"not as good as the one who keeps me out of trouble." erich grins to dustyn. it was possible that erich had more second degree criminal mischief charges than most anyone on earth. that seemed to be what most of his hijinx ended up being charged as. with a good enough lawyer,even a good old fashioned pistols at dawn duel could be knocked down to that. as the clap of the high five echoes,erich has his doubts about dustyn not checking or voting. "ive had long conversations with you about dallas' feet. i am not buying that for an instant,mr blue conners. it went without saying when erich wrote his memoirs about the music industry,only the most glowing terms would be used for dustyn and to an extent,the rest of the people here. erich takes the bottle from dustyn and continues making a face. " you know how when some people are closeted they really over do pretending to be straight and its fairly obvious to anyone paying attention? you'll always be one of the boys,dust but.." erich just shakes his head and places a hand on dustyn's shoulder . " that aint cutting it,chief. thats like me saying...i dunno...hes got a real nice glans. the kind you could just stare at all day." erich tries to explain. one should feel sorry for the next woman in erich's life. hes totally going to tell her dustyn's compliment in the heat of passion.

chloe is rather sharp and can gather from what she knows of micah that he is a working class guy. his mother probably was some sort of one off fling with erich,so she never got to live it up when success came calling. so by extent micah did not. she knew erich well enough that he firmly believed in sharing the wealth,so it was possible erich was at least footing some of micah's bills. if she was in erich's position,she probably would do the same. "sounds like a geat idea. you make it to france and i will show you the good stuff. not sure if many go out of their way to see arles,but its there if you wish to see it." she giggles madly when elbowed about ticket sales. "ooh yeah. gimme that 3 pounds." she causes the area around her to shake with her laughs. harlots shows were notoriously cheap. they were on one of the biggest labels in the business,but they werent going to screw people over. every show was 20 dollars or under. aside from the times they played festivals,but that was usually out of their control. "nah,you are totally fine. i just didnt want to have to swallow this pizza like a lizard or something." she laughs and takes a bite of the pizza. it was very good. the was nothing in the world like pizza.


"oh i lost count. i love the the thing. probably my favorite madonna movie." he tells riley while looking upwards in thought. he really had lost count after about 100. he didnt like rosie odonnel in the slightest,but he loved the interaction between her and madonna.

"well,some of us dont have such great PR departments,dustyn. all i have there is cassie and she could give two fucks less." erich tells dusty while tilting his head to look at his friend arrange himself around the jar of illicit substance. sure,erich would do some with dustyn but he was pretty engrossed in his laudanum and whiskey. absinthe was out. its not like the room had tables or anything. erich wasnt about to not water his absinthe properly. standards must be maintained. erich gives dustyn a nod and starts humming the boys are back in town. dustyn was either way off or possibly living in the future with his assessment. there were breast people and ass people...maybe dustyn was on to something here. erich could not be sure. "im sure there are. i mean,i guess its like the foot thing. i know a bad one when i see it,but i dont know a good one.so i think it's best to leave it up to the experts." erich says with a shrug. this was more like it. it felt weird hearing body parts that werent masculine being talked about by dustyn. now things were balanced. all was right with the world.

"not in front of the straight!" dallas giggles to dustyn when his...area is mentioned. "that gets out and they will all want in on the action. i am only one man."

"skiing. " chloe says with a hint of disdain in her voice. " i have never been or have i ever wanted to. sure, i went to a resort once or twice. but,i drank wine in the lodge and ate snacks. trompsing about in the cold on purpose seems silly to me." she says,thinking that micah dodged a bullet there. she liked looking at snow but had no urge to be in it. it sucked when one was quickly reminded that snow was wet. " i dont think i have been to this ipswich. ive been to...." chloe sucks air in between her teeth as she thinks, "um...London,of course. Liverpool,Blackpool,Manchester,and...Birmingham?..oh! and newcastle." she rattles off,trying to remember where all her band performed. she only ever really spent time in london. mainly wherever nina had lived. whatever the hell the place with jack the ripper was. she did remember the food being good. "i am indeed not a fan of being choked." she says with a little smirk. she assumed micah wasnt the typical filthy person she was used to dealing with,but it was nice to go ahead and establish that right off the bat. "if you wish to wrestle your dad and weekend,i am sure they would be more than willing. you do not need the excuse of getting me something in order to do so. but a drink would be nice. if you can reach. i dont know care what it is,but nothing with artificial sweetener ,please" she asks. pizza is salty enough as is. so the thirst was building." maybe they kidnapped some italians and force them to make pizza? one can never be too sure." she giggles.

"aww, thanks" dallas beams at riley. it always felt nice to hear he was approved of by dustyn's bandmates and friends. dallas looks over at scott. the man was very far into whatever it was he was on. " well,i guess erich's son has just be nominated trip sitter." he says quietly .to his knowledge,that was the only sober person here.

" ah,yes. just the tip." erich muses with hand to his chin. if he didnt take the chance to make that joke,it was very possible the apocalypse would've been called down by gods on high. one never resists when a chance to say just the tip presents itself. erich would be telling a lie if he said he hadnt be described as chaotic a time or two. so he could understand being pleased to be referred to as such. " as long as one uses their chaos powers for good. its our job to inject fun into the world. sometimes people need to see things that make them wonder. we're really providing a service here." erich explains,agreeing totally with dustyn. he looks off and around the room,finally settling his eyes on chloe. she was the only woman here,but alas,her armpits were covered..covered in erich's now stretched out and useless shirt. he'd have to go shirtless until they could get into town...or perhaps just paint one on and see if anyone notices. "cant say i ever put much thought into armpit. might be missing out there and not know it. i'll have to put it to the test. line up some folks and lay the old eyeball to the pits. for science,of course." erich tells dustyn. this,however was neither the time nor the place. besides,it seems there was drinking to be done. " first its collective punishment of people with different fetishes than you and now you're trying to force a drink down me?! i dont know this war crime committing dustyn!" erich cries out before laying back like the woman in the splashdance film. " right,now much like i've heard from oscar's mom: dont get it in my eyes." erich laughs at the expense of the weekender not here. somewhere,erica would be proud of his getting a mom joke to land.

"you would think they would,right? i mean. an owner of a penis should know how to treat one. its basic stuff." dallas tells dustyn with a shrug. it made perfect sense to him. perhaps it was one of those things where ego came in to it and things got complicated when comparisons were made. he didnt know. it wasnt his concern anyway.

"well,i am sure your...." chloe pauses and scrunches up her face in thought. the hess clan's lineage was convoluted enough without adding adult children into the mix. "step..ex..mom and her wife could take you?" chloe says slowly while working it all out. "fuck if i know what they are to you. but,erica hess and gretchen do the skiing thing all the time. up in austria. so..if you like snow and schnitzel,they're your ladies." chloe giggles. if micah went,she'd have to go. mainly just to see if he liked the reality of skiing. she notices micah playing with the bottle and nods her head over towards dustyn. "you want me to ask him where that goes?" she mouths to micah. the likelihood of his speaking to dusytn was pretty slim,so she took it upon herself to go inbetween the two. at least until the comfort level increased for micah. "seeing places while touring is a bit different than actually visiting. i've seen a lot of venues and the parking lots we park the bus in!" she grins to him. she got to see very little of the places they visited. the harlots didnt seem to work much due to never really releasing anything but the tour schedule was relentless. it really didnt even slow down once erica became a mother. it was go go go all the time. "a bunch of weirdos. " she exclaims at the thought of people wanting to see a boxer clad micah climb onto erich. "though if those videos are to be believed,micah... never get stuck under a bed or in a laundry machine." chloe says with a little nod and a very helpful tone. "i would..but i dont wish to be a pain. i'd prefer it with a soda. straight liquor is more a work thing for me." she says with a wince. both out of troubling micah for extra stuff and working the kind of job where people in the crowd tend to buy her shots all night long. like the rest of the harlots,she can hold her liquor. shes yet to get sloppy on the drums even after doing shots during the entire set.

"are...are you asking me to..." dallas trails off and looks down at riley's lap. " things are wild tonight,but i dont know about that. you know this is wholesome,right?" he laughs and hands riley some gummy bears. "these might be what the doctor ordered. anything stronger..well,i dont have that sort of thing." they were the fun kinds of gummy bears. there was no way anyone was smoking anything in here. dustyn would throw them all out on their ear.

"watch it,scott. he comes from the land where sheep are sheep and men are scared." erich calls out mischievously to scott. he always enjoyed seeing people have a good time. even more so when he was the one that set them on that journey.

"he must have taken betty. she packs quite a kick. the important part is not only is he rolling right now,he's healthier because of it. my vitamins still contain vitamins. its good for the constitution." erich states,now flexing his arms to show the power of his vitamins. " i think i may have to lay off this laudanum until closer to bed. seems we're not bedding down just yet. "

Kara and Younghood’s paths had only crossed briefly in the past, the first real amount of time that they had spent together seemed to go well as they recorded a track together that would later become a hit single for Kara “DTF”. The pair got along well in the recording sessions in a relaxed environment and managed to create a strong track together that seemed to speak to both of their recent experiences. They exchanged numbers and planned to keep in touch, but it wasn’t until a congratulatory text from Younghood was sent that they began texting back and forth, it appeared that they had a little more of a connection than they thought and eventually they made plans to meet up with each other whenever time would allow. Their conversations via text appeared to be relatively light-hearted with the occasionally flirtatious aspect, but nothing too crazy, almost just like too friends texting.
Kara was aware of the rivalry between Drew and Younghood but wasn’t too aware of how far back it ran for the pair of them, although she wasn’t one to play sides she would joke about how their rivalry would always have them intertwined with each other, it was like Batman and The Joker, “Maybe, you’re both destined to do this forever.” She’d respond in the occasional text conversation about the topic. She didn’t mind playing back and forth over the situation because she knew that Younghood was a pretty chilled out type of guy, to her it didn’t seem like a major issue, more of a competitive one between the two rappers.

She walked into the sports bar, casually dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and jacket, as noted as the pair wanted to keep things pretty low-key. She liked the fact that he had chosen such a regular place for them to meet up, she liked to try to keep things pretty grounded and down to earth in her life whenever she could, but she could feel the momentum shifting slightly in her career that would see her having to indulge in that high life from time to time. She had sent him a text before arriving, so she’d know exactly where he’d be sat. She first made her way to the bar and ordered two bottles of lager before making her way over to the table he was sat at.
She placed the drinks down on the table and sat down opposite him, giving him a smile, “Hey man, this place is good.” she says as she pushes his bottle of lager across the table to him before taking a mouthful of the drink and taking her jacket off, placing it on the back of her chair. She looks at him with a playful smirk, “So what, I’m not worth taking to a classier joint than this?” she laughs a little, knowing that he’ll take it as a joke as she intended.

Kara appreciated the fact that Younghood didn’t always take himself too seriously, he could take a joke and playful comments in his stride which she considered to be the mark of ultimate confidence in themselves. She also knew that he did have his serious side to him too, when it came to his work life and that type of thing. She had been with guys previously who were too serious all the time and she found it an exhausting experience, she felt like she was in a position now in her life where work can get crazy hectic and busy that she needed to have that balance where she could have fun and relax when she wasn’t in work mode. It had been a work in progress for her to get to this point in her life and she felt like she was really in a position to truly enjoy the lifestyle again. The truth is, she felt on top of the world at this moment in time and she wasn’t ready for any of it to stop any time soon.

She smiled as he took a drink and gave her advice on enjoying being able to hang out at just any bar in public, she had lived pretty much her whole life in New York City, so she found that other than the occasional person wanting a photograph or a quick moment of her time she didn’t get bothered too much by fans, just due to the fact that there was always a lot going on in the City and she was never that level of famous for it to be an issue, she laughed a little at his comment, “They tell me that shit’s about to get real crazy.” She says as she takes a drink, “Maybe we’ll have to start buying the club out. My manager warned me that us hanging out might mean us being exposed in Culture Uncut or some shit like that.” she shakes her head at the thought, “I don’t really give a fuck, these days.” she says with a smile, thinking about how the thought of stories going to press used to consume her and affect her decision making.
She laughs and shakes her head playfully at his comment about convincing her to join him tonight, “Dude, you make it sound like I’m a fuckin’ recluse. I just hang used to hang around in different circles, that’s all.” she makes eye contact with him and smirks, “If you used all your luck on that, then I’d consider that to be luck well spent.” she says with a slight laugh.

She takes another couple of mouthfuls of beer, occasionally glancing at the TV and back to Younghood, “I’m into NFL, a little NHL but not so much these days.” she explains casually. “Yourself? Lions fan, obviously?” she didn’t mind the line of questioning, those type of queries are the ones that help you figure out where you meet and where you don’t on points of interest. She knew that they had a basic connection, but she wouldn’t be there if she didn’t want to get to know him a little more. She smiles as he tells her to call him by his real name, “Alright, Nire.”

Kara nodded in agreement, it’s true that the hip-hop scene was thriving but this is the first she had seen her career catch momentum like it has recently and got the impression that Younghood was in the same situation, “For real, I can’t wait to see what you’ve got coming next. No holding back this time, right?” she said with a confident smile. In the past she didn’t like the pageantry of the industry, record roll-outs and press runs to promote stuff, but this time around she was in a different place and really wanted to match that ambition and see just how far she could take it.
She laughed as Younghood’s take on the press attempting to make a story out of anything, she appreciated his humour and the accuracy of his satire. She pursed her lips for a second and blew out her cheeks, mocking how exhausting it is to continually get asked about dating within the industry, especially on a track like theirs that they had written together that showed their chemistry on the track, she had received the same questions in the promo run for the single, “Honestly, if you had bought out this place and flexed on me like that, I wouldn’t be able to control myself.” she joked, before nodding, “For real though, I appreciate you answering that shit so respectfully. I got the same questions. It’s fucked up man. But we could have had some fun with that, shit.” she laughs a little as she finishes her beer. She felt like they had a very strong connection working on the song together, but the truth is that they didn’t quite have enough time to spend any real time with each other outside of the confines of the studio.

She laughs as another couple of drinks are brought to their table, “Good save.” she says with a smirk as she takes the first mouthful of her fresh drink, she half-agreed with his statement and felt like his view of her was more respectful than she may have thought, “Nah, I mean. I’ve got a small group of people that I fuck with. I learnt to pretty early on to keep my circle of people I trust pretty small and inclusive. You know?” she says thoughtfully before continuing, “I mean, I’ve been known to party and shit. But I wouldn’t fuck somebody that I’d just met in the club, it’s not so easy to know who to trust. You’ve got to have those safety numbers in your phone that you can rely on and know that they won’t be looking to sell a story about you.” it was a strange concept to people not part of the industry, but it was a pretty common thing for single people in the industry.
Kara laughed, “Shit man, another guy choosing football over the girl. When will this end?” she plays it dramatically before laughing a little. She wasn’t the type to sit at home or generally got to a bar to watch her teams play, she’d keep up with what was going on in the games. She did enjoy going to games whenever she’d get the opportunity to, fortunately being in New York, there was a lot of sports teams she could go and watch. “I’m assuming you’ve not seen them achieve much success in recent times, then?” she thinks for a moment, “Honestly, I’m blanking on Lions players, I could give you Jared Goff and Penei Sewell. That guy hits like a fuckin’ train.” she says with a smile, “Giants and Islanders, I’ve been to a few games. Mostly Giants games. I should probably get to more hockey games, but it’s tough finding the time.”

Kara laughs a little at his suggestion of playing with the media but nods in agreement at the idea of her returning the favour and being on a track of his own, “Man, I’m definitely down for that, I feel like we were on the same vibe in the studio. I ain’t got no problem calling you out in the press though.” she laughs a little again, “Show up to interviews like ‘this fuckin’ guy again. He’s lucky I allow him to jump on my own success’.” she admired his work and genuinely considered him the brightest spark within the genre but it was clear that some time had passed since ‘Untold Stories’ and that he’d probably need to put something new out soon, she takes a drink and nods along, she laughs at his suggestion of giving the media extra ammunition, “Fuck it, I can play along with their game if you can. I’ll go topless, they can have their photos of us, hands all over each other and shit.” she laughs, “Yes, I can fuckin’ swim.” she shakes her head as she continues to drink, “They can get their shots of you throwing me around in the water and us getting all close and shit.” although she was playing along with the joke, she had always been attracted to Younghood, he had a very laid back and easy to communicate vibe about him which made her gravitate towards him more than most guys.

“Oh really?” she narrows her eyes and bites her bottom lip playfully, with a hint of sarcastic playful humour to it, “So how exactly would being wined and dined by Nire play out? I wanna get a glimpse at the playbook. Maybe I can learn a thing or two.” she says with a smile as she takes another sip of her drink, she listens to him and gives her thought on the situation of protecting yourself in the industry, “For real, it’s like walking a tight rope trying to figure out whether a guy is worth the risk or not. At the end of the day, you have to try to trust your instincts but it just takes a couple of people going to the media with stories for you to start to get a reputation. It’s pretty fucked up.” she was smart enough to understand how things work in the spotlight and the differences between male reputation and female reputation were both vastly different, she thinks for a second before answering his question, “It’s not easy to find, there’s a lot of shit that needs to be ticked before you even begin to get close. I wouldn’t say anybody has been close enough to go the distance in terms of long term. My dating history has mostly been based around sex. But I don’t know, I think I’d like to find something with a little more depth, someone I can have meaningful conversations with, someone that I know is gonna have my back and can take care of shit if he needs to. It can’t ever substitute for passion though, that shit is a must for me. Personally, I think I always have to fall in lust before that shit can turn to love.” she thinks for a moment and nods, “How about you? Like, I fuckin’ know you ain’t ever short of options.” she says with a smile.

Kara laughs at his deep affection for the lions, “Man, that’s gotta be brutal for you. I’m not as die hard a fan as you, but at least I’ve witnessed some form of success as a fan, I’m willing to switch teams though. I don’t quite have that same passion that you do. I’ll make a deal with you, get me in the studio on one of your tracks and I’ll go all in on the Lions. We’re talking season tickets, jerseys, all of it. I’m in Detroit a lot, the guys from Orion are Lions fans too. We’ll make them THE NFL team to follow, kinda like the Raiders in the 90’s were the trendy team to follow.” she laughs a little as she says this all jokingly, she knew how serious guys could be when it came to their sports teams. She nods in agreement as he suggests they go see a game together, she lets his words sink in a little deeper than he probably intended, “Fuck, you’re right about that. Go after what you want.”