"Must it take a life for hateful eyes
To glisten once again
Five hundred years like Gelignite
Have blown us all to hell
What savior rests while on his cross we die
Forgotten freedom burns
Has the Shepard led his lambs astray
to the bigot and the gun"

Thank god, the weekend had arrived! And with an Irish-punk herald to boot! Fractal had spent all week working on cars and putting her movie together. Now was the time to relax, and it just so happened that Flogging Molly was in town. It wasn't as Metal as she would have liked, but they played with a lot of energy that the Son of Ether needed.

Fractal had even abandoned her old overalls for the show. She was shakin' it in a pair of new blue jeans, and a green T-shirt with the world 'Science!' written on the front in Olde English font. Her black hair was up in short pigtails that swayed with the scientist's motions. Though May had left most of her tools behind, she could not leave her Ether Goggles, which hung around her neck as always.

"Must it take a life for hateful eyes
To glisten once again"

Fractal was crowded in the front of the stage in the gym, reconfigured to hold the concert. People swarmed around her, screaming, jumping, singing, pushing! And May was one of them. She hadn't drunken much yet tonight, but it was hard to do so in what was effectively a mosh pit. By the end of the night she'd certainly be toasted though.

As one, the crowd shouted out the last line of the chorus.

"Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess
Singin' drunken lullabies!"

((OOC: Song is Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly))

Rory didn’t even know who Flogging Molly was when he came here, he had never heard of the band before. So he wasn’t here for that, at least not originally. He was here now because while on his little bar tour, he overheard talk of a show that should be really good, and suffice to say now that he was here, he could certainly agree that it was. It was some good music and more importantly it was really energetic. And that was the music he liked, anything energetic that got the blood pumping and at shows got the crowd jumping.

So, suffice to say, he was having a good time. Even if he didn’t know anyone here yet, he planned to change that in time. Once he was drunk, for now he stood to the back of the crowd, enjoying the energy and the music as he got drunk. This was only their third song but he already had a good buzz going…it was already his sixth drink. From what he saw of the crowd well…it was something any good Fianna could appreciate. Everyone was enjoying life fully right now, everyone he saw at least. So this was certainly his scene.

Even if he didn’t know the lyrics word for word, he managed to figure out the last lines of the chorus by the end of the song, and he shouted them out just like everyone else, even if he was slurring them a little bit, he was buzzed after all...slurring was to be expected. And before the next song started he was onto his seventh drink.

The next song to play was starting out slow, so Rory took the time to finish off his drink and set the empty cup down. By the time it was getting really into it, he was already on the dance floor…or as the song said, The Devil’s Dance Floor. He had bobbed and weaved his way through the crowd and was now dancing with an unrestrained liveliness that the Fianna were known for. Even in a semi-drunken state, he moved the way the music, dancing around with everyone else to it’s rhythm.

((OOC: Song is The Devil's Dance Floor, if it wasn't obvious))

Fractal shifted her weight from the back of heels to the tips of her toes, bobbing to the fast beat of the music. That was about as much dancing she did at these shows. May wasn't drunk enough and she didn't have any friends with her. to encourage her awkward boogie-ing. She swayed with the crowd, which was growing more active with every chorus.

The roar of the crowd and the flourishes of the musicians gave the woman some ideas for her movie. Too bad she had largely deligated that task to Eagle. Maybe he'd be open for some suggestions? Well, probably not, he'd most likely want total control of the dream that would be the words that would be the pictures or whatever fancy words the Dreamspeaker had for 'movie'.

May's thoughts were rudely interrupted when the true mosh pit of the crowd expanded dramatically. May was caught up in the storm. As she tried to pull away from the mass of thrashing bodies, a much larger man drunkenly danced into her back, knocking both of them to the floor. Fractal cursed, and tried to get to her feet before she was trampled.

Rory was having a very good time as he danced around, moshing with everyone else in the pit to the rhythm of the music. He might be buzzed…maybe even a little drunk, but he could still follow a rhythm when he danced, that was never difficult for him so he didn’t have any problem doing that. So that was exactly what he was doing, dancing around to the rhythm and in general enjoying himself as he did.

He wasn’t aware that the mosh pit was growing as he moved, even if he had been aware though, he wouldn’t have cared. If the mosh pit grew, that just meant more would be dancing around to the music and enjoying themselves. It didn’t mean anything more than that to him, so he was oblivious to it’s growing and not concerned about it even slightly. At some point though, he had made his way towards the outside of the pit, not that he knew this of course.

…But then he had a very rude and abrupt reminder that the pit wasn’t the entire floor but just a small part of it. He didn’t go crashing into anyone just standing there…but he did see it. And when he did…well, he did what he always did when he witnessed anything of that nature. He rushed over to help and get them both standing again before the song ended so that they could all go back to enjoying the music and not fighting…especially when the person who was bumped into was much smaller…man? Woman? He wasn’t entirely sure, whatever he or she was though, they were much smaller and had just been crashed into by a much bigger man…and knowing the way people were when drunk, well he tried to separate the two quickly to avoid any fighting that’d ruin the good time.

Which meant he more or less shoved the bigger guy back out onto the dance floor just as the song ended before turning back to the smaller person who didn’t look any older then maybe twelve judging by his or her body, “You okay now?” It was asked with all the sincerity of someone who didn’t really care but was just being friendly and trying to help alittle. By the way he was looking around, waiting for the next song to start, it was clear he just wanted to get back out onto the dance floor when the music started again rather than have a conversation with this little…he or she…whichever.

Fractal struggled to get to her feet, but it was difficult in the middle of a mosh pit. It was dark and whenever she managed to regain her balance some idiot would trip over her. May didn't see what happened to the guy who knocked her over in the first place. He probably stumbled off somewhere or something.

May's task was made much harder when somebody stomped on her foot. She yelped in pain, and was about to retaliate when a stranger managed to pull her up. The scientist leaned on the much larger man, foot complaining loudly.

Irritated but the bad turn of events, Fractal was willing to ask for some help. "Ugh, no. Can you help me to the bleachers?" She half spoke, half shouted over the music. May wasn't as annoyed as she usually was because being trampled at a music concert was an experience she was quite familiar with.

Exactly what he didn’t want to happen, had of course, happened. He was just being nice and helping her…or him, back up and was just planning on hitting the floor again and getting lost in the music once again. But, unfortunately, he couldn’t now. He heard what was said clearly…Garou had better hearing even in Homid form after all, so he was able to hear what was half spoken and half shouted at him over the music well enough. “Aye, I can.” It was said loud enough to be heard….and shortly afterwards, just out of the audible hearing range, some muttering would have been heard…if not for the music.

So…after looking around long enough to spot the bleachers, Rory took the injured person who’s gender he still didn’t know by the arm and started to lead him…or her, off to them. He did his best to play bouncer and gently guide those who got too close away while they were still in the Mosh Pit. Once they made their way out of the pit, he didn’t have to do that anymore, though the few who didn’t notice were gently pushed aside, “ ‘Cuse us.” …no reason to be rude about it.

Once they made it to the bleachers, he helped her…or him, get an open seat, there weren’t many of them, but there did happen to be about three open side-by-side that he took advantage of to get the injured person he was helping a seat. Once they were sitting, Rory didn’t stick around…he just took off, and a few minutes later came back with a cup of ice for them. It might not be bag of ice…but well, he did get it from the bar, so it was the best he could manage on short notice. He held the cup of ice out towards her…or him as he spoke, “This should help with your foot. Will you be okay now then?”

Who said there was nobody nice in LA? The man was kind enough to help her across the crowded floor to the bleachers. The pain in her foot was distracting though, and May didn't focus too much on her surroundings. All she wanted was to sit down for a bit and maybe grumble about jerks who don't watch where they were going.

Fractal collapsed into her seat on the bleachers, touching her foot tenderly. "Thanks!" She said to the man's back as he left. The sudden abandonment hurt a bit, but a lift to the bleachers was all she asked for. May sighed and began to take off her shoe to examine the damage.

But then the man came back. May finally got a good look at him. He was pretty cute, all red haired and muscley. Fractal felt a blush adorn her face, and she desperately tried to hide it. "Oh, uh, thank you." She said again, accepting the cup of ice. She pressed it against her wounded appendage, and offered her other hand to the man. "My name's May Lawrence. What's your name?"

Rory caught sight of the blush that came to injured person who’s gender he still didn’t know…that wasn’t unusual to him and it didn’t really take long to figure out what it meant. At least what it meant to him…which was two things; this injured person was attracted to him…or at least thought he was, and they were shy…which given what he saw of their appearance, well it didn’t take him long to figure out why they were shy. But hell, he had already resigned himself to helping them…instead of enjoying this show, so since he or she seemed to want to talk, he was willing to now.

He shook the woman’s hand when it was offered now that he actually knew her name, it was fairly obvious to him that she was a she…even if she wasn’t all that attractive to him. He could hold a conversation with a woman who wasn’t attractive and not hit on her…it was a little more difficult when he was very buzzed and maybe even drunk…but hell, he could at least try, and he had plenty of experience being drunk…so he could at least not make a fool of himself by slurring a lot or something similar.

“Aye, your welcome, Lass. Am Rory…Rory Wallace, ‘sit just a sprain or broken, you think?” He asked the question as he sat down next to her in the other free seat. It took him a minute to get his mind straight enough to not think in pick up lines or the like and instead to think for a conversation. Eventually he figured out something to say other than talking about her injured foot or ankle…whichever it was. “So are you a big fan of…” he paused, taking a second to remember just who it was that was playing still… “Flogging something…you a big fan of there’s then, May?”

"What, this? This is nothing. A bad bruise maybe. I'll be fine." Said May, somewhat sheepishly. Though it was true, her foot hand been stomped rather than twisted. "I mean, I've had worse. I got a black eye at a Mettallica tour, and somebody knocked out two of my teeth when Deathbrigade Six Hundred And Sixty Six was in town."

Fractal shut up, leaving an awkward pause. Okay, so talking about past injuries was not the most feminine thing she could say. Come to think of it, it was about the worst thing she could say. Fractal was getting the unfortunately common 'I'm not interested' signals. Dammit. Oh well, at least she had somebody to talk to and maybe party with.

Thankfully, Rory broke the silence and asked a question about the band. "It's 'Flogging Molly'. And no, not really. There's a few songs that I like but I only have one of their albums. I'm more into heavy metal. Especially old school metal. Metallica, Iron Maiden, Helloween, Slayer, Dio, that kind of stuff. There's also some decent power metal bands out there, like, uh, Majesty, Dream Evil, Paragon, and Dethklok. Though I wouldn't call Dethklok powermetal."

"But flogging Molly does a great live show, and I wanted to go out this weekend so here I am! What about yourself Rory? What tickles your ear?" Asked May with a sight smile.

If he was asked, Rory would have admitted that hearing that this little girl…since that’s what he saw, what’s what he thought her as…even if she wasn’t young per say, she was fairly petite, at least to his sight. He would have admitted that he was surprised to learn that she had a black eye and a few teeth knocked out at a show before…that wasn’t something he usually associated with petite women. He associated that more with guys who frequented shows and mosh pits a lot…usually fairly drunk at the time. So it was a surprise to learn that it was the case for her. It certainly made her unique.

Given the bands she had previously mentioned seeing live, it was no surprise for Rory to learn that she usually liked heavy metal more. Everyone knew of Metallica and Iron Maiden and Slayer and Dio…the other bands she listed, he had never heard of. But those four were very well known, so with what she had said, it wasn’t any surprise to learn that she favored those bands…hell, anyone who bragged about getting a black eye at a Metallica show had to like the music. Otherwise, why go?

The young Fiann just shrugged as he answered her question, “Can’t be specific, Lass. Anything that gets the blood pumping and gets people moving is good ta me. Am only here because me overheard others talking about it and they said it was supposed to be a good show, so figured I’d come check it out. But me’ve heard of a few of those bands you mentioned…listened to them a few times meself though ne’er saw them live. Do nae get to shows much.” Okay, so that was a bit more personal then he generally got with women he’s just me…but since he had no interest in sleeping with her, it wasn’t that odd to him to be more specific about himself.

“Which is your favorite band then, Lass? Sounds like yew’ve seen several. How does Flogging Molly stack up with their live show compared to other’s yew’ve seen?” He asked the questions with genuine interest…since he had no desire to sleep with her, he could get to know her a bit, even if he didn’t expect to ever see her again after tonight.

The man did not seem immediately repulsed by her past adventures in Metal. In fact he didn't seem to have any musical preferences at all. What he did have was a irish accent. Strange, May would have figured that he would love music like this. If you went by the stereotype, of course.

It was rare that people bothered to ask May about Music, and in this instance Fractal found herself positively gushing. "Oh, Dream Evil's my favorite band by far! They're like Swedish power metal combined with old school heavy stuff! It's awesome. They took the band name from a Dio album. That's respect right there. The Metal community's really tight-knit. Probably because they'll all a bunch of dorks, instead of the rappers who take shots at each other. Heh."

"I've never seen 'em live though. Flogging Molly does a pretty good live show. The genre lends it to it. But the best Life Show has to be Iron Maiden, no question. Some of their live albums are better than their in-studio recordings. Plus after all the years of practice they know how to put on a great concert. If you ever get the chance you should go see them!"

Now that her rare fangirl moment had passed, Fractal attempted to steer the conversation in another direction. "So Rory, you're not from around here right? I can tell by the accent. Where are you from? What are you doing in LA?"

Dream Evil…that was a bad he had never heard of before, though it sounded interesting. Swedish power metal…that was an interesting description to him, not that he knew much of anything about Sweden or their metal, but from her description they were bound to be similar to Dio which he did know of. And Dio’s music was pretty good, so he’d have to check out Dream Evil…assuming he even remembered the name in the future. He hoped he would at least, so that he could find some of their music and give them a listen. “Aye, will give Dream Evil a listen sometime, sounds like their good.”

When she went on to talk about Iron Maiden…well, he had certainly heard of them. He was a good fan of their music, it might not get people moving the most, but they were certainly able to get everyone up and singing along and enjoying themselves. Which was all apart of the appeal for the young Fiann. So it was very easy for him to believe that they put on the best live show she’s seen. Hell, he’s been wanting to see them for some time but things just never worked out for him to be able to. “Aye, been wanting to…things just never worked out though, but I will at some point.”

And then she asked the unexpected, not just about him personally but what he was doing in LA. It didn’t take him long to decide to answer it, mostly truthfully. It wasn’t like he had any particular reason to lie about it anyways, so he’d have no problems being mostly honest. “Nay, am not from here. Originally me was born in the States, but I left really young for Ireland. Me family did nae stay there with me though…they came back here, haven’t seen ‘em since then, so am here to find them mostly. Have nae even talked to them since then. So am working at tracking them down now, though it’s nae easy. Yourself, Lass?” He wouldn’t go into detail specifically about how he was tracking them down, if he was asked that, he’d lie about it…but he doubted he would be asked that much.

Fractal listened to the taller man talk about his family in his peculiar irish accent. She put the ice cup down and stood on her foot, testing it's strength. She winced again as pain shot up her leg, and plopped back down on the bleachers. "You should try to get to seem them before they get too old to tour. It's a really great show."

The apparent American had a peculiar story about his presence in his home country. "Oh, so they left you behind? Why? And why didn't they keep in contact with you after leaving? Even with long distance phone prices, seems weird that they didn't at least write you a letter or something. What really happened? Do too many drugs? Cause a scene? Knock up the wrong girl?" Asked May with an impish grin and her usual social awkwardness.

"Well, how long have you been looking? What did you do back in Ireland before returning to the states?" Asked Fractal. The Scientist tended to place a lot more worth on what a person's career was than on how well they spoke.

If he was someone else and not more than a little buzzed at present, he might have noticed that May ignored his question. He might have noticed it and cared that she seemed to be the one asking the questions. But Rory wasn’t someone else. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and especially not while more than a little buzzed. Even sober he probably wouldn’t have noticed, but especially being buzzed as he was, he certainly didn’t notice it.

A frown did come to his face though as he saw that she still couldn’t walk…considering that he certainly didn’t come here, to a concert, to play nurse or doctor, seeing that she still couldn’t walk wasn’t exactly a good sign to him unless he wanted to be a complete asshole and just abandon her here unable to walk on her own. He was soon distracted though by what she was saying. “Aye, so me is told.”

…And then she started to ask question that he really didn’t want to even think about, let alone answer for himself. The way things happened, well…everything occurred really fast back then. Sure, they communicated, sent a few letters…made a few phone calls, and then those all just stopped. The reason they stopped brought back bad memories…such was no doubt written on his face, he didn’t like thinking about what happened to his aunt and uncle and cousins. But that was the reason his parents stopped the calls and letters…he knew it had to be, because after that he never returned to that home and no one lived there anymore so they got absolutely no answer. It was a touchy subject for him, one that made him regret the fact that he was still even talking to May here.

As such he chose to simply ignore those questions and forget that they were even asked….instead he focused his attention towards her last few questions. “Almost a year now, Lass. Back in Ireland, me was a student. What do you do then?” It wasn’t an outright lie, he was a student in a manner of speaking for most of the time he was in Ireland…he just didn’t have any classes in the sense that those who went to a school did nor textbooks or anything of that nature, but he was learning. He just couldn’t go into detail about what he was actually learning if asked, so he’d avoid doing that. Once again he attempted to shift the conversation back towards her.

Tipsy as May was, she did notice Rory sidestepped her absolute barrage of questions. "Ooooh, I get it. Sensitive issue huh? Well, don't worry. You don't have to say anything. I won't pry. I'm not a pryer. Nope. Not me." That being said, Fractal immediately began to pry. "You knock up the wrong girl, didn't you? Nothing gets the gaelic blood boiling like a good old fashioned blood feud." She questioned curiously.

Though the man tried to steer the conversation in her direction, May wasn't easily swayed. After all, she knew everything about herself already, but so little about the stranger. "Student huh? Which school did you go to? What did you study?"

"I'm a car mechanic. I run a small general repair shop outside of my garage. I also restore old vintage cars and sell them at the auction. Not so much anymore because there's not much money in it with the economy as it is." Said May. Of course she didn't mention the many other jobs in her other life, but it was nice to have something mundane to bring up in normal conversation.

"Ooooh, I get it. Sensitive issue huh? Well, don't worry. You don't have to say anything. I won't pry. I'm not a pryer. Nope. Not me."


Rory just stayed quiet as May stated the obvious. He didn’t care to talk about it with a random human he was helping at a concert, so he wasn’t about to confirm nor deny whether it was a sensitive issue. Instead, he listened more to the music rather than whatever it was that she was about to say. Once again, he missed the fact that she sidestepped his question and posed another one to him. If he had been more aware and less buzzed, he might have found it suspicious that she seemed to be asking all the questions. But of course, he didn’t even notice.

Her next question caught him off guard and made him pay more attention to her though, it was such a sudden change to him, probably because he wasn’t paying attention to part of what she said. But it still caught him off guard enough to make him pause and actually think before speaking. He didn’t care to make up some story on the spot about what sort of student he was though, so he just ignored those particular questions. After all, it wasn’t like it’d matter in the long run, he never expected to see May again after he finally had his reason to go back to enjoying the concert. So it wouldn’t matter whether he ignored parts of what she said.

The next shift in conversation that came, was just as abrupt as the first to him. Rory wasn’t the smartest guy even when sober, so his being distracted with a concert that he wanted to enjoy and buzzed both left him with having a difficult time following this conversation. As such, he didn’t really understand nor make the connection to what was previously said and what May was now saying, when she was talking about her job. Thanks to that, it just seemed like a very random statement to him.

Unfortunately though, his past with automobiles wasn’t the greatest, so when May started talking about her job at a repair’s shop, as a mechanic, it just brought up bad memories for him. In less than had to be ten minutes the frequency of such memories being brought up for him, left him more than looking for an excuse to leave her here to tend her own injury.

It didn’t take him long to find such an excuse either. One look towards his forgotten beer and he had his excuse. “Aye, good work there, Lass…fixing cars. Am getting another drink, Lass…rest that ankle.” So it wasn’t the most graceful exit, but hell, he wasn’t the most graceful person when it came to words, not when he wasn’t telling a story anyways, as such he just got up and walked off to find himself another drink and then get lost in the crowd.

"Huh? Oh. Sure." Replied the girl, leaning her back painfully against the bleachers. EVentually her leg got better and she could walk with it, the injury was quite minor. But by then a half an hour passed, and her mind went over how the man became increasingly distant during their conversation and the line up for drinks wasn't that long.

Yep. She'd been ditched. Again.

((OOC: THREAD OVAR!))