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Orchid Blossom	At the corner of Broard Street and the Avenue of a Thousand Red Lanters a performer sits atop a flight of steps, the young woman obviously Fae-Blooded, sitting on a small stool, dressed in the manner of a veil dancer (yet with only three veils left), but playing a lute. She plays idle tunes, retuning her lute between them. Despite the loud crowds and her quiet music she has quite an audience, likely her skimpy clothing and rather striking appearance.
Whirling Grain	So, Nexus. Right. The big one. The city between the rivers. The Yellow and Gray City. The Big Show. Guild-central. The Ripe Plum. Whirling Grain had only travelled half-way across Creation to be here-- no pressure, now, right?
Whirling Grain	Another woman made her way through the crowd, an instrument case swathed in leather and canvas, tucked under her arm. So, Nexus. Right. The big one. The city between the rivers. The Yellow and Gray City. The City of Steel and Smoke. The Big Show. Guild-central. The Ripe Plum. Whirling Grain had only travelled half-way across Creation to be here, where she could find the biggest crowds in all the world-- no pressure, now, right? She was good. Better than good, she was the best. And she could parley even the sliver of an opening into a step up. But all the charm and talent in the world won't help you if you can't get an introduction, and she was very, very far from home, with an assumed name and a made up backstory to go with it. (Like they say-- 'in Nexus you can be anyone you want to be'). So: start at the very bottom. On a street corner, at the edge of the red light district. Making her way to the other corner, she glanced across the crowd to Orchid Blossom, flashing a dazzling grin. "This a private corner, or can anyone play?"
Orchid Blossom	Orchid Blossom purses hre lips, examining the other woman. "You're most welcome to join me here." The Fae-Blood has the musical lilt of Great Forks to her accent. "Just make sure that if an official asks for you to pay a music tax that you make sure he's got an official seal. There's some scoundrels out there who will try to collect on their own behalf." The Fae-Blood quite openly looks Whirling Grain up and down. "So what are you here for, busking for coin, or putting your name out there so you can get even more coin as a courtesan?"
Whirling Grain	Whirl smiles that cocky, gigawatt smile. "Lady, y'all have *no* idea how much coin I'ma get with my music." She turns and a shawl falls away from her like a cape, revealing the stylized green-and-gold tabard, with its legend: Trade. In. Nexus. Even in the far-off library city of Kandara, they knew that was the one thing that could never be impeded. "Listen up!" She turned to address the crowd, the latches on her instrument case releasing with an audible *click* "I'm Whirling Grain," she says as she pulls a sort of strange foreign lyre up to her neck, and raising a bow to match it. "And this.... this is a moment I think y'all are going to wanna remember."
Orchid Blossom	Orchid Blossom sets her lute into its case, lips once again pursed. This Whirling Grain person has style, and she looks pretty hot. The Fae-Blood woman's pointed ears twitch slightly as she tilts her head, waiting to see how good this woman is. "Take it away Whirling Grain." She crosses her legs.
Whirling Grain	So... that was good. Um. Better than good. Better than mortal. Impossibly, transcendantly good. A rollicking, screeching southern reel she'd picked up on her way through Chiaroscuro. Something like Nexus had never seen. And the crowd went WILD, into a frenzy, nearly a riot, as she attempted to take her bow and end the set.
Orchid Blossom	Orchid Blossom is on her feet - but so is the crowd. A green silken veil is unwraped from about her shoulders and cast to Whirling Grain, leaving the Fae-blood even more scantily-clad than before. "That wasy amazing!" She shouts to (maybe) be heard over the crowd, going so far as to try to embrace the taller woman in a hug!
Whirling Grain	Whirl accepts the shawl with aplomb and a confident wink-- she knows the kind of effect her music has on people. Though somehow she manages to avoid the hug (how did she do that? She shouldn't be able to move that fast!)-- for the moment, Orchid Blossom was just another stranger on the street, albeit a cute fellow musician. "OK, so, that's a bit that's popular where I come from. Ah hear this next one is a bit of a local classic?"
Orchid Blossom	"Encore!" The Fae-Blood takes off another veil, throwing it to the amazing musician, left now only with one violet veil about her waist. She is unused to being so unnoticed when topless, but doesn't even seem to care. "Whirling Grain! Whirling Grain!" The Fae-Blood tried to whip the crowd up into a frenzy!
Orchid Blossom	The crowd erputs into a deafening cheer, the people at the back pushing forward, driving the front rows up the steps toward the two women. Orchid Blossom herself has fingers to hre lips, letting out a piercing whistle of approval, not seeing the surging crowd behind hre.
Whirling Grain	Well, *nice going*, Whirl. Not in Nexus six hours, and you've gone and misjudged your audience, caused a riot, and you're about to get some poor damned fool kid killed. Way to really mux it up.
Orchid Blossom	Orchid Blossom turns to see the mob, then turns back to Whirling Grain. The Fae-Blood doesn't seem focused on self-preservation, instead pushing foward, a little ahead of the mob. "Whirling Grain!" She doesn't seem aware of the peril.
Whirling Grain	So, obviously, she wasn't going to let it end that way. The building next door was a tall one, and the streets narrow. They'd been built with @emit So, obviously, she wasn't going to let it end that way. The building next door was a tall one, and the streets narrow. They'd been built with hijsbalks-- lifting beams to get furniture into upper floors. There was a coil of rope nearby. In a flurry of activity, she grabbed the girl who was about to get trampled by the mob, hoisted the rope though the hook, and swung the both of them swinging through the air, over the gasps of the onrushing crowd.
Orchid Blossom	Orchid Blossom grips tightly about Whirling Grain as the woman is taken off to the skies, soon high above the hungry crowd. "Oh Gods, look at that crowd!" Some of the crowd is still surging forward, some is rusing out to try to figure where the pair are coming to ground.
Whirling Grain	But they're not. "You idiot! Somebody's going to get killed down there!" Whirling Grain shouts, as they alight on the roof of a nearby building. "We'll be lucky if they don't kill US!" She looks down. She'd been forced to abandon her lyre, but Orchid's free hand... "YOUR LUTE! GIVE ME YOUR LUTE!"
Whirling Grain	The crowd, meanwhile, burst into the ground floor of the shop, intent on pursuing them.
Orchid Blossom	Orchid Blossom's lips tighten and the young woman shrugs her lute case from about her shoulders. "Oh my Gods, are you gonna sign my lute?" The young woman unclasps her case and opens it, offering it to the woman almost reverentially.
Whirling Grain	"Something like that." Whirling Grain rips three strings out and rapidly adjusts the tuning.
Whirling Grain	The first emotion the song inspires is terror. Not because of the melody, or the lyrics or the rythm, but because of what becomes obvious almost immediately: Whirling Grain *had been holding back*. She was playing traditional melodies-- transcribed into her style, but she wasn't, in her deepest soul, a cover artist. This one was hers.
Orchid Blossom	Orchid Blossom stands with wide eyes, watcing the one and only Whirling Grain playing HER lute, and playing it like it has nevre been played before. The Fae-Blood sits down with wide eyes and mouth open in shock. The crowd all around act in a similar manner.
Whirling Grain	Whirling Grain tosses the Lute back to Orchid blossom. " 'fraid I don't have anything to sign 'er with," She says, giving that solar-nova smile of hers. "Thank you, and GOOD NIGHT!" Ah, what the hell, right? Can't end the show like THAT. She bends the girl over in a flashy kiss, before turning back to the crowd, a fist in the air. "I LOVE YOU, NEXUS!"
Orchid Blossom	Orchid Blossom catches the lute almost reflexively, placing it back on the rooftop in the case, then suddenly she's being kissed. The Fae-Blood almost swoons. "Oh my Gods, that was the best. D-do you need an assistant? An apprentice? Hell, if I have to do it to follow you I'd even be your slave!" The woman picks up her lute and strums a few chords, unheard beyond the rooftop.
Whirling Grain	"Not really in the market for slaves," Whirling grain says with an aw-shucks grin. She does most things with a grin, but the truth is she's not yet comfortable being on that side of the equation. "But I'd be mighty obliged if'n you could point me out a teahouse where I can spend the night. And maybe play a couple tunes for me, assumin' your lute ain't too ruined?"
Orchid Blossom	Orchid Blossom flips a hand dismissively. "It's only strings. I'm sure we both go through more than a few strings every week. Well you more than me." She shivers a little, topless on the rooftops. "I'd be honored to play for you. I'm more of a dancer though, if you need a dancer for your music then I would love to see if I can work for you. And the slave thing, if it's about coin I was offering for free, but if it's some sorta moral thing, I understand completely."