#I actually haven’t listened to the musical aside from My Green Light and Roaring On which are

[antiquepearlss]

My dash is divided between people who absolutely adore the new Great Gatsby musical, and people who absolutely despise it.

And I’m just, kinda here

[stormx49]

Modern Demons

Sot System, Planet Dessara: 2100 Hours. For once on this barren planet, rain falls from the darkened clouds; something that I've never seen the time I spent here. With red lightning flashing in the distance and the sound of thunder following soon after. "KRA-KOOOOOM!" Roaring wild like an untamed beast, the thunder made its presence known. But I won't back down, not until I confronted the past once and for all.  I've come back to Dessara, and I want to see what changed over the last few decades or so, and while I could walk through the sands, I decided to take a different form of transportation. I cruised across the sea of sand using a hoverbike, leaving behind a trail of dust behind me as I looked around, seeing nothing more than droplets of rain splattering on the lens of my biker goggles and the occasional streak of lightning arcing across the murky skies. Can't complain about the temperature, it felt cool for once, preventing my snow leopard fur from poofing up from the usual intense humidity. I also felt the black hair flowing behind me, along with the bristles that covered my body. As I drove onwards, going at speeds up to 100 miles per hour, I saw more than the weather, but neon glows in the distance where Ciudad de Polvo used to be. Metal spires ascending above the Earth, how the times changed indeed.   Wanting to see it for myself, I made my way closer to the City of Dust... guess that title's not fitting anymore but it's what I called it during my days here. And once I had arrived, I saw a toll booth at the entrance of the city; so I slowed down and stopped at the toll booth, looking at the man stationed there. His blue eyes matched my own as he looked at me, his expression conveyed his lack of passion for this job of his. "Please present your ID or pay credits to enter Cráter de neón." The Neon Crater huh? So that's what it's called these days...   "Sorry sir, I don't have any credits, I have American dollars on me, will that do?" I asked the guard, and he shrugged at me in response. "Sure, we take dollars, that'll be 25 U.S Dollars to enter the city." Lordy is that an expensive toll... but I had to see what's going inside; so I dug into my right pants pocket and pulled out a twenty and a five, giving it up to the man. "Here you go, sir." I replied. Quickly swiping the cash from my hand, he opened the gate. "Thank you, enjoy your stay at Cráter de neón." I nodded and rode on into the city with the gate closing behind me slowly. I rode on the paved roads and looked at the surroundings around me;  Feeling quite dystopian with holographic advertisements, promoting sex, drugs, and guns.   Scents of smoke and rain filled my nostrils as rode on, soon heading up a holographic path, glowing red as I saw people on the curbs, either begging for money or waiting to jump someone and murder innocent people for whatever they had in their pockets.  Ciudad de Polvo was always a seedy cesspool, it just looks like the city got a facelift to me, without any actual changes made. Though it was kinda disorienting to find the old places I used to visit, there used to a be a watering hole I went to, now it's just a stand where they sell cheap porn magazines.  Then I looked towards the sky, seeing a red bolt of lightning hit a skyscraper; but in actuality it was an electric collector, powering up this city. I kept driving, keeping my eyes towards the road... should've kept my eyes on the camera as well though now that I look back on this escapade. At the time it didn't matter when in reality it should've.  Finally, I got off the road and found what to be a nightclub, looking like it would belong in the 1980's. "Hellhole." That's the name of the club? Charming. Still, it was good as any place to stop and I needed a pick me up. So I parked near the entrance, near the glowing orange neon sign and turned the bike off. Pocketing the key in the right pocket of my black jeans, I hopped off the bike and got my paws wet on the pavement, not even the black gauze wrapped around my feet protected them. My leopard tail wagged a bit to become limber while I straightened out the green plaid cover on my left side, it was hiding something for self-defense. I didn't need my goggles, for now anyways, so I took them off and let them hang above my onyx colored sleeveless combat armor. Then I walked towards the door, but the bald bouncer man stopped me before I got a paw in the door. "Sorry, you're not on the list." He grunted at me. "I'm a paying patron, I need a drink." I replied, telling him the truth. "It'll cost you to get in then." Glad to see bribery hasn't been changed since the last time I wasn't here. Sighing, shaking my head, I'd rather comply then start something. "How much?" I asked. "60 credits, or 80 bucks." Oh for heaven's sake that's expensive. So I dug into my pocket yet again, pulling out four 20 dollar bills and gave it to him, in return he opened the door for me with a poo-eating grin on his visage. "Welcome to the Hole." He greeted as I walked inside. 105 dollars spent so far, out of 200 I brought with me, so that left me with 95 bucks. Hopefully, I have enough for a drink and my way back home later. My first step in and already I could hear synthetic music blaring above the levels of 11, it was an assault on the audio senses. I think the track was called Fakheet if memory serves correctly. Once I got inside, it was mostly shrouded in the dark; save for a few orange and red lights flashing about. People were dancing, at least, I assume they're dancing and not just flopping about the place like a fish out of water. It was like a rave, a normal sight during the '80s. I wanted no part of that, all I want is a drink and be gone. So I headed to the bar, where there were a few customers getting drunk off the gourd; I sat on one of the black stools and looked at the bartender, he too looked bored to death like the tollbooth operator. "Got anything non-alcoholic!?" I asked, raising my voice so that I can be heard. He nodded then went to the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of Coca-Cola, sliding it towards me. I grabbed it and pulled out my other 5 and gave it to him. "Keep the change!" For once on this planet, I got a smile, one that was actually genuine.  I smiled back and popped the lid open by smacking the bottle against the corner of the bar top and began to drink it. Looking around as I listened to the beating of the bass, the lights were quite bright in the dark, I also the name of the club pulsating yellow. Despite being a high tech city, this wouldn't look out of place from the Terminator movie.  As I drink, I wasn't aware of 2 guys coming in, but they weren't dressed in casual clothes; oh no. Clad in armor with glowing blue lights and gear insignias on their chests, it seems some things haven't changed since last I was here. Those cameras I passed by earlier, turns out they belonged to my mortal nemeses... The Blue Gears. Anthro hating scum, they were when I was stationed here on Dessara, and back home on Earth... looks like they never left Dessara and when they spotted me, they pulled out their guns; one being a Pharo SMG, the other being a sawn off shotgun. Looking at the mirror above me, things were going to become chaotic. When I saw the Gear soldier aim his SMG at me, I spat out my drink and leapt over the counter as the bullets began to fly, causing some innocent bystanders to be perforated by bullets, others fled the nightclub. Luckily I avoided being shredded (although the bottles of liquor got shattered), now it was time to go on the counter-offensive. Brushing the kilt aside, I grabbed my version of Storm's latest firearm: the Cicitar SMG. Pulling it from the sling, I loaded a 30 round mag filled with 9x19mm rounds into the grip, put the weapon on full auto and grabbed the charging handle, pulling it back and letting it go to put a bullet in the chamber. "SHHHICK-CLICK!" Time to let the bullets fly.  Once the gunfire stopped, I felt alcohol pour onto my fur and my armor as I popped up, shoulder against the wire stock, aiming down the sights and putting the green glowing front post onto the SMG wielding Gear, then I pulled the trigger. "RAT-TAT-TAT-TATA!" Firing at a rate of fire at 650RPM, bullets exited the barrel while spent cartridges were ejecting from the front, and the Gear in front of me was gunned down, staggering backward with blood splattering against the wall.  He won't be getting back up anytime soon.  However, his partner in crime was still standing. In response, he unloaded both barrels into me, right at center mass. I was knocked back against the wall and felt a pounding in my head, but my armor took the pellets well, keeping my flesh from being penetrated, though one of the plates fell off, exposing the left cup of my green frilly bra. Down, but not out. I put my SMG over the counter, slightly tilting the weapon to the left and emptied the remainder of my magazine. Blind firing paid off it seems because the shotgunner got outgunned.  Taking out the Gear caused him to collapse in a pool of blood. Panting, I got to my feet and looked at the corpses of the Gears. My gut told me that this was only the beginning, it was time to get the heck out of Dodge, so they say. As I walked over to their corpses to search for any extra supplies, I dropped the empty mag from my Cicitar and grabbed the spare mag from my right pocket, inserted into the grip and primed the gun before holstering it again. Once I got to the corpses, I pilfered both of them; and while the shotgunner didn't have anything, the SMG soldier had something interesting: a BP-02 "Pup" Grenade Launcher. A single shot, break open grenade launching pistol. I grabbed it and opened it, finding there was only one shot, but it was all I need. I closed the pistol, holstered it in the right hip of my jeans and headed out of the club, putting my goggles on the way.  I quickly got on my bike, grabbed the key and revved it up, then dashing out of there. There was no way I can go back the way I came, if my hunches were correct, they barricaded the way out. However I knew a back route out of the City of dust, and towards the village I stayed at.  So I drove towards the electric collector.  However, I wasn't out of the woods yet, not by a long shot. More Gears were coming up behind me, riding their sleeker hoverbikes and armed with various firearms, they were out for my blood and fur, but I won't give either to their grubby, racist hands. "Let's bust this ghost!" I heard one of them cry out, the rest cheered in unison. ...Really? That's what they got? I swear this is like a really bad '80's action flick; cheap quips and all. I think they got a futuristic version of the lever action shotgun from the Terminator 2 movie, at least 2 of them for sure. They aimed their guns at me and fired buckshot at my way and they even did the one handed flip cock thingy. Now's not the time to nitpick at my current premise, I swerved to the side, avoiding the buckshot and tried to lose them, however, it proved futile quick, so I pulled out my SMG, and when one felt brave to get to the left side of my bike to blast me, I retaliated with full auto fire. Annihilating both the driver and the gunner, their sleek hoverbike began to wobble out of control and flipped over me, I barely avoided being decapitated by ducking, and watched the bike crash into one the gun shops. An explosion rang out, sending fire and glass everywhere. But this chase scene kept going on, and soon there was a tunnel up ahead, I turned the headlights on and jetted inside, with the Gear bikers following close behind. With only one light illuminating my way forward along with the darkness surrounding me, I needed to be on top of my game. Once more I had to swerve to avoid the oncoming gunfire, and one biker got up too close and blasted his shotgun at me from the right, my armor taking the blow with chunks of armor falling to the wayside.  Wincing, the sound of tinnitus entered my ear; drowning out the sound temporarily. For his action, I gave the Gear Gunner a hard elbow to his face, causing him to fall off the bike and his lever action to fly up into the air. I pulled hard to the left, rode up the wall of the tunnel while holstering my SMG and once I was upside down, grabbed the shotgun with my left hand, flip cocked it and pointed it down at the driver.  They can make their quips all they want, but as for me? "BLAM!" Actions speak louder than words. The Gear got a faceful of buckshot from above and he fell off his hoverbike, and as it rolled away, I rode back down towards the right, once again right side up. 2 down, I think 2 more to go if I recall. Maybe 3. Soon my hearing went back to normal, the ringing faded away as another hoverbike came up towards my right, rather than trying to gun me down, they tried to knock my vehicle off course.  I felt the jolt of their bike running into mine, losing speed briefly. I threw the shotgun right at the rider, causing him to fall off and the bike veered out of control. With plenty of fuel in the tank, I pushed ahead, soon seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and felt a cool breeze where the exposed parts of my armor were; though I'm used to the cold.  Exiting the tunnel put me near what looked to be flood control tunnels, with some stagnant water underneath the bike. It splashed up water on both sides of the bike, drenching my fur a bit but I could see a ramp quite a ways away, that was my ticket out of this place.   But before I could escape, there was an ambush I had to contend with; some of the Blue Gears had some XMV-850 Miniguns set up, barrels spinning and ready to unleash a flurry of bullets at me. With a wall of lead coming at me, I had to react, I swerved left and right, avoiding turned into leopard carpaccio. No way can I deal with them all, only 17 rounds left in my SMG, and I was holding onto my 'pup' grenade launcher until I absolutely needed it. I had to get out fast, already I felt a bullet graze my left cheek, the burning sting caused me to grimace with crimson blood trickling down. Desperate times called for desperate measures. This hoverbike model I'm riding had some turbo boosters installed, in case I really needed to go fast. Might sound like a deus ex machina, but as I mentioned, had to do something to stay alive.  I flipped open the panel on the right side and pushed the red button and twisted it forward. Responding to my action, the thrusters began to glow white hot, causing the boosters to turn on and accelerate my speed to over 250mph, allowing me to evade the oncoming fire with precision. Winds were blowing in my face, thank goodness my eyes were protected as I was heading for the ramp leaving a white trail behind me. I could barely hear one of the Gears shout at the other troops. "Get mobilized, Erika's going to escape!" He cried out my name, barking like a dog to his minions. It didn't matter, I rode up and off the ramp, heading over the laser grid fence and landed back onto the dusty roads with a thud. Thinking I was in the clear, I ventured forth, but I should've known they won't quit, not for one bit. Following the long, winding path, I began to make my way towards the Azures Village, I haven't seen it in forever and I wanted to see if the rumors were true. I eased off the turbo and the bike began to slow back down to its normal speeds. A brief moment peace help calmed my nerves, but it was just that; brief.  Sounds of gunfire behind me and bullets whizzing past my ears kicked the adrenaline back up.  There were at least 4 behind me, unloading their machine pistols; it was time to end these fun and games once and for all.   With my grenade launching pistol tucked away in my pocket, I knew an old ambush point towards the northwest, so I veered off road towards a narrow chokepoint.  The sandstone walls grew taller and the path growing thinner, I had to be careful to not let the bike scrape against the wall. Testing my navigation and driving skills in one, I was about half a mile out when I saw an uphill path towards the right, that's where I needed to go,  Easily turning into the path, I climbed up the hill and onto the flat top above. From there I put the hoverbike on park. Pulling out the grenade pistol, I waited, that choke point was a dead end and knowing the Gears, they went right down into the trench, lined up like ants at a picnic.  Normally I don't like killing others, but I did this for two reasons. One: The Blue Gears attacked me, and Two: they've taken so many innocent anthro lives, justice had to be done. I had to take it into my own hands... the last few years I avoided conflict, feared to face the Gears after what they did so long ago. But hiding wouldn't do anything then, and it won't do a thing now. Soon I can hear the Gears coming down the line, as predicted, they were bumper to bumper and going slow, in fact, I can hear them cursing about me. "Where'd the little bitch go!?" A female Gear whined. "Keep your eyes open, Erika can be anywhere..." Another Gear warned, but it wouldn't help. I aimed the barrel down towards them... I knew I said I don't make epic one-liners earlier, but I couldn't help myself in this case. I whistled loud down towards them, causing them to stop and look around. "Hey, Gears!" I called down to them, left index finger wrapping around the trigger. "Catch!"  With a sharp pull of the trigger, I fired the 40mm High Explosive grenade downwards. "TIIIIING!" The high explosive rapidly descended into the trench, landing right in the center of the line of hover bikes, once the grenade impacted with a bike, it exploded with immense force. "BROOOOOOOOOM!" A plume of smoke and orange fire, along with shrapnel ascended high into the air, it was bright and temporarily blinded me, but once my vision came back, I looked down and saw embers flutter up towards the night sky. No one could've survived that, so I chucked the grenade pistol down into the trench and into the wreckage. With the deed done, I revved up the bike and resumed the ride towards the Azures Village, uninterrupted this time. Once upon a time, the Azures Village was a place of peace, tranquility, and love; with clean waters coming from the waterfalls up the cliffside, fresh fruit growing every day, it was home.  The tribe who resided there were all anthros, and their elder, Thom Radmus, took me in like he was my father... my actual father.   But of course the Gears had to try and eradicate the village, thinking this was an easy job; but they underestimated us. We may be timid on to the outside world, when we were provoked, however, we were viciously territorial and defended our village at all costs. There were times we nearly lost the Azures to the Gears... no thanks to my sister, Ayala. Regardless we prevailed time after time, but that was before the time Storm came to my village, it was a reunion, both good... and not so good. I was supposed to take Storm to the COABEL unit stationed there to be teleported home... turned out the Gears occupied the base and it was supposed to be an easy job. Turned out it didn't go that way, my sister lead them and succeeded in defeating me... putting me in a situation where Storm had to mercy kill me... It's still something that haunts both of us to this day. Though I've been resurrected since that day, I still have nightmares about what happened then.  In order to silence the demons once and for all, I needed to go back to the Azures. However, since then... things changed. Liandri found the village and ordered genocide on the village, and while my kind bravely fought them off... they perished. Now the village is used for their Deathmatch arena, where millions watch the blood sport on live holovision.   While the area's usually closed off to visitors, there was one spot that Liandri had opened up to me personally, it took a lot of convincing to the president of Liandri, but he eventually agreed to open the spot up. That spot is the mass grave up by the bridge over the waterfall, where the roars drowned out the sound the rainfall, at least the lightning finally stopped I made my way towards the graveyard. Along the way, I took off my goggles, tried to think of a speech to say to the fallen, and grabbed some flowers growing from the bush, being white roses that were blooming in full. The thorns may dig into my fur, but I didn't care at the time. Following the glow of the blue fireflies, they lead me to the graves. Carved in stone and standing tall with their names etched into their tombstones, there were at least 30 of them, some men, some women... and even some of them children, all massacred at the hands of the soulless, corrupt Liandri.  Walking over to each and one of them, I dropped a rose over the mound of dirt, trying to hold back the tears. Once I got to the last tombstone, my knees grew weak and I collapsed, weeping with tears of sorrow flowing down my face; the rose slipped from my grip and onto the patch of the dirt. This was the grave of the man who took me in as his own, taught me to be strong, to believe in myself, helped me when I had PTSD induced nightmares... "Here lies Elder Thomus Radmus: 1945-2015 Leader of the Azures Village, Guardian of Peace And beloved father to those who loved him May he be free of the Hells on Dessara And reunite with our Captain: Erika Kinderington." It hurt... it still hurts...   But I have to remain strong, for I am the last of the Nakotans... and now the last member of the Azures Village. I carry their memories with them, and I will fight for them, for Elder Thom, for Storm, for Phoibe... For them. Til now. Til the end of time.