[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/d5Tvd19.png[/img][/center][hr][color=gray][b]Location:[/b][/color] Festival Grounds
[color=gray][b]Interactions:[/b][/color] Talie [@PrinceAlexus] and Reya [@The Muse]
[hr]
[i]‘Why’d you do that?’[/i] 

A ghost echoed through Em’s brain as she stepped away, squirming into her foremost thoughts. 

[color=c4df9b][i]‘...I don’t know. It was impulsive. I just felt like I could. Because it made me feel more powerful than I am.’[/i][/color]

[i]‘Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should. Those people had feelings, and even if they didn’t, you shouldn’t disrespect people based on their body type. That’s not fair. Do you really want to be just like the people that said those same types of things to you?’[/i]

Her inner voice was right. She knew she hadn’t made the most morally sound choice. She understood that she had lashed out because she wanted to control the situation and the people around it. It was what she did, but it never made her look good. It just hurt people. All she did was hurt people because deep down inside: she hurt. 

[color=c4df9b][i]‘...I’m sorry.[/i][/color]’

Emily looked back at the blondes she had menaced just moments ago with a pang of guilt heavy in her heart. Melancholy was written into her expression, and a tide of self-loathing inundated the young woman. Part of her longed to apologize and make things right, but she squashed those feelings down. No, she hammered it down. What’s done was done, and she couldn’t change that. A silent shovel buried her pain, her grief, and her loneliness in a shallow grave once again. It was better this way. Sure, the next passing storm would exhume the festering emotions she didn’t want to confront, as it always did, but she’d be okay. She could get by if she was just ‘okay.’

[color=8c546f]"Hey, Em.”[/color]

Her internal dilemma was shoved aside by a familiar voice. Em blinked away her mental downpour and focused on the lovely face of Reya Parker. There was a time when a 13 year old Em had made a bouquet of flowers with the tag [i]‘For: The Prettiest Girl in Sanctuary’[/i] with Reya in mind, but one of the Serrano Twins thought it was for them instead. They snatched it from her, and Em was relentlessly teased for it. Even to this day, she could still recite the jeers her classmates made about her sexuality. Just another reason she could never forgive the Serranos.

As her blue eyes ran up to meet Reya’s chocolate orbs, there was a small sense of ease that came through. What was strange though, was the curious red tint on her cheeks. A blush? Was Reya blushing because she was talking to [i]her[/i]? A sudden panic flew through Em. She’d never met anyone that was actually interested in her before, at least not one so visibly.

[color=c4df9b]“H-h-hey, Reya. W-what’s up?”[/color] she stammered out with a goofy smile, awkwardly jamming her hands into her pockets and looking anywhere but into Reya’s eyes. She didn’t understand how she could be such a goof after her brief incident with the blonde woman earlier and her momentary boldness. Maybe it was the adrenaline? But here, right now, she couldn’t keep her shit together when Reya was talking to her.

Then suddenly, even that came crashing down, as Reya lurched at her with a pointed finger and called back over her shoulder: [color=8c546f]"Zack!"[/color] 

Behind her, Em noticed the silhouette of her brother and knew at once she’d been sold out: [i]another passing storm[/i]. Even if the earlier spat between Zack and herself was minor in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that that bothered her. It was the pointing:  Reya had her index finger levied at her like Em was some kind of cryptid, a spectacle for masses. Apparently, there was nothing different about her, nothing that separated her from the kids that had tormented Em. In this moment, Reya wasn’t the pretty woman Em remembered. No, she was downright hideous.

[hr]
Yards away, Zack hesitated on the pathway to follow the flustered brunette, his attention suddenly drawn to the sound of two distant figures over the festival’s intercoms. He could make out a professional spokeslady, Jewel, and the Mayor. It was a lot of hubbub about nothing, really, but there was one important part: the funnel cakes were nearing. Oh, that sweet, sweet tasty treat… They could pour that sugar all over him. 

[i]Sugar. Pour Some Sugar On Me.[/i]

Zack snapped in a eureka moment, beaming at his own genius. He whipped out his smart phone and quickly began writing out a new set list for his band mates. It was a bit last minute, but he was more than confident they could crank out this list. Unfortunately, since this was a public, family-friendly event, most of the songs didn’t include a lot of swearing. Although she had only done a couple small live performances, this was going to be Em’s big debut: she’d be singing most of the songs this time! Yeah, she was gonna hate it, but this was the least she could do for all the trouble she’d made today.

From some distance away, he was summoned by his former classmate, who bellowed out his name with some amount of intensity. Happily, he started skipping toward Reya’s voice. Apparently Talie had decided to tag along too, from the looks of it!

[hr]
Em glowered at Reya, her mouth very nearly on the verge of saying something she would definitely regret, until a familiar [i]ding[/i] uttered from her phone. Quickly checking her messages, she found one from her brother. Her azure eyes widened in horror at what she saw:


[hider=Set list change:]

[i]Pour some sugar on me - Def (Em)
Timber - Kesha (Zack)
Material Girl - Madonna (Em)
Shake It Off - T. Swift (Zack)
Crazy Train - Ozzy (Em)
Believe - Cher (Zack)
Hell is for Children - Patty B. (Em)
How You Remind Me - Nickle (Zack)
Feel like a woman - Shania (Em)
maybe/drown - MGK/BMTH (Zack)
Crazy On You - Heart (Em)[/i]
[/hider]
[color=c4df9b]“WHAT?! MADONNA?! I CAN’T SING MADONNA!”[/color] Em practically screamed, just as Reya’s form fell to the ground. Something had happened while she was distracted and suddenly there was another woman standing next to a prone Reya. 

[color=c4df9b]“Reya, you clumsy dope.”[/color] Her mousy voice had a bite to it. She shook her head at the brunette and gave the other woman a glare. [color=c4df9b]“Did Zack really hire you goons to find me? Fuck me, he’s about as dumb as your rocks.”[/color] She pointed at this new woman’s [i]USGS[/i] badge with a bit of an attitude. Her gaze whisked past them and noticed her taller brother’s taller form bearing down on the trio. 

[color=c4df9b]“Zack, what the hell are you thinking?! WHY AM I SINGING MADONNA?! OR POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME, FOR THAT MATTER?!”[/color] Em was not happy at all at the choices. 

Never faltering with his smile, Zack shrugged in response. [color=C70E13]“Because I know you can do it. It’s only fair after you killed Jerry too.”[/color] Em huffed in resignation with a roll of her eyes. It was going to be a little weird singing a sexually charged Def Leppard in front of this crowd, but... that one she at least felt comfortable about.  

[color=C70E13]“Great job by the way, Reya! I know you were the right pick. I don’t think I could’ve found her without Talie of the UPS and our town’s one and only Reya Parker.”[/color] He quirked an eyebrow at the brunette's prone body, unsure how she managed to get down there. Not a bad view though!

[color=c4df9b]“It’s USGS, you moron. It’s literally on her badge.”[/color] Em quipped.

[color=C70E13]“Whatever, pipsqueak.”[/color]