Adam pointed directly at Dirk.
Dirk pointed directly at Rayelle.
Rayelle pointed at the black wig she held in her hand.
For a few seconds, everyone stood still, but then Rayelle shook the wig slightly and said jokingly, "Woof woof!"
Both sides burst into laughter, and the tension left the room, except for Lisa in the back, who just rolled her eyes.
Rayelle stood up in front of Dirk and his friends and did her best to make introductions, "I'm Miss Rayven, but just call me Rayelle if you see me without the wig."
Dirk, Roy, and Lyle nodded in unison. They each excitedly raised their hands while stating their names.
They were extremely excited to meet the band they've followed for years, and getting to meet them backstage was a dream come true. Dirk, Roy, and Lyle knew the band members by name since they were fans, but let Rayelle continue her introductions. They turned to Adam next, and Adam offered a handshake to Lyle, then Roy. When he turned to Elise, she backed away a little and waved slightly.
Adam didn't seem to mind, as everyone reacts differently, but he coldly reached out to Dirk and gritted his teeth slightly while squeezing Dirk's hand. "DIRK! I've heard SO much about YOU!" Adam said while trying to hold back his overly protective instincts.
Dirk glanced at Rayelle, who then said apologetically, "I'm sorry, he means well, he's just overprotective of me for some reason."
"Well yeah! Did you see what this guy did?!?" Adam said angrily, his nostrils slightly flaring.
"Yeah we did! It was awesome! Once Dirk got his head out of his ass and let loose, we could finally see what he could do!" Roy said enthusiastically.
Dirk chimed in and added, "Yeah! And that second guitar solo! Nailed it! How did you come up with it, Rayelle, and how did everyone know to keep extending the beat and make it so seamless!"
Roy continued Dirk's enthusiasm and added, "Oh! And that ending, who could forget that! It was—" Roy held up one hand with the tips of his 5 fingers held together, kissed them softly, and then said, "Chef's kiss..."
Hearing the word kiss caused Rayelle and Dirk to blush slightly while Elise tugged on the back of Dirk's shirt.
"Look, it happened, we're adults, it wasn't intentional! Right?!?" Rayelle glared at Dirk.
Dirk tensed his body up and shouted, "Yes ma'am!"
Rayelle laughed, then said, "Just relax! I was joking around!"
The rest of the Night Hawks' band members were confused by Rayelle's behavior. She was acting nervous for some reason, and this wasn't the fun and confident Rayelle they had seen when other fans met her.
"Anyways! This guy here is the heartbeat of our band!" Rayelle proudly presented Marty to Dirk and friends, then continued, "Marty is the drummer who keeps all of us on time, grounded, and together. He is a man of many words, deep insights, and profound wisdom!"
Marty gave Rayelle a blank stare, then shook his head. "Nice to meet you." Marty returned his attention to his tablet and pulled a set of headphones over his ears.
"What's he doing?" Dirk asked Rayelle.
"He does this after every show. He listens to the entire performance, takes notes, then bluntly tells us when we were off."
Dirk found it hard to believe that anything could be found wrong with that concert since it felt flawless to him, but he did notice that Marty was writing stuff on his tablet.
To Dirk and Roy's surprise, Lyle had approached Marty on his own. Lyle had noticed that Marty was still clutching his drumsticks in one hand and was tapping his arm while listening to his headphones.
Marty turned to look at Lyle, waiting for him to say something.
Lyle said quietly, "Second solo, Rayelle started off by a quarter. How did you keep the time?"
Rayelle gripped the wig tightly and said, frustrated, "I was never off!"
Marty held up his finger to Rayelle and spun the audio dial on his pad to fast-forward the concert to where Lyle had mentioned. He hastily wrote a sentence on his tablet, then said to Lyle, "Play louder, you are the time keeper. Come listen."
Rayelle, Adam, and Lisa were surprised since Marty rarely lets anyone into his world. Maybe it was a drummer thing.
Rayelle just rolled with it and desperately wanted to get through this awkward introduction and said, "So that just happened. Last and certainly not least is our sound prodigy, Lisa! Without her, we wouldn't be able to pull off anything big. She is our keyboardist, backup vocalist, synthesizer queen, and can even play the keytar."
Lisa looked over Dirk and his friends. She saw how Elise was being clingy to Dirk and now understood why Adam was upset. Maybe it was because they were both Zentradi, but she felt a little bit of a connection with Elise. She made her judgments about Dirk, Lyle, and Roy and estimated they weren't worth her time. Lisa nodded at Dirk and the others, then turned her attention back to her tablet.
Roy's ears perked up when he heard the word 'Keytar,' as it was his primary instrument. "The keytar is my best instrument!" Roy exclaimed.
Rayelle tilted her head to the side since she got the vibe that they were musicians, and she used Roy's statement as an opportunity to ask them about it. "So are you guys in a band too?"
Roy enthusiastically replied, "Yeah! We're The Red Bombers!"
"Sweet, I'll have to check out some of your shows then!" Rayelle said earnestly. She loved seeing other bands, but with Macross 10's population of around 600,000, she's already listened to every band in the city.
Dirk scratched the back of his head and said meekly, "We uhhh, haven't recorded anything in over a year. I'm still learning guitar, so we've always been short a guitarist or bassist ever since our last lead guitarist was poached. We mostly do covers and use a backing track for the bass line."
"Ok, so Dirk, you're the singer, Roy is a keytarist, Lyle is the drummer, so I guess this is your guitarist?" Rayelle asked and reached her hand out to Elise.
Elise stepped forward and firmly shook Rayelle's hand and said, "Elise, pilot, and BIG fan of Dirk's!"
Dirk was smart enough to know not to object to Elise's obvious exaggeration since he's pretty sure she's never seen their band play nor even liked the music he likes—that and she was staring daggers at Rayelle.
For some reason, Rayelle was feeling competitive with Elise and slightly teased her by saying, "Interesting, a pilot?. Oh, that's right! You were there during our joint exercise! How did your squad do anyway?"
Elise suddenly regretted slacking off during the joint exercise since they had a draw during their first run, were defeated by Rayelle's group in the second, and had a draw in the third run. "We were fine!" Elise said with gritted teeth.
Rayelle decided to let it go, backed away and said, "So, food is coming. We got enough for everyone, you all are welcome to stay until big sister Amy says the party is over!"
Dirk remembered Rayelle talking about what sounded like a new song and approached Rayelle with sparkling eyes, "Were you guys talking about a new song?"
Rayelle's face lit up with happiness, and she enthusiastically exclaimed, "Yes! I have you to thank for the inspiration! Our brief dogfight and that feeling of flying in a real atmosphere for the first time gave me this amazing idea!"
As Dirk, Adam, Rayelle, and even Roy got into talking about a new song, Elise felt a little bit alone since Lyle and Marty seemed to be in their own world. She turned to Lisa and felt like she was a bit of an outcast, like herself. Elise casually walked over to Lisa and sat down in a chair across from her and decided to just be her usual self, "Hey, that outfit is kinda hot. Amani's collection from 2060, right?"
Lisa looked up from her tablet and gave Elise a once-over, "Yeah girl, glad someone has a sense for fashion here. You lookin' good to, those threads way too nice for a typical groupie though."
Elise nodded, "Just... here for him," she said with brutal honesty to someone who is a complete stranger to her.
"Ha! He's... well, he's good looking." Lisa hoped Rayelle would get interested in someone other than her ex, Garret, because she wanted to steal him away from Rayelle. Seeing Rayelle so lively around Dirk made her think Dirk would be perfect for her. While she felt bad for Elise, it was still every woman for herself. Still, maybe a little chaos would be fun.
Lisa slid a little closer to Elise and started whispering, "Listen, sister to sister, Rayelle has to go on a date with her ex in return for getting those tickets. I bet she asks Dirk to go with to ruin the date. Do whatever you want with that information."
Elise's face sank slightly at the thought of Rayelle using Dirk to ruin a date, but she didn't know what she could do. Dirk and her brother were the only men in her life she really trusted.
Lisa noticed Elise deep in thought and added, "Remember, men are inconsiderate. I've seen his type, you're going to need to get into his world. His world is filled with rock music. If you can't play, write, or sing anything, just dance. You have the looks down, girl."
Elise's face lit up for a moment before she forced herself to relax, "Dance? Girl, I love to dance. Electro-Funk, Acid, Pop, whatever! Just need that groove to make me move!"
Lisa's face lit up this time and she quickly wrote down some words on her tablet, "Damn, girl, that's what I am talking about! C'mere and check this."
Elise hopped over next to Lisa, and Lisa handed Elise an earbud.
Lisa swiped a few times on her tablet and brought up one of her DJ apps and opened a file named "NewBeat_09192060".
Elise heard music pump through the single earbud. She closed her eyes to focus on the sounds. To her, it felt fresh, but empty, like it needed something extra.
Lisa swiped over to her synth table app while the DJ app looped the backing track. She added more and more pieces to the track, a little synth bass, a little bit of funk, and then some of her own pre-recorded ad-libs. It was just the intro with one verse and no chorus, but Lisa was actually grateful that Elise gave her inspiration for her own track.
Lisa let the loops run and wanted to ask Elise what she thought, but Elise kept her eyes closed, her whole body moving to the beat. Lisa knew Elise was feeling it and decided to immerse Elise even more. She tapped her earpiece and started ad-libbing lyrics as she sang a chorus.
Elise stopped thinking about everything else and just focused on the sounds. She felt the beat, the flow, and her body began to move on its own.
Everyone else turned to see what the noise was when they heard Lisa start to sing without any music and then saw Elise stand up and start to dance to it while holding an earbud in ear.
Elise didn't notice everyone was watching her; she just danced.