ROLEPLAY HQ - a-world-of-darkness

. Potential triggers - Mature content - Supernatural - Blood - Violence / Crime (edited)

It was a late afternoon in the Olympia concert hall at a dark winter day. Montreal was always a different city during the winter. The world slowed down and fewer people were on the streets. It was a cold city during this time of the year, and many preferred the warmth of their own homes. The lights on the streets already turned on about an hour ago and the sun dipped below the horizon briefly after. The Olympia was a smaller venue with many cultural offers. The concert planned for this night was the first in this constellation for the band which was in the process of performing their soundcheck. For Requiem for the Fallen this would not have been the first time playing in the Olympia but recently their frontwoman decided to do a solo project and go on tour with her guest musicians. Ashera, the singer, was known for her opera like voice and the music of Requiem was always a mix of her voice and the doom / gothic metal sound of the rest of the band. In her solo project the approach was very similar but explored even darker sounds. Where Requiem was going deeper into the metal sound, Ashera went further into the doom and goth sector. In either cases, the lyrics always came from the frontwoman and the themes were often around death, dying, afterlife, mythology, loss, agony and Sumerian influences.

08:26

Ashera had finished her last concert in NYC three days ago and used to call the city her home for the past years when she was not traveling for her art. Recently, though, there were strong protests in New York due to a strong police presence on the streets and some questionable decisions made by the law enforcement. The usual activities were filling the room of the concert hall. A constant dialogue between the artists and the sound engineers. A bit louder here, a bit more balance there, a bit more reverb and similar adjustments. Once all the instruments were done it turned to become silent for a moment. There was always a quiet moment when the instruments changed. One artist left the stage, another entered, but this time the silence felt different. As if there was a premonition of something unusual to happen. Ashera was known to never show her face and to remain hidden behind a veil or mask or any kind of artistic form. Changing costumes multiple times during a concert was one of her signatures and she did not fail to deliver even during the soundcheck. Even this time she did not disappoint the expectation and stepped on the stage fully veiled. Her statue was giving the idea of a woman in her end of 20s or beginning of 30s of average height. The choice of clothing was in an older style with a hint of Victorian flair, all black.

08:26

08:27

She stepped to the microphone and spoke a few words to test the overall acoustic. After a bit of back and forth between her and the sound technician it became clearer what may attract the fans. Her voice was demanding the whole room of the concert hall and her roots in opera and being classical trained became instantly evident. The range and clarity of her voice was baffling for those who heard her for the first time and could not imagine a singer of a genre known for being rough and loud to be so refined. The time she spent on the stage was limited to 10-15 minutes, then the silence that followed was feeling different than the time between the other artists. This time it felt sad, as if something had been taken away from those who were listening. Ashera remained on the stage for a moment longer with her hand on the microphone. She was letting it all sink in before she left the stage and made her way to the technician on the other end of the hall to discuss a few final tweaks.

08:27

@RatterHatter (he/him)

The team from Interpol was held up at the Olympia’s front doors. Apparently nobody had told the venue they were coming, and the first assumption was that they were press. They were a 5 person crew. A South Korean technician specializing in electronics named Hansol. Another technician from. A French technician specializing in explosives named Laurent. A field agent on loan from the FBI named Gerber. Another American, this one an external consultant named Milo Brecht (he was the only one who was referred to by their first name because he tended to not notice when people called him “Brecht”). And lastly the primary officer in charge was Moroccan gentleman named Bennani (but who enjoyed just being called “Nani” for short - apparently an old nickname from their rugby-playing heyday). Milo had an inattentive way about him, a green trenchcoat with a faded lime button-up shirt, a muted purple tie, brown leather gloves and shoes, dark-grey woolen slacks and pair of thick-framed black glasses that were just for blocking blue-light and a brown Outback-Western hat. Of all the people in their retinue, he imagined that he was the one that had most made them suspect they were press. He could easily see his ensemble used for someone playing a newspaper reporter in a play. He caught very little of the ensuing (french) conversation passing between the venue management and Nani, and was happy enough to just examine the lovely decor and architecture of the entry space. Gerber, by comparison, seemed far more anxious. Hansol and Laurent looked eager to put down their cases. Both of which were loaded down with gear for checking the venue over for explosive devices, checking the tour vehicles for all the bands (just in case) and eventually checking wherever Ashera would be staying the night. . (edited)