and then flops back down onto the bed, looking defeated.

[alienwear]

"Like that Iramaat person?" she asks cautiously. "That doesn't seem so bad..."

[starseedling]

"Iramaat?" he echoes, uncertainly. "I don't think I've met them. Are they nice?"

He's initially assuming she means a local fae, but maybe not? he hopes they're nice.