Cause of Death

Dyo 12, 81381
Hildegard is wearing a black ankle length skirt that is torn off around the edge giving it an uneven and jagged look. She's also wearing a black tank top as well as various pieces of jewelry.

The lights are burning. The stage is set. The only thing missing is a performer. She's offstage with her guitar in hand and sweating as if she's on the surface of the sun. She's only playing in a small cafe, but there's a pretty good crowd tonight, along with a few of her die-hard fans. Anxiety is running through her veins.

She checks the tuning of her guitar one last time. Finally someone walks onstage and takes the mike off of the stand.

<span style='color:purple'>"Now, The Song of Nephilim Cafe would like to present Miss Hildegard Von Bingen Petkybaji, Cause of Death."</span>

Smile for the crowd. Hildegard walked onto the stage and immersed herself in the audience's applause. Flashing her pearly whites, she made a small bow and plugged her custom made guitar into the amp that had already been preset for volume and various other levels. She then sat down on a stool that was in front of the mike stand.

Her song started slowly. First with a finger picked introduction. It was going well, and it should as it was well-practiced. She deftly moved her picked from her unused claws and in between her index and thumb and began playing a chord progression. It was simple but the lyrics would shine.

<span style='color:green'>"I hear their laughter, it makes my heart bleed.
I feel the tears rise, but I choke them down."</span>

She knew she had the audience's attention now as everyone had fallen silent to hear her sing. While her voice was relatively untrained she still had a decent idea of tuning and could add a nice feminine vibrato to her words. She's chosen to start with a sad song. It was one she'd written early in her career back at Janardan Academy about a boy she'd lost. Those were days past, however.

<span style='color:green'>From these chains of love I guess I am freed,
But I don't want that for I fear I'll drown
On the depths of my sorrows. On my last breath,
I'll say I loved you..."</span>

It was actually rather short. More just an intro into the rest of the show really. That's why she opened with it.

<span style='color:green'>"I loved you to death..."</span>

And as her voice trailed off on the last pitch she switched the pick back again and replayed the little intro she'd started on. The tempo gradually slowed as she repeated it once or twice and then as it seemed it was entirely over she started the next song.

Pushing down on the distortion pedal at her feet, this song was much more upbeat and intense like her show actually was. The audience was loving it.

 

Late late arrivals had come, Hildegard noticed as vaguely heard the door to the cafe open and shut, but paid it no heed. She was in the music now, immersed and drowning happily in it. The audience seemed to be as well.

The opening riffs of the song she'd just started were finishing and as she let the chord ring she sang the opening lines of the first verse.

<span style='color:green'>"Ever had the feeling you've had your heart ripped out?
Have you ever had what you wanted, taken away.
I know, you feel all alone, but it may not be too late.
If you can realize what you still have is great."</span>

Another sad tune, about the same boy actually. That's why it made such a great segue from the opener tune. They were sister songs. She made it to the end of the verse and the song picked up.

<span style='color:green'>"I know it hurts, I know it kills inside, I know it takes every reason you have to be alive."</span>

A slight pause and the chorus begins.

<span style='color:green'>"I know, what it's like 'cause I've been there.
I know, 'cause everyone feels like this sometime in their lives.
I know, it's not so easy to make it through this hell,
But most of all I know, it's better to have loved and lost, than never at all."</span>

The difference between this song and the last one is the elder of the sisters was mourning the loss. The younger of them was about accepting it and moving on. Then the second verse starts.

<span style='color:green'>"Tell me you hear me, 'cause what I'm trying to say is real important.
Are you even listening? It's best not to let those feelings lie dormant, and
I know you feel all alone but it may not be too late.
If I can get through to you you haven't sealed your fate.
Well I know it hurts, I know it kills inside, I know it takes every reason you have to be alive..."</span>

Another pause and the chorus repeats. Her heart and soul was in it, at least now if it wasn't before. Pouring her heart and emotion off of the stage and onto the sponges that were every other person in the room, and they were soaking up every last drop.

After the chorus she went into an instrumental interlude, a little eight bar solo that she didn't let get too out of hand. She was only a solo artist without a band so getting too complex would have been slightly inappropriate. Then with one last repitition of the chorus, the song ended on a rather unusual minor chord, after which the audience erupted in a volcano of applause.

Hildegard stood up and took a quick bow.

 

(OOC: I just decided that it was probably worth mentioning a fact to anyone who reads this particular thread. All of Hildegard's songs are my own work that I actually perform, so it's quite copyrighted That is, unless I otherwise specify.)

Hildegard smiled at the wild applause she received. It was nice, and even though she was used to it by now it never got old. She took the mike off of its stand and let her guitar hang loose off her shoulder against her back.

<span style='color:green'>"I'd like to thank you all for coming tonight. It really means a lot to see continuing support from of the diehard fans."</span>

A few screams came from the back, which caused Hildegard to smile and wave.

<span style='color:green'>"I also wanted to let you all know that Cause of Death is still looking for a drummer and a bassist, so if anyone's interested they can talk to me after the set."</span>

She set the mike back on its stand, took the guitar back in her hands, and sat back down on the stool. Then as she started playing through the intro she leaned into the mike, <span style='color:green'>"This next song is the first one I ever wrote, and I'd like to dedicate it to anyone whose had a shitty friend."</span>

By the time she'd finished with the speech during the intro it was about time for the first, which went something like this,

<span style='color:green'>"I must be stupid, this can't be real.
You don't give a damn at all how I feel.
Here's the knife that you stuck in my back.
I'm wise to you now and I won't be cutting you slack."</span>

The verse transitioned into a pre-chorus and then a chorus. The style of the song was punk in its core. Sounding just like earthen artists did it back when punk rock started out.

<span style='color:green'>"You've lied one too many times, relentlessly as before.
It's gone on for too long. I can't take the betrayal anymore.
So now I've opened my eyes, and realized
This world has swallowed me whole, there's no where to go.
I've given up on the things I thought life could bring
And now I walk around knowing you let me down."</span>

The song continued on with another verse, and then a solo section that was nothing short of dropping an atomic of talent and giving the entire audience a harmless, yet euphoric cancer. The song finished out with one last repetition of the chorus and an outro. When it was over she stood up and bowed again.

 

<span style='color:green'>"This next song,"</span> Hildegard spoke into the mike as she began the intro, <span style='color:green'>"Is not one I have written. It is by an earth band that I particularly enjoy called Rise Against. It's called 'Swing Life Away.'"</span>

Then, she sang:

<span style='color:green'>"Am I loud and clear or am I breaking up?
Am I still your charm, or am I just bad luck?
Are we getting closer or are we just getting more lost?

I'll show you mine if you show me yours first.
Let's compare scars I'll tell you whose is worst.
Let's unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words."</span>

Next was the swell of the chorus as the dynamic increased and she felt herself getting mixed up in the words:

<span style='color:green'>"We live on front porches and swing life away.
We get by just fine here on minimum wage.
If love is a labor I'll slave 'til the end.
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand..."</span>

Then it faded into a more calming second verse. The song itself was of a medium tempo, and was quite laid back. She had no guitar effects on throughout, going with a clean sound which was as close to acoustic as her guitar could get.

<span style='color:green'>"I've been here so long, I think that it's time to move.
The winter's so cold, the summer's over too soon.
So let's pack our things and settle down where palm trees grow.

I've got some friends, some that I hardly know.
And we've had sometimes, I wouldn't trade for the world.
We chase these days down with talks of the places that we will go."</span>

The chorus repeated, and it gave off that lilt that just made people in the audience sway back and forth. There were also a few lighters out there, which she couldn't help but smile at as she began the solo.

She played it exactly as Tim McIlrath played it back when he'd written it, and exactly as it was on the recording she had of it. She could have changed she supposed, but she couldn't hear it any other way. It was perfect the way it was.

Then came one last repetition of the chorus and and outro.

* * *​

The rest of the concert went on as so, the audience loving it as much as she did. She played for about the entirety of an hour, before her set time was up, which was good because as an up and coming musician she barely had an hour's worth of set to perform, and not even all she'd performed was written by her.

She took one final bow, and walked off stage, grabbed a bottle of water from the emcee took a huge swig while he talked, <span style='color:purple'>"You were amazing up there!"</span>

She swallowed her water and nodded, <span style='color:green'>"Thanks!"</span>

Next came the setting up for the next band. She didn't share equipment, and this was professional after all. They'd better have their own equipment. She found a place to sit in the cafe at a table that was entirely empty. People complimented her ability as she passed, and she would nod modestly and thank them. Then she sat down with her bottle of water and waited for the next group or artist to start their set.

 

The music from the next band started as the thill walked up to Hildegard with the proposition. They were much harsher than anything that she, herself, had played tonight. Much heavier in fact, some sort of lighter metal. They even had a screamer to complete the sound. Hildegard motioned for the other to sit down at the table with her.

<span style='color:green'>"That can be arranged,"</span> Hildegard started just as a few more younger pendragon crowded around her, with napkins to be signed.

<span style='color:blue'>"When's your cd coming out?"</span> one asked excitedly as Hildegard quickly scrawled her signature across the makeshift collectible, <span style='color:blue'>"I'm soo going to buy it!"</span>

<span style='color:green'>"Real soon actually, we're just waiting to get other members to join the band so that Cause of Death sounds complete. Who do I make this to?"</span>

When the kids all had gotten what they wanted, Hildegard turned back to her company who'd been forced to sit there the entire time, <span style='color:green'>"I'm terribly sorry about that, but it happens. Anyway we can definitely arrange something. What do you play?"</span>