Backstage Pass

## Content Information

Xander rolled his car to a stop just out in front of Carter Hall.  He was beaming, bright pink headband wrapped around his hair, playing one of his Queen Selen CDs.  He rolled down his passenger side window to see Arsling standing there waiting, as usual she was very sharply dressed.  “You ready to have a blast tonight?”

Arsling sighed, she had her usual attire, mostly, no waistcoat and no scarf, she wasn’t expecting to bump into anyone she knew so there was no worry of anybody questioning the sudden scars that she didn’t have a month ago, still had the sunglasses though “i’m going to kill you Xander”

She smirked and ran up, jumping leg first threw the passenger window and sliding into the seat shoving the seatbelt on

“Oh come on, you can’t hide how much you like her music forever.  Might as well actually enjoy yourself tonight.”  He gave a sly smirk as he put the car in gear.  “Besides, you’re her friend right?  Maybe she’ll bring you up on stage and reveal your taste to the world.  *Oh no, big bad Arsling likes her music… for shaaaaame.*”  He held his hand to his forehead, giving a faux fainting motion.

Arsling laughs heartily before turning to Xander “you’re so luckily you’re my friend or i would’ve destroyed your car by now” Arsling sits back “oh well atleast the ride there will be fun”

Xander laughed, “I mean if you wrecked it I’d just buy another one.”  He raised the volume on the music slightly, beginning to sing along with it while rolling down his own window.

“And i’d keep on destroying cars, Oh speaking of destroying we should go back to that warehouse sometime” Arsling says trying not to tap her feet to the selene music, she has an image shes failing to uphold afterall

“Yeah, pretty sure we left that forklift intact.  Kinda wanna see that thing blown up honestly.”  Xander, seeing the hints of her internal struggle, raised the music volume another tick.  Smiling and singing along effortlessly while driving.  He even began slightly dancing in his seat.

“Oh hell yeah” Arsling said in agreement to the forklift before slumping in her seat, some of her resistance faltering as she hums along to the music

Xander took notice, and this time turned up the volume another two ticks as they cruised aatowards the venue.  “Feel free to let it out, we’re far away from campus that no one you know will hear you!”

“I’m not enjoying this!” Arsling says as her body betrays her, cursed feet tapping to the beat “i’m thinking of better, different music” complete lie, well kinda, she was thinking of Queen Of The Night and how internally excited she was to hear it live

“Riiiight… Suuure you are.”  Xander saw the venue appear in the distance, and pointed it out.  “Anyways, we’re almost there.  No point in hiding how much you like her music when you’re in a sea of other fans Arsling, they’ll all know how much you’re lying.  Besides, you’ll be there with me,” he gave her a wide grin, “And do you think for a second I’m not going to be singing along?”

“I’m sure you will be singing...i won’t lie that they’re catchy...doesn’t mean its good!” Arsling says ‘catching herself’ if anything beyond being slightly annoying it’ll be fun when Arsling finally cracks under the pressure

“Y’know, you’re not doing a good job of convincing me.  I remember which CD you had me put on St. Patty’s Day, even if you don’t.”  As they entered the front gate of the arena Xander turned the music off.  “You’re safe for now, but once we get inside… that’ll be a different story.”  He pulled up to a valet both, turning off the car.  “Oh, and we’re here.”

“There are multiple CDs on my desk i don’t know why you chose that one” Arsling exited the car stretching her back grumbling slightly “i’m always safe”

Xander tossed his keys to the valet and tucked a bill into his pocket.  Turning to Arsling he gave her a pat of the back.  “Ah, but there was only one CD where you pointed.  I’ve said it before, and I don’t know if I’ll ever stop saying it, but gods you’re the most stubborn person I know.”  He gestured towards the entrance, where there were multiple very lengthy lines to get into the arena.  However, he specifically pointed out the only one that was fewer than a thousand people.  “We’ll be getting in that line, so shouldn’t be too long of a wait to get inside.  You’ve got your ticket right?”

“Ofcourse” Arsling pulls her ticket out the inside of her jacket holding it up “wouldn’t want you wasting your money now would i?” Arsling smiles at Xander “stubborn as a mule Xander”

The two made it through security fine, presented their tickets, and headed inside the colosseum.  The place was massive, enough to hold probably 50-60 thousand people.  All around it was decorated with pink to match the night’s artist, and plenty of cardboard cutouts of Selene dotted the walkways.  Xander led Arsling down a special aisle, separate from the way most other folks were going.  Flashing the passes they received at the ticket booth, they were allowed through onto an empty walkway that led directly to the front row.  “Pretty neat huh?  We’ll be front and center for the whole show.  When I say center...” he points to two seats with their names posted on them.  They’re directly at the center of the arena, right at the apex of the stage. “I mean *center*.”

“Y-you did this on purpose didn’t you?” Arsling says very very nervous about that fact that her little facade will almost definitely be broken tonight with the highest chance of being picked up by the hardcams, not helped by the fact she doesn’t know how infectious the atmosphere is going to be

“There is a distinct possibility I did this on purpose…”  He chuckled waving over one of the arena staff who was carrying a menu with them.  “Anyways, when you’re front row VIP they give you a ton of extra services.  Like this guy will go grab us snacks from one of the vendors.  Here’s the menu for all the little spots in the arena by the way, want anything?”

“I feel distinctly too working class for this” Arsling chuckles slightly “Could you get me a whiskey sir?” Arsling says to the arena staff smiling warmly at them as she reaches into her pockets and goes to tip them a fiver

Xander gives the man a detailed order for food and drinks, then tacked a hundred dollar bill on top of what Arsling gifted him with a wink, sending him off.  “He doesn’t need an ID now, you’re welcome.”  Xander sat down in his seat, watching tons of people swarming into the arena.  “The show’s totally sold out by the way, so there’s gonna be a ton of people in here.”

“Ofcourse it is” Arsling sighs relaxing in her seat and waiting for the alcohol “maybe i’ll get drunk, not tested this wolf liver yet”

“Oh no you fucking don’t!  Remember the giant drunk snake man theory?  I am not going to be responsible for a big drunk wolf jumping around the arena.  Besides, I like this place, I’m not about to get kicked out of here like that.”  He took a couple of complimentary water bottles from a vendor passing by and gave one to Arsling.  “So now you have to have a bottle per beverage.”

“What? This arena not allow dogs?” Arsling chuckles and sips the water before placing it by her feet “fine i’ll try not to become a giant fluffy drunk dog”

“A, yes no dogs, and B, thank you.  I figure since she’s your friend you probably don't want to be making a mess of her show anyways.”  As the arena starts to fill more and more Xander looks around, and notices that no one else is taking up seats in the front row.  “Huh, that’s weird, you’d expect at least some of the other folks up here would’ve shown by now.”

“Who knows, maybe they think that the show will wait for them to show up...how much did these tickets cost again?” Arsling says with the possibility that they might be the only people in the front row

“Trust me, you *don’t* want to know.”  At that point the staffer came back with an absolute haul of food and drinks, placing them in front of the two on a moving cart.  Xander slipped them a wad of bills and nodded to them.  “Thank you very much.”  He turned back to Arsling and grabbed a burger.  “Anyways, eat and drink up!  We’re like five minutes to show time so hopefully they’ll all show up soon.”

“They better fuckin show up” Arsling grumbles, not wanting to literally being the only ones there, before grabbing a burger and biting into it “oh fuck me thats nicer food than i was expecting”

“Right?  They do a good job with everything here.”  He patted her head lightly.  “Anyways don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll all show up soon.  They’re all either rich or rich adjacent, so they’ll probably make it at the last second.  It’s just how other wealthy folks roll from what I’ve seen.”

“The rich a weird man” Arsling says sipping her whiskey

With a minute left until the show started Xander and Arsling could hear a ton of footsteps coming down the ramp behind them.  Turning to look, they saw a large group of teens all decked out in Queen Selene gear making their way down the aisle.  Xander beamed a smile and turned to his friend.  “Well, whaddya know, looks like some rich parent bought a trip for their kid’s whole crew.”

Arsling stared playful daggers “did you and tamzen have a kid already? Congrats!” Arsling says sarcastically before continuing the teasing “how many eggs?”

“You do know that’s not how it works for serpentines rig-”  He blushed heavily waving his hands frantically.  “That’s not the point!  They’re from the local high school.  I saw that they had a fundraiser to get regular tickets for this group, and it fell super short.  So I just decided I’d… give them a boost.  They seem like a nice bunch of kids.”  He pulled an organized stack of papers from his pocket.  “Plus they sent me these cute thank you notes to my anonymous email when they’d hit their goal, so I couldn’t help it.”

Arsling smirks “thats actually adorable like seriously you’re awesome” Arsling looks around at the teens “how do you have this much money? Like jesus” Arsling smiles and sits up in her seat ready for the show she hopes she hates, although unfortunately theirs no sexy bunny lady to distract herself from the music

“Well I don’t personally have this much, but y’know, the company doesn’t question when the credit card gets used for *business transactions.*”  As the group took their seats around them, Xander nudged Arsling a bit and whispered.  “Oh and, don’t let on to any of them that I did that.  They can just think it was some wealthy entrepreneur or something.”

“You have no idea how tempting that is” Arsling says grinning

The lights in the colosseum begin to dim, and the sounds of folks scrambling back into their seats can be heard.  Everyone begins to go silent and a few messages begin playing over the loudspeakers. All of them are about cellphones, lights, and photography.  When they come to an end the crowd goes dead silent in anticipation.  Even with the silence, the place is buzzing with excitement.

Selene entered the stage, the lights shining on her, the woman taking just a moment to take in the whole crowd. She was equipped in an outfit fitting the queen. A heart shaped boob window that just barely didn’t show nipple, on a cropped pink top with black lining, a fluffy skirt that rested just above the knees dancing with her every step, finished with a slick pair of heeled boots. The pop icon grabbed the microphone off the stage center and shouted “Hey there serfs, you ready to go off today!”

The crowd shouted in response, she grinned and moved backwards on the stage “I don’t know, I don’t know, can I get a trans rights from y’all, give it to me loud and proud, let’s hear it!”

The crowd shouted again and only then did Selene notice her biggest hater in the audience, she had to hold back a giggle, she was a professional afterall. She announced proudly “Y’all wanna hear a new song today? I wanna hear it from the FRONT to the back.”

Arsling obviously shouted trans rights, afterall she's not a monster, well she is but you get what i mean, the second selene spotted her she slumped in her seat blushing trying to hide her embarrassed face

Xander meanwhile gave a huge trans rights shout, pumping his fist into the air and cheering as loud as he possibly could.  He grabbed Arsling’s hand to try and drag her back out of her seat.  “C’mon, get up, you’re in good company!  No need for that!”

“No wait don’t-” Arsling was dragged up to her feet making it definitely obvious that yes, thats Arsling, what wasn’t expected was for Arslings green and black suit to turn pink and white making her pop out even more, yes the people beside her were wearing pink but Arsling is six feet tall and in the front row, she has a big ‘oh fuck, i’m going to kill whoever did this when i return’

Selene let out the smallest giggle moving the mic away from her face as she took in Arsling. Then waved to the audience “Okay, okay, okay, I hear you loud and clear, from the cute girl in the pink suit all the way back to that dashing enby in the back  Y’all ready,  I’m about to unleash all of your inner queens, let’s go!”

A trans flag drops behind her, and a group of various trans dancers come out from behind her Pyrrha pops up in her DJ booth and the music begins. Selene starts debuting her newest single Unleash Your Queen here for everyone to hear.

“Holy fuck this is awesome!”  He looked to Arsling and took in her suit.  “You look great!  How the hell did you do that?  You trying to impress her or…?”

“N-no! I didn’t do anything, it was a regular suit...i look awful! Pink is not good on me!” Arsling is more confused than angry looking at her suit “if this was Tamzen i’m going to burn her wardrobe!”

“Oh come on I doubt it was her!”  Xander quickly took a mental note to warn Tamzen later.  “Besides you’re overreacting, you look absolutely stunning!  Lighten up, enjoy yourself!”  He began dancing along with the teens in the front row, inviting Arsling to join them.

“Dude i dont dance! I can’t dance!” Arsling says nervously as her ears twitch picking up the supernaturally locked part of the music, unfortunately Arsling can’t hide the giddy smile on her face as she enjoys the music, her hips swaying slightly

“Don’t dance huh, then what’s going on there?”  He points down to her hips, his own swaying to the song as well.  “Arsling, for real, enjoying her music is nothing to be ashamed of.  Look around, you’re in an arena full of people who love it too.”  He gave a wide sweeping gesture behind them.  “If anywhere is a good place to express how you really feel, it’s here!”

“B-but like i’m a hipster! Not a jock!” her hips swaying against her outward will before internally going fuck it and trying her best to dance, alas she still can’t really dance, atall, two left feet unfortunately for her this does make her stand out even more amongst the crowd, well even more than her height and bright pink suit

Selene wrapped up the song and the set started moving behind her as people moved things off stage to set it up. Selene smiled at the crowd “Nice dance moves out there, y’all are a fantastic crowd. Let’s do a classic now, we unleashed your queen now we gotta bask in it!”

The idol started singing Queen Of The Night, there was far less extraness going for this one, perhaps she decided to put it into today’s set unpromoted but she put her whole heart into dancing and Berry came on stage to dance with her making it a little duet dance. A hint of romance in both their eyes.

Arsling practically froze watching the two pretty women dance mesmerized by them her face going several shades of red

Xander, who was about to poke fun at her, turned and saw how red she’d gotten.  “Oh, guessing this must be your favorite song.  I’m really partial to it too.”  He sings along, letting Arsling just have her moment.

“Pr-pretty women” Arsling mumbles, Bi-panic has been activated

Xander chuckles a bit, “Fair enough.”

Berry sticks her tongue out at Arsling, hoping off stage once the song is done. This time there was no transition between songs, Selene was ready to perform her heart out, losing focus on Arsling for now, she had tons of people to make the night for. An outfit change happens on stage using some stage tricks to not reveal her body on stage. Her outfit gets even more extra, glitter everywhere and a fabulously over the top look.

Arsling had managed to snap back to reality at some point during the costume change “damn stupid brain” trying to cool down her overheated brain for the rest of the show she was thoroughly enjoying

Xander was having an absolute blast, a huge smile on his face.  He’s even started dancing with the teens around him, gushing about how great the concert is.  Looking back to Arsling he gives her a little nudge, “Doing good over there?”

“I am just about done...overheating” Arsling sipped her whiskey and wrote something on a note of paper and passing it to one of the teens, they probably won’t read it for a bit but it says ‘the guy with green hair paid for your tickets’

Selene by chance might have helped Xander out when the notes slip, the song ending Selene tossed some shirts to the front row saying “I heard we got a big group who raised money to show up here, y’all worked so hard to get here I figure the least I can do is give y’all something.”

Then looking up towards the rest “Don’t worry I’m not leaving y’all out, bring out the T-shirt cannons baby!”

The tops started flying in the air and people started handing merch out to the front row, Selene moving backstage for a moment to drink some water and get ready for the next song.

Arsling stands there one of the shirts having landed on her face, the beanpole with abs functioning as a drying rack for this shirt as it hangs off her face

Xander caught a shirt and looked it over with a smile.  However, the girl next to him had dropped hers to the floor, it unfortunately getting covered in food scraps and a bit of spilled alcohol.  Seeing this he handed her his shirt, deflecting any attempt she made to try and deny it, and picked the dirty one off the ground.  He slung it over his shoulder with a cocky grin.  “Well, definitely looks like someone’s having fun.”  He snapped his fingers in front of her face.  “That is if that someone is still in there.”

Arsling looks at Xander “i’m gonna kill you with this shirt” Arsling says grabbing the signed shirt off her face “you knew exactly what you were doing by bringing me here  in the front row surrounded by selene fangirls *i will end you snake man*” Arsling playfully scowls at Xander “oh i’ve already enacted my revenge by the way”

Xander gave a puppy dog expression in her direction.  “Why Arsling, I haven’t the *foggiest* idea of what you could possibly be referring to.  I just wanted you to come here and have fun!”  He let the look drop as he gestured to the high schoolers around him.  “Besides them being here wasn’t meant to do anything for your experience, this was just my good deed for the month.”  Xander looked past her and saw the girls next to her, who’d managed to catch their shirts just fine, reading a scrap of paper.  Once they were done they looked up at him, giving him shy waves.  He turned back to Arsling, letting his grin fall away.  “You *didn’t…*”

Arsling confidently walks backwards grinning “why don't you say hi girls? he’s about as scary as he looks” Arsling smiles at Xander motioning the teens towards Xander

“Oh look, Queen Selene’s coming back!  We should be good and pay attention to the concert!  Right?  Right!”  He awkwardly laughs sliding behind Arsling again.

Queen Selene returned to the stage, now equipped in succubus gear and “makeup” she smiled at the crowd “Time For The Chart Topping new single! Thanks to all you serfs we’ve done it again and reign as queens, it’s time!”

She started singing I’m Just Your Succubus her actual newest single, she had tons of passion in her voice, this song was something raw for her, something only now she was getting truly over, it was nice to be able to sing it here and see whose heart she could touch on stage.

Xander, getting over the awkwardness of the previous moment quickly, instantly started connecting with the song.  He heard how passionate Selene’s voice was and tried to match that energy as he cheered her on.  For a second he even forgot where he was, and danced in sync with the vocals.

Arsling smirked leaning into Xanders ears while he danced “you escape teenaged based destruction for now” Arsling smiles internally wanting to shift into beast mode due to the energy of the place aswell as actually just not giving a crap about the stupid twitly personality she built up...she still thinks shes a hipster though

He barely even acknowledged Arsling had said anything to him, giving her a small shrug as he kept dancing.  He was too lost in the song, moving and quietly singing along to it like he was in a trance.

Arsling smirked before turning back to the stage smiling and staring at selene, enjoying the music much more than she wished she were

The set kept going, song to song until the show began to wrap up. Selene blew a kiss to the crowd and cheerfully encouraged her fans “Thank y’all, you’ve been an amazing crowd. I’ve had so much fun with y’all tonight. Stay hydrated, get some water, don’t drink and drive, if you found yourself a cutie to go home with be safe, let a friend know, there are merch booths at all the exits, love y’all!”

Arsling sat down, it felt like she had been on her feet all night, and that did not feel good on her human feet “woo!” She sat comfortably in the seat looking towards Xander

Xander was fielding a crowd of teens around him thanking him, trying to take pictures with him, and even some trying to ask questions about who he was.  “Oh uh, please no pics, I’m a bit camera shy.  Um, let’s just say I had some cash to burn.  Oh gods, I’m flattered, but I’m both taken and definitely too old for you!”

Once the crowd had dispersed around him he threw himself into the seat next to her.  “Well, I hope you had fun.  Both during and… after the concert.”

Arsling smirked “well the little aftershow by you and those teens was the undoubted highlight of the night” she smirked crossing her legs “so do you think your car can fit wolf me?” Arsling asked like that was a completely normal question

Xander smirked in her direction.  “Well it probably can… but we aren’t exactly done here y’know.”  He flashed his VIP pass at her.  “Why do you think we’ve got these anyways?”

“Hahahaha, i’m going to jump into the sun!” Arsling say jovially as she stands back up and straightens her back “oh well, lets go meet my friend!”

“I can’t fucking wait, ah I’ve been listening to her music since she first debuted.”  He stood up and grabbed her arm.  “C’mon, I’ll make sure you don’t get burned too hard!”

A couple of buff women were acting as security but let the pair through to the back room where Selene was chilling out in her first outfit from the night drinking some water, Berry was sitting on Selene’s makeup counter, Lezly was on her phone laying down on a little bench probably texting Burgundy, and Pyrrha was watching a playback feed of Unleash Your Queen taking notes on their performance for the actual single release.

Selene stood up and giggled “Arsling, in a pink suit, just for me, your friend here a fan or are you finally admitting it out loud when your not in bed trying to have sex with me?”

She extended a hand over to Xander “Pleasure to meet you, your face is super familiar, I feel like I’ve seen you front row a lot. I think at least starting back at my first performance in the city.”

Xander shook her hand, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly with the other.  “Well I may or may not have seen a show or seven every year since you debuted.  Though you may also recognize me from MHU.  I’m Iva’s campaign manager, Xander.  Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.”

Arsling had turned red and froze again making a low groaning noise as she basically died from embaressed at sex talks coming up while standing right next to Xander “th-that was supposed to be private Selene!” she said adorable and red as a button

“Oh, was it, my bad. No the public position is you find me so unattractive you would like me to dye my hair right” The succubus teased Arsling her head looking back towards Xander who was actually an open fan of her work.   Selene smiled and said “Sorry about that, you got VIP passes, I am all yours to access, anything you want to know or see or ask? You may fanboy or you can just hang out with me and the crew, whatever feels right.”

Berry chimed in “A bit of both works too.”

“Well I’ve definitely always been curious about your writing process, and wanted to pick your brain about how you go about conceptualizing your songs.  You’re super talented, and your voice rocks, but the thing I enjoy most is your lyrics.  I’ve always found that they speak to me on a much deeper level than pretty much every other artist.”  He rubbed the back of his neck again.  “That is if you’re comfortable with that subject of course.  I know how personal  the lyrics can be for an artist.”

Selene smiled at Xander and motioned for him and Arsling to take a seat “I’d be happy to talk all about Lyrics and everything. I love talking about my music and knowing my words could reach you means a lot to me.”

She leaned in closer adding “Your friends with Iva and Arsling, so I’m extra comfortable not that I am ever shy.”

Selene motioned to her revealing outfit with a little giggle at herself. The girl loved the flattery nothing hit better than someone praising her work, she put her everything into every song so any time she could meet a fan willing to talk about it she loved to hear their stories as much as they loved to hear hers. Afterall, it was amazing how a song could translate to such a wide range of people.

“Oh awesome!”  He didn’t drop his gaze from her eyes, attempting to be polite.  “The first song I wanted to ask about was I’m Just Your Succubus.  It’s probably my favorite song of yours in the last few years, and definitely the one I connect with most.  The way you emphasize certain words in it I’ve noticed changes a bit in the live version as compared to the recorded one.  Is that on purpose, or do you just go with the flow of how you’re feeling?”

Selene's eyes practically sparkled, glad that Xander could tell the difference. The musician explained with pure enthusiasm “Okay, so when I wrote and recording the song I was in  a pretty bad place in my mental health, in relationships but I’ve been on the up and I realized that I could emphasize different words to keep a similar meaning and sound but to shift a bit more hopeful kind of embracing the darkness.”

Arsling had been staring at her phone during this before finally twiting something out turning a shade of red “ch-check Twitly” On there is a twit of Arsling basically admitting that she’s a fan of Selenes music and it was an act born out of immaturity and wanting to be cool

The twit “ok, i like selenes music, i'm serious, all the stupidity and teasing is all an act and it has been for the last few years, i've been a immature fuckwit about it, but the truth is she makes good music and it means alot to her, and considering i've had to grow alot these last weeks i've realised this charade is fucking pointless to keep up enjoy her new hit, it may be popular, but it deserves it”

Selene looked at her phone and smiled at Arsling putting a hand on her leg “I’m proud of you. I know that was hard to admit, it means a lot to me that you posted it.”

Lezly sighed but lked and retweeted Arslings twit, Pyrrha never looked away from her notes, Berry giggled “It’s about time Arsling, good job.”

Xander liked and retweeted as well.  “I am also proud of you.  Now we can come to concerts without you hiding your face.”

Arsling blushes and shrinks down slightly in her seat “y-yeah, i-im still a hipster though right?”

Xander ruffled her hair a bit.  “Of course you are.  The types of media you consume shouldn’t affect the labels you want to attach to yourself.  You can still be hipster trash *and* listen to Queen Selene openly!  Anyone who says otherwise is just narrow minded.”

Selene assured Arsling with the facts although she didn’t really get “A lot of people who basically only listen to Indie music love me. If you look at the playlists with my songs on them, you’ll see they are blended in with tons of indie queer stuff. Hell I have my own record label, I am a massive success but I am not owned by any company, I’m a private owner along with these three.”

Arsling smiles “yeah!...also know anybody who could use illusion magic, this suit was green before i got here and i’m going to kill whoever put me in a pink suit”

Xander looked it over, and shrugged.  “I mean there are definitely some witches on campus who could’ve done that…”  He then looked to Selene and her crew sheepishly.  “Oh uh… I mean…”

"I am sure I could have done it with sex magic but I didn't, I thought you were wearing it as part of the whole admit you like my music thing" Selene said jestering to the outfit not really flinching at saying it in front of Xander. If Xander was working on Iva’s campaign he was supernatural or supernatural friendly. Plus Ash mentioned magic in front of him

“No it was green, my moneys on Tamzen” Arsling looks at Xander and selene “if it is her can i count on you two for petty revenge?”

Xander shakes his head.  “A, don’t think it was Tamzen, B, sorry but girlfriend beats best friend in the hierarchy of folks I have to side with in cases of pettiness.”

“Damn, i’ll get to the bottom of this…i’m also gonna go shift...they let dogs back here right?” Arsling asks curiously

Selene giggled at Arsling "I make the rules here, shift if you want Arsling."

The succubus intentionally ignored petty revenge on Arsling’s best friend and Xander's girlfriend. After all, the last time she met Tamzen it wasn't totally pleasant so she wasn't so sure she could half ass the revenge. She Turned back to Xander and asked "so you've really been a fan since the earliest stuff, like online video only Queen Selene times or once I started doing bigger live shows?"

“Oh, we’re talking like a hundred subscribers on your original channel Queen Selene.  I’ve listened to all of, and genuinely admired your work since.  Even back then you brought the same fire and energy that I see you working with onstage now!  The only thing that’s changed is the production value of course.  But when you have a crew this talented to back you up,” Xander motioned to the others, “Of course it’s bound to make your music all the better.  Though there was definitely always a charm to your bathroom covers and bedroom acoustic versions back at the beginning.  I saw your rendition of Fly Me to the Moon on twitly recently, and it reminded me of those days a lot.  Just raw uncut Selene, taking on the world with nothing but your voice and personality.”  Xander became a bit flushed.  “Gosh I’m sorry, I’m just babbling on and on.  You must get tired of this kind of lip service from fans, I imagine you get it a lot.”

While Xander was talking Arsling hopped into the bathroom, stripping down partly but getting stuck at the Bowtie, it just wouldn't come off, even though the shirt did, it was just unwilling to untie, Arsling went for plan b, and shifted with it on the green and grey glow of her shift beaming threw the door gaps before out came a mithed looking ginger wolf with a pink bowtie "I can't get the Bowtie off" She grumbled as she dragged her folded up pink outfit into the room with her back feet

Berry grabbed Arsling’s outfit and teased the wolf “Did you shift just to not have to wear pink or is the bowtie in purpose, it looks so cute on you Ash!”

Meanwhile, Selene was blushing at all the flattery, it was rare that she got to meet an OG subscriber, those people meant the world to her, she was desperate and hungry then. Being a pop star had to work, it was the only way she could keep even a part of her old life, her old world. Still music meant everything to her, it’s what she wanted before any succubus stiff happened. The blush faded and Selene said “no, it means a lot. You were in the first hundred that means I probably still know your user name, I got a pretty good memory and I remember those days well, y’all kept me going.”

Lezly stood up and keyboard placing it in front of Selene, she grinned “Your welcome”

Then returned to her phone in the corner. Selene looked at Lezly and giggled “y’all know me too well you know. Yes, I was going to say, would you like to hear another raw song then. I can do a cover or an old, special backstage performance, just me, these keys and  a lovely audience of a wolf and an old fan.”

Xander lit up, eyes wide and smile wider.  “It’d be an absolute honor to hear you just go for it!  No covers, I mean I loved the covers, but I always preferred your old special stuff.  Just you, uncut and doing your thing.  Your voice sounds amazing regardless, but the passion in it is always amplified when you’re doing your own material.  I mean, I guess that’s obvious since it’s you spreading the message you want to convey, but still…”  He realized he was babbling again, so he shut himself up before he talked everyone’s ear off.

Selene looked at the keyboard, an old song, well she did A Good Night For A Change live when she was on tour it was possible Xander was there, so it had to be something else from the classics. Maybe something that didn’t take off as much, ya, alright. Selene pressed her fingers on the keys. Selene took a deep breath preparing the the emotions that were going to leak out of the song, then began to sing “I wish I could stay, If I believed i’d pray, wanna write you every day but nay, but nay, but nay.  I gotta go on from here, got to leave you behind, I wish you were here but it hurt you if you tried. So sweets dreams to you, I miss you all the time and time and time and time again.”

She kept singing one of her original songs before her break out success, this one wasn’t even on any albums but it was still up on her youtube channel from all the way back then. Selene whipped her eyes at the end making sure she didn’t cry singing it and then did a little playful bow “Thank you, that was, Wish I Could Stay, you’ve been a lovely audience..”

Xander stood from where he was sat, and gave her a little round of applause.  His own eyes a bit watery, as he attempted not to cry.  “Now that takes me *way* back.  That was like the second or third ‘Queen Selene’ song you ever released, gosh that time seems so far away…  Sitting at my laptop after school each week, just seeing what you’d upload next.  Leaving a comment or three when there were like ten total.  It made the big, practically empty, house I was living in at the time seem much more… full of life.”

He felt a tear roll down his cheek and wiped it away immediately, correcting himself a bit.  “Thank you for the wonderful performance, and frankly all the wonderful performances you’ve given over the years.  Whether it’s on a screen, over some speakers, or live in person, you’ve definitely touched a lot of people with your music.”  He flushed a bit, biting his tongue a little.  “I mean, you’ve certainly hit a chord with me over the years.”  He corrected himself again, grabbing his arm in embarrassment.  “Ah gods there I go again, sorry for all the rambling.”

Selene took a second to bask in how sweet the moment was, seeing Xander moved to years by that old song meant the world to her. She put a hand on Xander’s arm and said “Please, I don’t mind you rambling if I found you annoying I would have shut you up.”

She giggled a little bit and then said “You're welcome to come to Hellfire any time, we got parties going all the time and I’m sure you would fit in. I’d love to answer any more questions you had too, I don’t  have all the time tonight but like, you know where I live and you got an invite to come ask whenever the mood strikes you.

Arsling did her best to clap by pattering her front paws against the floor "that was lovely!" They say with earnest in their voice, tail wagging behind her "also yes I shifted so I wouldn't have to wear pink" she paws at the Bowtie trying to get it off

Selene moved over to Arsling and petted the wolf teasing “but you look so cute in pink, yes you do, yes you do.”

Arsling relaxed at the pets their tail picking up speed as they leaned into the pets back paw slapping against the floor "ahhhhhhh that's nice" they say the giant dog girl flopping to the floor on their side

Selene started giving Arsling tummy rubs and kept teasing “Who's a good girl, Who's a good girl?”

Arsling attempted to protest “h-hay ima a wolf not a pet...ahhhh don’t care” they say tail and legs twitching and swinging around as the werewolf, beast of great destruction and a cursed creature in folklore, acts like an excited puppy

Xander couldn’t help but chuckle a bit.  “And I thought you were adorable before the wolf stuff.  Now it’s just cuteness overload I swear.”

Arsling looks at Xander “you will tell Tamzen none of this!” Arsling then yawns as she leans further into the pets, her desires readable to selene basically saying ‘go for the ears’

Selene was glad to fill that request, petting behind the ears and looking over to Xander “So are you some kind of spellcaster, some kind of monster or a human ally?”

“Oh uh… monster I guess.  I uh… it’s probably just best to show rather than tell.”  With that he let his head transform into its serpentine form, that of a large black scaled king cobra.  The only aspect of his appearance remaining unchanged were his icy blue eyes.  “I’m what you’d call a sssserpentine.”

Selene was a fan of show me yours and I’ll show you mine, her horns growing out of her head, her eyes shifting, tail and wings coming out and her skin changing “Succubus here, I don’t think I’ve meet a Serpentine before, snake people for sure but I always love meeting new monsters. Best part of Hellfire is our melting pot.”

“Yeah we’re exccceedingly rare thesse dayss.  An unfortunate ssside effect of having your anccesstorss be a bit too in love with having mortalsss worsshiping them.  When they sstopped viewing them asss godss and sstarted viewing them asss freakss.  Well I’m ssure you can guesss how that went.”  His eyes shifted to the floor for a second, then returned to Selene’s.  “Regardlesss, it’ss good to know there’ss sssomewhere ssafe at ssschool for uss.  Esspeccially with thossse monsster hating fuckss ssslithering around campusss.”

“Monster hating what now?” Arsling was snapped out of the puppy dog scratches no matter how sedated they were by them, she raised her head looking at xander with a tilted head

“Wait, have you not run into those freaks yet?  There’s some sort of group that hates supernatural folk on campus.  I’ve had a few run ins with them, they’re bad fucking news.”  He turned to Selene.  “You know about them right?  I honestly just kind of assumed all monsters knew about it.”

Selene looked at Arsling a bit her own lip feeling a tiny, itty bit bit guilty for not having said something earlier "Ya, I know about it. I let most monsters I know on campus know. Arsling was an exception cuz she was going through a lot and I figured if I let her know when I found out she'd have done something unwise."

Selene returned to human form and stood up looking at Xander "I'm doing what I can to destroy them. They have been smart so far not coming after any of mine that were in Hellfire but I still plan on getting rid of the lot of them."

Arsling sat up head still tilted "who are they?" She said very curious before bowing her head down feeling guilty, feeling like even being apart of the conversation is going against Iva's advice because Arsling knows that she'd not be able to just rest the second she knows whose hunting the monsters on campus, and by extension *her*

Xander let his head return to normal.  “That’s something I’m not too clear on honestly.  From what I’ve gathered they only ever go after us when they have a clear advantage.  A couple of them tried to drag a friend away at a career fair, and were only stopped when Iva and I intervened.  Then there were the two who tried dragging me off when they thought I was alone, but backed off when they realized I wasn’t.”  He looked to Selene with concern.  “I’d be guessing that’s why they haven’t gone after any Hellfires.  They’re trying to pick off folks one by one, keeping themselves as hidden as possible in the process.”

“Ya, that makes sense. It’s actually kind of by design. The reason we ll make sure to have visible pink on us. It let’s us know we’re safe once we know the pink is for Hellfire, it can let other people who are in the know about Hellfire know it’s safe around them or to come to them, and it scares off people knowing if they fuck with a hellfire they will face our wrath.”

Selene was clearly a bit angry thinking about them and how they managed to operate under her nose. The girl took a breath to calm down and patted her keyboard “Anyway, we don’t need to worry about them for now, progress is going well on taking them down.”

She waved her fingers around and the three members of Selene’s inner circle started packing things up. Selene asked Xander “Do you have any other questions while we’re wrapping up around here?”

“Just one more, because I’ve always been curious.  I watched you develop the Queen Selene brand for a long time, slowly tweaking it into what it is today.  It’s something you’ve kinda been asked a million times in a million ways before, but I’ve never seen an interviewer actually get to the heart of the matter.  How separate is Queen Selene from Selene?  I know you put your heart and soul into your music, but how much of the act is just an amplified version of you, and how much is just genuinely who you are?”

Selene took a moment, that question was a hard one, but this was a fan she could make the answer simple right? The popstar said “Well, it’s hard to figure out where Queen Selene starts and I end,  Ilive it so much. I do have some hobbies and other things I don’t really share as openly. So I’d say like i’m 80% Queen Selene 20% A different Selene, depending on the day? It’s been changing lately though, been getting all mushy and romantic.”

Selene wasn’t exactly a judge of herself, but that answer beat saying *I’ll let you know when I know.* The girl was becoming happy with herself and that’s what really mattered, a new self love that was forming in a way she hadn’t had since she was a little kid.

Xander nodded his head and smiled.  “I guess it would be something that’s ever changing, just like we do as people over time.  Kinda hard to pin down how much of your artistic muse is specifically you, especially given you’re in college too, and it’s such a transitional phase in most people’s lives...”  He trailed off looking down to his wolf friend, giving her a pat on the head.  “I think that’s all I wanted to ask… for now of course.”  He returned his gaze to Selene, giving her a warm smile.  “But I’ll be sure to stop by Hellfire at some point soon.  Whether I have more questions or not, it’s been fun getting to talk to you.”

“Ya, life’s complicated but I am glad I got great fans cheering me on and good friends helping me out” The pop star said looking at her trio of followers who all shot her a little smile. Selene grabbed her own bag and informed the other two “Well, we should be going from here, gotta get some sleep before class tomorrow, it was nice meeting you Xander, nice to see you in pink Arsling. You should wear it more.”

With that the idol was on her way heading to her car unless one of the two stopped her.

Arsling had a little blush under all her fur glancing down at her little bowtie adorning her neck “y-yeah, take care!” Arsling waved with her right front paw

Xander gave a wave as they left.  “Nice meeting you as well Selene, see you around.”  Watching them go he leaned down to Arsling with a smirk.  “So… you had fun after all didn’t you?”

“Yes fine i had fun!” Arsling says rolling her canine eyes “but hay i guess the jig is up” Arsling shrugs “my next goal now is finding out who put me in pink, and then finding out how to get petty revenge, shouldn’t be too hard”

“Well I’ll wish you luck in that endeavor.  If you find out, and it’s not Tamzen, let me know.”  He lifted himself back up and brushed himself off a bit.  “Now c’mon, let’s get going, I’ve had enough birthday fun today.”  As he fished for his keys he gave Arsling an amused look.  “Oh, and if you want to ride in my car as Cutie, you’re also going to vacuum it afterwards.  I don’t need Gertrude demanding if I’ve suddenly gotten a new pet.”

“Hmm i got a better idea, get going i’ll ‘catch up’” The canine winks before taking a pouncing stance ready to dart ahead, you can almost feel the energy building up inside of Cutie as she grins wolfishly

Xander was going to question her, then thought better of it.  Realizing he left his car with the valet, he gave a shrug.  “Ok, just be careful.  Don’t need you making headlines as the first ever wolf with a fashion sense.”  With that he turned, and began making his way back out to retrieve his car.

Arsling smirked as Xander strolled away, taking hide in the nearby bushes, waiting for Xander to drive out, the second he gets a considerable distance from her Arsling books it, her canine legs carrying her fast, in no time getting to the side of Xanders car giving a friendly bark to Xander

He rolled down his window and gave her a playful but stern look.  “Ah yes, very subtle!  You’re lucky everybody else is already gone y’know!  Any animal control officers get called and I’m denying any knowledge of your existence y’hear me!”

“I’ll just say you’re my owner! What rich kid doesn’t own a magical talking dog!” Arsling grins as she runs aside Xanders car, her pawfalls loud and threatening to echo “to be honest this is awesome! I didn’t know I could go this fast!”

“Well I’m glad I can be a part of the learning process for ya!  Now pay attention to the road!  The last thing I need is to have to explain how you became a big furry pancake to Tamzen, or any of the others for that matter!”  He had his eyes peeled for any oncoming traffic, making sure no one caught a glimpse of the large wolf running sixty miles an hour next to him.

Arsling smiled and looked straight ahead, the wild look of a wolf having a blast in her eyes as they glowed gently from the moonlight, her tail wagging in the wind

Xander couldn’t help but smile, catching how happy she looked out of the corner of his eye.  He started blasting Queen of the Night in his car, as the two made their way home on the open empty highway.