Entertaining a Mob 101(Job w/ Sayuri)

Rosa looked out to the loud and giant crowd rather nervously as she held a microphone in her hand, their restless noise getting louder with each passing second. Now you may ask why would Rosabell be standing here on the stage instead of some puffy arrogant musician or a bright and cheerful idol. The simple answer was that Rosa was hired to act as a temporary fill-in for some exotic foreign dancer that had been amassing an ever growing fan base as of late. To be honest she hadn't even asked for the job, she just happened to be walking by the Concertum when she got the offer and they paid well, so who was she to refuse such an offer? Of course she didn't realize just how many fans there was going to be and as a result she was feeling a little overwhelmed.

She was never really the type to entertain people with acts, and while she was a sociable person, gigantic crowds of people who didn't even want her there in the first place wasn't exactly her ideal setting. Not only that, but she had no plan of action when it came to this supposed fill in entertainment she was supposed to provide for these..hungry fans.

She could provide a flute solo, but something like that was more in line as a background theme to a greater performance, like someone singing or well..dancing. Plus she highly doubted that she would be able to sate such a giant crowd with a couple tunes that the majority probably couldn't recognize. She had to think of something that could keep this crowd entertained long enough, so that they wouldn't leave before the dancer arrived, then as if a bolt from god struck her and idea popped into her head. Comedy! The answer was so simple, she would tell a few funny jokes keep the audience glued and laughing and boom she would walk away with a full wallet! Grasping her microphone confidently she would look out towards the large crowd with a new vigor.  Of course she was so caught in the spur of the moment that she had completely forgotten one major fact.

Her comedic skills were absolutely abysmal.

"Hello there one and all! I know I am not the one you came to see, but your esteemed dancer is still getting ready as to give you all the best performance possible. So, I'll be the one to keep you all glued to your seats in amazement, an appetizer if you will!" She would say as she gestured out to the crowd with over-dramatized flair and passion. She was nearly bouncing on the balls of her feet at this point, she had the perfect opening joke and it would only get better from there. There was not a single doubt in her mind that soon, all of these people would be laughing impatient their tushes off!

"Now, is everyone all right?" A few murmured yeses erupted from the crowd, casing a large fanged grin to appear on Rosabell's face, along with a mental chibi of herself dancing on her own head. They had activated her trap joke without even realizing it! "No, you are all left!"

She regretted the joke immediately as an awkward silence passed over the entire Concertum. One could hear a pin drop if they focused enough, of course that silence didn't last long as a new noise filled the area, and it most certainly wasn't positive. Boos, loud resounding boos coming from every audience member that she could see, thankfully they had enough class as not to throw food at her but it was still a major blow to her pride. This task was going to be much more difficult than she thought, and she could only hope that those in charge could see her struggle and do something to help.

WC: 647
Overall WC: 647
Combined WC: 647

Novitiate Performer:

Sayuri was starting to regret walking past the concertum on her way out. She'd gotten back from a long job feeling drained, and had decided she was too lazy to cook. No problem, right? The solution to that was simple enough, but she'd also decided that she'd like to treat herself a bit. So she'd dragged herself to her closet and thrown on her red dress, then headed out for a nice, quiet dinner. But those plans had been horribly and heart-wrenchingly dashed the minute she walked past the building in question, and was spotted by the manager, standing outside with a frantic look on his face. Oh no, what now? He charged over to her at an alarming speed, and she knew something... Unpleasant was coming.

"You- You're a member of Crystal Swan, right?"

Err... Could she just lie and say no? Would it make the problem go away? She suspected the answer was no, and besides, she didn't lie. Even if she wanted to, she wasn't at all good at it.

"Uh, yeah. I'm a Crystal Swan mage."

"Perfect!" The man latched onto her arm, practically dragging her toward the concert hall without so much as an explanation.

"What... What is going on?" The girl stammered, confused.

"We have some dancers that are supposed to perform tonight," the manager explained. "But they haven't shown up yet. We need someone to entertain the crowd until they get here. You're one of them artsy mages, surely you can do something!"

As they entered the hall, Sayuri could faintly hear a voice speaking on the microphone on stage, and caught the tail end of what was probably meant to be a joke.

"...You're all left!"

Yikes! The sudden booing that filled the room was rather frightening. Clearly the crowd was not having it tonight. And as she caught her first glimpse around the curtain, she spotted who it was on stage. Rosabell! Suddenly Sayuri felt a lot better about being here. If she was going to get thrown to the wolves, at least she could do so with a friend. A friend who could probably do with just a little bit of help right now, that is...

"Left wondering what's going on, that is," she added, picking up a quick save as she entered onto the stage, flashing Rosabell a smile and trying not to shrink under the weight of all the attention that was now on her. She reached her friend, draping an arm around her in a friendly way. In reality, she was getting just close enough to her ear to whisper to her without being heard over the microphone the manager had given her before sending her out on stage.

"Rosabell, help! I'm not funny!" she hissed quietly.

Post Word Count: 460
Character Word Count: 460/2,000
Total Word Count: 1,106/4,000

Rosabell immediately felt a mountain of worries fade away as soon as someone she knew rather well slipped onto the stage and basically saved her from a fate that could potentially be worse than death. Most of the boos had faded away and with her enhanced senses she was almost a hundred percent sure that she had heard a couple chuckles instead. To them it must've seemed like they had a coordinated joint-joke type deal going on, even though it was just a lucky roll on the board game of life.

Of course it seemed like Sayuri didn't really have much talent when it came to the whole comedy routine, and as it was already established by her oh so victorious joke earlier Rosabell didn't either. It seemed two heads weren't really better than one in this case, of course that didn't mean that they couldn't shine together in a different routine.

"If you couldn't tell, I'm not a genius at this whole comedy thing myself!" Following Sayuri's example she kept her voice low and close so that the audience couldn't hear their discussion. Of course if she couldn't think of something soon it wouldn't really matter if they kept their voices low or not.

Thinking on the facts Rosabell came to two conclusions. One, she had an instrument on standby and she was definitely no slouch when it came to the art of playing it publicly. Two, Sayuri was an extremely pretty woman and from what she remembered about their flute lesson a while back she had experience in singing. And what do you get when you mix music and singing? A perfect act to pass the time!

"You know how to sing right? Unless you can think of something else that will wow the audience I think we should do a combo routine of you singing while I back you up with my oh so masterful flute skills. I have more than a few tricks to make some aesthetic beauty, and I'm sure with your illusion magic there are some pretty tricks to be added as well!" Her voice was full of excitement, if they could pull this off correctly not only would they get ample pay, but they could also gain the favor a future celebrity! She could imagine it now..'Two Crystal Swan mages save a star in the makings career!'

Of course that was on the assumption that they were actually successful, and judging from the unrest that was once again growing in the crowd they would need to get a move on with whatever they were going to do.

WC:437
Overall WC: 1084
Combined WC: 1545

Sayuri let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when she heard the jeering in the crowd fade. She was relieved her quick save had worked, but they still had a lot of work ahead of them if they were going to keep this crowd happy. They'd already shown that they were rather... Picky. It wasn't going to be an easy task, especially considering that she was already tired. At least Rosabell wasn't stuck on the whole comedy routine thing. That probably wasn't the best route for them to be taking...

"Yeah, I sing. I mean, I'm no idol or anything, but I should be able to keep them calmed down, especially if we add in your flute. I think it could definitely work. As far as my illusion magic... I just got back from a job, and my magic is running on empty. I don't think I'll be able to pull anything off."

A sad statement, but true. Her normal swordplay hadn't been enough to get her through that last one, so she'd needed to use her weapon enhancement magic quite liberally. Along with a few of her usual distraction techniques, of course. So it seemed they would just have to get through this show without her magic. That was unfortunate, but couldn't really be helped at the moment. That said...

"What songs do you know on the flute?" she asked, with slight urgency in her voice. Obviously they would have to find one they were both familiar with, if they hoped to both be able to perform it.

She swallowed hard, glancing back out at the crowd. She could sense their restlessness, hear the murmurs starting up. That wasn't a good sign. Tough crowd tonight. They would have to come up with something quickly, or they would end up being the ones on the receiving end of the audience's hate. Visions flashed through her head of being chased out of the concert hall with an angry mob on their heels, and the real performers finally arriving to find the place deserted. Yeah, that would go well. Their chances at fame would turn into infamy real fast.

Uh... She started to think of songs she knew that had good flute parts in them.

"Do you know...?"

She started listing a few, in the vain hope that Rosabell might know one. If not, unless the other girl had better options they would be left with only one choice- making it up as they went. And something told Sayuri that wouldn't end well. She did just fine singing other people's songs, but she'd never really been one for writing her own. Her hobbies tended to lay elsewhere.

Post Word Count: 448
Character Word Count: 908/2,000
Total Word Count: 1,992/4,000