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Recently Dazzler has come up with an agreement with the owner of the Lux, one who goes by Lucifer, to perform at the venue. Today is one in a line of several shows scheduled. The place is usually used to jazz styled performances, but now the patrons will have to get ready to be truly dazzled.
True to her name, Dazzler is one flashy performer. It starts with her intricately made halter dress, beaded with crystals and mirror fragments, casting the lighting at odd angles off her dress, making her a truly radiant presence on stage. When you couple that with her unique sound, her psychedelic brand of rock, evoking lucid dreams and further enforced by the dazzling light show that accompanies her act. From kleidescopic displays of myriad of colors, to visual aids for the actual song lyrics, the show is truly like no other.
She's rocking on her guitar, while accompanied by a full band, drums, backing guitar, bass, and interestingly enough an occasional intervention of violin and pipewinds. By the end of it, she takes her bow, and gets off the stage, only to come out to mingle with her fans post show, after a good ten minutes break.
Jessica Drew is in the audience, and the Transian brunette is /loving it/. She's whooping and cheering with the rest of the audience, arms up over her head and swaying back and forth with everyone else, bouncing at the uptempo beats, head bobbing along with the riot of color and noise.
Unbeknownst to her, of course, there are a fair number of people who are getting particularly and uniquely stoned on her pheremones for most of an hour. Tomorrow there'll be an invetigation into ergot poisoning or spiked drinks, almost surely.
But Jessica's right there at the front of the pack when Dazzler descends the stage, joining in the cheers and applause with everyone else. Her intense features are electric with excitement, green eyes wide and grinning ear to ear. She's wearing black, tight fitting jeans and a long-sleeved red shirt with a pillowy yoke collar.
"You were amazing, Dazzler!" she cheers at the musician, waving to try and get her attention as the blonde gal moseys through the crowd.
More likely than not, The Bugle will find a way to blame the intoxication on Dazzler and her devil woship brand of musical ritual. It's just the way it goes.
Dazzler usually basks in the love she's showered with by her adoring fans, and takes a moment to greet and give autographs, and she stops a moment when Jessica speaks to her, "thanks, I try my best to dazzle. If I can do that, I'm happy with my show…felt good tonight. The Lux is a fine venue."
"I love it! The pschydelic trance stuff, it is -amazing-," Jessica says, fairly gushing with excitement when Dazzler stops. She's clearly as enamoured of celebrity as anyone else in America, though she's got a peculiar accent that's hard to place. Not German— definitely Eastern European, though. With that thick black hair and ruddy skin, she stands out a bit among the crowd of largely pale German and Dutch descendents.
/And/ an autograph? Jessica's grin widens even more, and she bounces from foot to foot. "Oh wow, thanks! This is an awesome club, I love coming here," she assures Dazzler. "You're definitely worth the price of the drinks!" she adds, trying to strike a balance between engaging with Dazzler and not being the sort of fan who just won't let the celebrity go.
"It's a state of mind, letting go and exploring the depth of your mind…I think it's a way of life," Dazzler offers when Jessica shows she digs the psychedelic movement, if which Dazzler is proud to be a pioneer.
Dazzler readily offers an autograph to those who ask, so Jessica can easily gets one at the cost of a simple request. "I do believe the club is the reason for the price, top notch alcohol, and top notch class. But hey, you've made it all the way, I'd be glad to get you a drink for your troubles. What's your drink of choice?"
"That's— sure!" Jessica says, beaming. She ignores the envious stares (and the others who are just flat out entranced by her) and bounces on her toes, moving to the side so Dazzler can walk with her to the bar.
"I'm all about these things called 'Cosmopolitans'," Jessica says, walking alongside Dazzler in her soft, calf-high grey boots, with a modest heel to them. "I don't know all of what's in them, but wow they are good. How about you?" she asks, bellying up to the bar and looking for the bartender.
It's been known that Dazzler would every so often hangout with a fan post show, turns out Jessica is the winner after tonight's performance, as Dazzler walks with her towards the bar, and looks up at the bartender, "Maze, please fix my friend and I a couple of Cosmopolitans, ok?" She then looks over at Jessica, "Maze is incredible, she made me a few fantastic drinks, so even if you like Cosmopolitan, she'll make the best you've ever had."
"Sounds good!" Jessica says, brushing her hair back from her face. She wears it without a whole lot of concern for style— loose, barely tamed, and framing her face to tumble past her shoulders. "I'll take your word for it. I'm still getting used to the bar scene here. I've only been in town a few months," she tells Dazzler.
She rests her elbow on the bar, facing Dazzler, and offers her fingertips in a handshake. "It's really nice to, like, talk to you in person," she admits. "I've been coming to your show for a few weeks. You're stellar. I'm Jessica, by the way," she says.
"And is that enough to make New York City your favorite City in the world?" Dazzler asks Jessica curiously, "because it should be!" No doubt, Dazzler loves her home state, but much more so, New York City itself.
Shaking hands with Jessica, while two fancy cosmopolitans are served, Dazzler soon reaches to lift her glass, "a toast to good life, awesome music, and pscyhedelic light shows. Hope you'll come to a few more, honored to have you at my shows," Dazzler grins, "really…I wouldn't have stood a chane if it wasn't for my early on cult following. Now some teenagers' parents actually know who I am! That's impressive."
"I'll drink to that," Jessica agrees, smiling at Dazzler and clinking glasses with her. "It's pretty terrific, I'll give you that. People are… well, the people aren't always super friendly. And there are so -many- of them," she laments. "I'm from a small town. It's a lot to take in. But… the food, the music, the /culture/. I love that you can walk across twenty blocks and hear fifteen different languages," she admits.
"So how's it feel to be going mainstream?" she asks Dazzler, teasing her. "You're halfway to popular. Soon you'll be covering for big bands and getting invited to play on the Ed Sullivan show."
Jessica Drew has partially disconnected.
Clinking glasses, Dazzler takes a moment to savor Maze's concoction, she truly is a gifted bartender. "It does feel like quite the international city, doesn't it?" The blonde agrees, as she savors another sip.
"While Ed Sullivan show did a world of good for me, I wouldn't call my act mainstream quite yet…I still have my share of detractors and haters. People who don't understand, and don't want to understand." The last bit has Alison beaming with delight, "oh, you must have missed it, was aired about a month ago. So, yeah…I did hit it big, you can say that."
"That's great," Jessica says, with that slight accent and a wide, spreading grin that curls wryly across her lips. "I understand, a little bit of that," she tells Dazzler, flicking her hair back over one shoulder. Weirdly, Jessica seems to be getting as much side-eyed attention at Dazzler, though the crowd's cooling down now that the band's over and the energy's leaving the room.
"I'm sorry I missed it, though," she apologizes. "Work keeps me travelling, you know how it is. I didn't even realize. I think that is wonderful, though," she assures Dazzler. "What is the next big step then? Travelling, maybe? I bet you could take this to Europe, I know the Beatles are doing some … interesting things lately," she says, before laughing easily.
Noting there's just as much attention on Jessica as there is on herself, Dazzler eventually looks more deeply at Jess and asks, "say, are you a model or some kind of celebrity I don't know of?" Shrugging, Dazzler adds, "I think audience on television didn't enjoy as much as those in the studio. Ed really enjoyed my lightshow though, he said it was like a lucid dream, I liked that description." She grins when the Beatles are mentioned, "I'd love to perform with them, but I'm not sure I fit with their image. Plus…the girls only want them. I'd have nothing to look for on their stage. I'm not sure if most their fans enjoy their music as much as they enjoy fantasizing about them," she winks playfully.
"Me?" Jessica puts fingertips to her sternum, blinking her wide green eyes. "Huh? Me? No, I'm an office worker," she laughs. "I work a clerical job for the government. There are sandwhiches at Sardi's more famous than me," she assures Dazzler, laughing at the idea. Maybe it's the perfume she's wearing. It's strange enough, hard to categorize as 'floral' or another scent someone might prefer.
"I guess that's true," Jessica concedes. "They're pretty wholesome and straight-laced, nevermind the raving legions who are in near hysterics every time they get on stage. Cute boys, but not quiiite my type," she says dryly, sipping her cocktail and grinning at Dazzler's wink. "Though, who's that new band— they're in the UK, five boys… the Rolling Rocks?" she hazards, frowning.
"Really? Well, you must have high natural charisma, I'd look into modelling if I were you," Dazzler offers by the by, who knows, maybe Jessica could land some work with Janet Van Dyne if she honestly had interest.
"Rolling Stones are doing a 'bad boys' take on what the Beatles are doing, really like the energy of their lead vocals," Dazzler shows she keeps her attention on colleagues, before admitting somewhat shyly, "you'd be surprised how endearing Paul McCartney is…I wouldn't mind a date…" she says under her breath mostly.
"Gosh, that's nice of you," Jessica laughs. "I'll think about it, but I wouldn't have the first idea where to look into that kind of thing. I figure with all the young girls from … Iowa who show up wanting to make it big on broadway, I'm probably a little old to bust into the modelling scene," she tells Dazzler.
"So, you've met Paul? That's fascinating," Jessica says, admiring Dazzler and a little surprised at her little shy reticence. "I guess I'll be able to say I knew you when, someday," she remarks. "You could wire him up next time he's in town. Have a little tabloid rendezvous? 'Rising Star seen with Beatle; The New Face of Psychedelic Rock?'" she offers, panning her hand across an invisible marquis.
"I don't know, honestly, I'm far from that industry, I'm all about the music. I just try to dazzle, not sure you can call my style fashionable…" Dazzler admits with a grin. "Feel free, heck, we meet a few more times we might even become friends…" was that a warning or a suggestion?
"I wouldn't dream of dictating what tabloids write, I just hope they drop the nonsense about me being a devil worshipper…I already said my lightshow is all technology. Stark achieved so much more, it's really not that complex, I'm just lucky I get exclusive access to it."
"Friends with a rockstar?" Jessica's sculpted brows lift and she laughs. She has an easy, careless sense of humor, unfiltered and uncommonly uncensored. Perhaps it's a European trait? "I could live with that. I'll try not to faint when you call, though I'm sure the girls at the office will be all over me for knowing a celebrity. Don't worry;" she lifts a slender-fingered hand in reassurance. "I'm the -soul- of discretion."
"You don't think anyone -reads- those tabloids, do you?" she asks Dazzler, earnestly. "They're ridiculous. 'Aliens in the Desert'. 'Marilyn Monroe Hidden in Aspen'. 'The sordid love lives of celebrities'. It's just so much fiction," she assures Dazzler.
"I'm sure of it," Dazzler says with a soft chuckle, emptying her drink, before quipping, "I like this cosmopolitan, might make it a regular drink." She does look dubiously at Jessica when she offers people don't read these tabloids, "are you sure? I don't know…maybe it's in my mind, but I think people do read them…" she nods slowly as Jessica reassures her with silly examples. "I guess you have a point."
"Well, they don't pay them attention," Jessica amends. "It's… you know. Trash novels. Gossip. It's just so much trash. No one actually believes any of it," she assures Dazzler, leaning forward and giving her hand a reassuring pat. "It's an amusing way to pretend. You know. Which senators are having torrid affairs, who's doing drugs, who is on the run from the Mafia. Just stories about real people ,that's all that they are," she says, with that lyrical accent.
"Anyway, I do not mean to worry you," she apologizes, straightening. "And if you'd like to be friends, that would be just fine with me!"
"I guess you have a point, if rich or famous people, have all kinds of shocking scandals in their lives, it must make everyday people feel a little better about themselves…" Dazzler inadvertantly stumbles upon one of the main driving forces in the popularity of tabloids. "Well, if we're being friends and all, I'm from Glendale, New York. Where are you from?"
"A small town in Transia, which is not far from Czechslovokia," Jessica tells Dazzler. It's a simple enough explanation for someone unfamiliar with Eastern Europoe. "You would not know it. Goat herders and itinerants, almost to a soul. Very quiet, very fair, very boring," she laughs, easily. "I don't miss it overmuch."
She glances at her watch, and hisses under her breath. "Ah, damn. I'm late. I have to get home," she apologizes. "But, it was very nice meeting you Dazzler. I'd stay, but— work calls," she smiles. She offers another gentle handshake. "But perhaps a drink again, sometime?" she inquires. "A girl can't have too many friends."
Jessica Drew goes home.
Jessica Drew has left.
"Wow, sounds like you were blessed to be able to get out of that hole, and get to New York City, no offense," Dazzler says quite openly, no doubt the thought of being in such a little developed place sounds like a horror show to her. Also, as a high school dropout, she's not really well versed in European countries. She takes Jessica's words at face value. "I'll be seeing you," Dazzler parts from Jessica and turns back to the crowd to hang out with another lucky fan.