Studio C shake it out
#1

outfit minus the glasses and the bag



A night life was an important part of being a young 20-something college student. Byx didn't actually believe this in the least, but sometimes it felt better to stretch a little for what would look utterly normal to anyone else. And she didn't hate music at all. In fact, she liked most any kind, provided it wasn't too aggressive in its lyrics. So when she'd seen a poster for the band playing tonight here at Studio C she'd decided... why not?

Without much of anyone to invite, she'd come alone, but her mood was bright. She felt youthful and involved as she walked into the small venue, music already drumming the walls. Good music to move to, though at first most people were standing or sitting to listen.

But then, as things wound up, a group across the room started to dance and she thought... she wanted to do that. So she rose up from her spot where she'd been comfortably sitting. No one else rose with her, but she didn't let that stop her, looking around to the surrounding people, offering, "Come dance!" with a wave. Didn't matter who, it was a shared experience and it'd be even better if she could get a whole group moving.

Byx could feel the music in her chest, and the movement was easy to fall into. It soothed part of her, not just sitting quietly among all these bodies.
#2

outfit with an armfull of these



This place was big! Not even in size, just, felt big. There was a lot of noise and lights, and a lot of adultier people than Logan that seemed like they knew what they were doing here! Logan was particularly good at pretending they knew what they were doing at all times, but even in this situation, they were kind of overwhelmed! They heard about this place, knew kind of what it was, but there was a difference in saying you were going to go to an underground music venue and actually being there.

The music thump-thumped in Logan's chest, and they clutched their drink of ginger ale in both hands, perched on a high stool with their leg shaking somewhat to the beat. It would be easy just to leave and go home, but they weren't quite ready to admit to themselves that they were out of their depth here yet! And they'd gotten all dressed up! Vintage shirt, and vintage bracelets they found at a thrift shop. They looked cool! But didn't feel cool :(

That was why it was very good that someone in the crowd came to them. Logan straightened up, eyes widening as they regarded the stranger with a renewed spout of confidence. Come dance, they said! Logan could... dance!? Dancing was one of those things they did in their bedroom or in their van, or with Ma or Pa in the living room. It was a free, uncoordianted movement of their limbs. Noodly! Was it dancing, or just flailing? Ehhhhhh!!!???

"Iiiiiiii..." Logan said, seemingly reluctant for all they were spilling off their seat. "I dunno how!" They admitted. Maybe this stranger could teach them!
#3
Others had gotten up, thinking the idea was good, but Byx remained with her eyes locked on the one she had gotten a most direct response to. Younger than herself. And felt... like her, too. A were.

It wasn't so often Byx met any... let alone made contact. But she felt her heart twist at the idea of someone so young--like she'd been--being out here like this. She'd offered to dance and goodness she was absolutely going to make good on that. So she unleashed a glowing grin, and held out both her hands to the slight creature in welcome and persuasion.

"Yeah!" she called over the music. "I'm really no good anyway, but it'll be more fun together!"

How cute, though. What were they? Felt... not so big. She ignored her own hyper-aware inner animal. Martens didn't dance.
#4
Well! That was a good way to convince Logan. At least if they looked silly, they wouldn't look silly alone. Still a touch sheepish, Logan took the outstretched hands, which met no resistance even when the burst of awareness came rushing up at Logan like an excited puppy. Hey! Mohawk perked, hawk mowing. Something! Nothing big, but something else like them. Logan gasped, then grinned, and squeezed a bit harder as they were lead.

"Okay!" They agreed, spirited by the kinship. It was too loud in here to really focus a whole lot on the details. All they knew was this person was nice and was like them, so it was impossibly easy to find a reason to trust them. Out into the dance floor they went!
#5
They got out there together, two willy young human-shaped things and their small little, vibrating animals. The song continued, upbeat and shaking the air, and Byx decided to take the lead. She kept one hand of her new friend and began to jump in place, figuring that was a good start. Get them moving with the energy and loosen up the limbs and the mind. Then, after a few good seconds of that, she began to pump her fist in the air more or less with the beat.
#6
Logan was more than willing to follow this stranger's lead. Once the bodies all around them were packed in tight, and they were feeling even smaller than ever before, they looked to their new friend for direction. In doing so, they found, to their surprise, that dancing was actually just jumping. Just jumping! That was easy! Laughing wildly, Logan sprung up, down, up! The music beat in the very core of them, shaking their teeth and blurring their eyes. So they closed those eyes, missing the cue to lift their hands.

But after a few moments, it kind of was natural, wasn't it? They lifted their arms half way up, feeling what felt right, sticking their elbows out in a chicken-wing stance. And twisted! Back and forth! As they jumped! DANCING!
#7
It wasn't usually super kind to think of grown people as 'cute,' but this one was SO short and so sparkly once they got out there and moving, Byx found it swiftly impossible to think anything other than adorable.

And easy to get into the groove with. Jumping and arm waving soon turned into boogying around with twists and flapped elbows. It was absolutely silly, like children at a wedding almost, but Byx was into it. It was movement, pure and without thought, and it was what she'd found she wanted. Others around them began to do similarly, and soon enough it was clear no one at all was judging--at least no one who mattered.

Kick those legs, spin around!
#8
It was better than any silly dancing they'd ever done in the living room. Sorry to Pa! But most of that had always just been him picking Logan up and swinging them around all crazy. But this was better because it was them, moving their own arms and legs and head. The music was different, too. Not something from the seventies, but something new and loud and young. Like Logan!

So they danced, bursting with energy like a firework. When they opened their eyes, they remembered their friend and outstretched their arms in an unspoken invitation to lock hands. If she wanted to! If they weren't taken, that was alright, Logan lacked the capacity to feel slighted right now.
#9
They both got into it. Byx wan't quite as young or as bright and shiny, but she had started this and she did feel good about it. It was a good evening out, a good moment with someone like her who didn't immediately latch on to that fact. She found she wouldn't mind finding out more about this young person, after they danced.

In a similar vein, she didn't mind taking hands either. It got her a better 'look,' a flash of strange fur and a little face. But the hand itself was warm and pretty human, and they were able to bounce together hand in hand. Byx hollered along with a brief line of lyric she knew, grinning.
#10
The flash they got was very, very weird! Something long and slinky! And the color of a toasted marshmallow! But that was all Logan could really pick up, and definitely not something they could focus on for too long. They were dancing! And laughing! Not singing, because they didn't know this song, but they liked the way their new friend sang without worry of people hearing. That's how Logan liked to sing. They didn't know if they were any good, but it didn't matter when the music was playing. Or really, it didn't matter literally at all! Singing wasn't just about sounding good.

Eventually, the song did end. And as their heart beat heavy in their chest, their ears ringing and rushing with the blast of noise and blood in their veins, Logan looked red-faced at their new companion. "I'm so sweaty!!!"
#11
It was good and they felt alive! And when the song ended, only to be punctuated with the sentiment, Byx laughed. "Me too! Do you want to go get something to drink?"

They didn't serve alcohol here or anything, but they did have sodas and water in bottles and such. And right about now, Byx could really use something. "I can buy!" In case that was a deterrent.
#12
Logan was pretty sure they could drink all of Lake Osprey.

Grinning and flushed, they nodded in agreement to their new friend, flattered by the offer of her buying something. They would have to pay her back!

Feeling small but in the way that made them feel like part of something bigger as a whole, they followed the other Were out of the thick of the crowd. Keeping close, they asked, "What's your name!"
#13
Stuck close. Could even keep her hand, if they wanted! Either way, it was easy enough to weave through the crowd--it seemed to part naturally when anyone passed through. Byx figured that was part of the environment. It was a cooperative mob of bodies.

"Byx!" she informed, voice raised be sure to be heard. "How about you?"
#14
Whoa! Logan never had heard that name before!

"I like that!" Logan yelled over the beginning of the next song. "My name is Logan!" Man, but Byx was so cool! They wanted a cool short name! Log?

Hmm. No.
#15
Logan did seem like the sort who would like Byx's name, genuinely. Not the sort just to say so because it was a strange name and they didn't know what else to say.

They closed in on the counter that was selling bottles of water and soda and even a few juices. Stuff to keep the crowd hydrated on this hot summer night. "Whatever you want, Logan." Byx didn't go out often. She had the money to spend on a new dance friend.

She was getting a Dr. Pepper for fun and a water for responsibility for herself, thank you.
#16
Whoa! Whatever, ever? Logan blinked, taken aback by the stranger's generosity. Well, if Byx was offering to buy them something to drink, then did that count as being friends? It did in their book. Grinning ear to ear, Logan claimed themselves a rootbeer, giddy with the energy and the promise of a brief sugar high.

"Thanks!" They yelled over the music, maybe too loud! They forgot Byx also could hear as well as they could.
#17
Woo, loud indeed! But Byx took it as enthusiasm and didn't mind so much. It was loud in here anyway. "No problem!"

With that and a nudge, and was trying to get Logan to follow her toward the back wall where it was a little quieter and a little less crowded. Somewhere they could still listen to the band but not be in the way and have their drinks and maybe even talk a little.

"Your first time in here?" she questioned them when she could.
#18
Their ears still rang like the music was in them as they got somewhere quieter, but it was easier to hear themselves talk as they followed Byx. "Yeah! First time somewhere like this, ever." They admitted freely. And while it'd been very overwhelming, it was much less so now. Now that they had a friend! Scary things were easier with friends.
#19
"Wow, and you came alone?" Byx was visibly impressed. Her first few concert type things she had dragged along a whole group. Those had been in younger years, though. It had been a while since she'd had a group of anyone. Solo friends were a little different.
#20
Well, yeah! "I do most adventures alone!" They declared, though there was no bite of sadness in those words. It was what was exciting if they were being honest. Because then, they got to meet all kinds of new people, and stay in touch with the ones they met on their other adventures. They were still navigating this whole independence thing, but striking out alone was the number one most important part of it.
#21
Byx laughed, not sure why she was laughing, but laughing anyway. Nicely.

"Alright, I guess that's fair! Me too, lately." Lately being... a while now, but. Nonetheless. "But I think this is my first qualifying adventure in a while."

Settled in comfortably on a wall, she pried open her soda to drink some of that, first.
#22
Byx too! A fellow adventurer! Though, this was her first time in a while. "How come its been a while?" Logan asked, and followed suit in opening their drink for a swig, an easy mimic.
#23
"I got really busy with school as soon as I moved here," she explained, feeling comfortable with this were--this fellow person who wasn't so utterly unlike herself but didn't feel heavy for it. "I guess school is a bit of its own adventure, but it's not really like this." She swooped her hand and her soda bottle around at their surroundings.
#24
School! Logan did school, but it was all on their computer. But Byx seemed like she did school in the real world.

"You go to real life school??" They questioned eyes full moons. "Like, in person?"
#25
Well, the enthusiasm was unexpected! It made Byx think of Joseph for some reason.

"Oh! Yeah! Over at the community college in Alder Heights... I don't live on campus but I spend most of my days there anyway."

It wasn't very interesting information, but Logan seemed so interested that Byx was inclined to divulge a bit.
#26
Whoa! Whoa!!

"Yeah?!" They blinked in awe, "Do you sit in a big class with a professor? Do you have a big library? Do you do study sessions? Is there a campus park?" Rapid fire questions, one after another, growing more fevered as they shot them off, bouncing on their heels with each question mark.
#27
Wow, super into it!

Byx smiled, genuinely taken by all of this, but found it was hard to keep up!

"Oh yeah, there are big lecture halls and stuff, and smaller classes, and a whole library. And there's a quad in the middle of campus, that's sort of like a park!"

Byx was pretty sure there was something else that had been asked, but it was lost all in the noise.
#28
Logan was enamoured, absolutely romanticizing every detail in their mind. "It's like a movie!" They declared, gesturing wildly with their drink. "Man! I wanna go to a place like that one day." Maybe when they decided what they wanted to study beyond basic classes. But they hadn't even thought about what they wanted a DEGREE in!
#29
"You should! I would even be happy to show you around, if you ever came by campus or anything. I think I've finally got most of it figured out, wouldn't mind helping you out. Do you have any ideas about what you might want to study?"

This was the next natural thing to ask when you started in on school talk, of course.
#30
Whoa.

Whoa!

A college student offering them a college tour??? That sounded.

So.

Cool.

Logan couldn't really even make words right now. The question was overwhelming as the offer. So they just sort of blinked at Byx, smile wide as they shook their head first in a nod, then side to side. Yes and no and yes and please and whoa!
#31
Oh this poor lost little sprite. She loved them.

Grinning sweetly about it, she declared, "Can always take your basic classes until you decide what you want to do, too. Getting those out of the way is the best."
#32
Hey! Basic classes. Logan knew about those.

"Yeah I do those online!" They proclaimed. "I'm killin' them before I choose a thing. I don't know what to pick, though! Maybe I can see when I come?" Maybe there was like a list or something. Or maybe they'd meet someone that did a thing they wanted to do, too.

"What do you do?"
#33
Well, sounded like Logan was on the right track, then!

"Actually, I haven't decided yet either." But her time was getting closer and closer where she was going to have to choose... something, right? "I've been thinking about psychology maybe? Or... maybe some sort of engineering, but I guess I haven't really put my heart into anything just yet."
#34
Those were big words. Big things to study. But it was comforting that Byx didn't know yet, either. It made Logan feel normal, which was a feeling that they found themselves chasing very often. It was what had driven them out here tonight. And while they'd gotten overwhelmed, Byx was there to bring them back down into a comfortable feeling. It was good. Logan smiled, feeling warm.

"Well we should be friends. I can text you when I go to your school and we can talk about classes." Nice, normal things. Logan wanted nothing else.
#35
"Absolutely. Let me get you my number," she agreed, happy for it and finding she was thinking about what Joseph had said, again... That she was suited for helping those new to the school or whatever. At least that was how it had settled in her mind long term.

He'd been nice. She still needed to contact him again. Maybe he'd like to meet Logan, too. They could make a newbie group.
#36
"Heck yeah!"

They promptly offered their number. When that was done, and a new song began, Logan grinned and tugged on Byx's arm

"Let's dance more!"
#37
More than happy to go along with it. They could dance for a while, if Logan was up for it!

"Let's goooo!!"
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