[Azura Rayume]

The hustle and bustle of the crowds around him were quite familiar by now. Valjean had grown accustomed to weaving between hoards of people, though he usually had some help. Being a musician usually drew people to you, and music festivals were no different.

It had been Lyona's idea to come, even if they weren't scheduled to play. MIL could use some time off, she had said, and there was no place better for that than here. Dancing In The Streets was one of those things that only happened once in a while, and it tended to move cities whenever it sprung up. They had missed the last one in Jawan, so here seemed like the perfect idea.

The rest of his band members had disappeared near the beginning of the event, and he had yet to see any of them. Chel was gone almost immediately (he was tempted to believe she had just gone home), Danse and Alice had wandered off together to do... whatever it was they wanted, and Chris had gotten excited about the place once he had spotted a pretty girl. Robin had hung around the longest but soon saw someone she knew and was gone as well.

The man tugged at the strap that held his guitar to his back. Perhaps he should find something to do as well.

[Thunder]

(Human forms)

Elsewhere in the festival, a young, red-haired girl was dragging a boy around by the arm. She was wearing a hoodie almost as red as her locks, with a dark blue t-shirt underneath and jeans. Her companion had his hair, red with blue highlights, spiked up and falling over one of his eyes. He had on a denim jacket with gray pants, and he had an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder.

"Come on Terrence, move faster!" Jessica laughed. The boy, Terrence, rolled his eyes.

"There's so many people here..." he muttered to himself. He liked music, yes, but he was an introvert and didn't always like noisy festivals like this.

"Oh come on, now! I don't hear you complaining when all your fans are cheering you on at your concerts!"

"But I don't have too many fans in the first place!" He knew protesting was futile, though, and Terrence simply sighed and allowed Jessica to pull him through the crowd.

Terrence and Jessica heard about Dancing In the Streets just a few days ago. They had invited their fellow Muses members to come, though they didn't see anyone from the Muses yet. The Muses were protesting against music censorship in another nation, so it perhaps they could find some support for their cause at the festival. That was hard work, however, and Jessica just wanted a day off from everything.

Suddenly, Jessica stopped walking and pointed across the throngs of people. "Hey Terrence, look!" she exclaimed. Confused, the boy squinted in the direction she was pointing. There was a man who also had a guitar on him. "You guys both have guitars, so maybe you two should talk to each other!" Before he could say anything, Jessica started walking him towards the stranger.

"Don't you think that would be awkward?" he groaned.

"Terrence, it's a music festival. You're supposed to chat and have fun with other people!"

And that was the end of that argument. Soon enough, Jessica had caught up to the guitar man and was waving at him. "Hey!" she called out. "You play guitar too?"

[Azura Rayume]

Almost as if on cue, "something to do" came running up and waving while dragging a less interested something behind her. He didn't know them, and they obviously didn't know him, but this was about meeting new people, right? He couldn't always be content with the crowds that showed up at his shows; he had to actually make an effort to meet new people once in a while.

"Er, yeah." He ran a hand through his silver and blue hair, smiling awkwardly. "Yeah, I do. And I'm guessing he does as well?" He gestured towards her companion. Oh, he was no good at this. Dansen and Alice were much better at meeting new people than he was, especially in a crowd. He usually preferred a one-on-one meeting, but, seeing as how the venue would be guaranteed to prevent that, he supposed this would have to do.

[Thunder]

Jessica let out a light laugh at how awkward this other guitar player was. He was kinda like Terrence, in fact. And he's pretty cute too! she thought, watching as he messed with his cool colored hair. "Yep, he does," Jessica answered the guy's question. "And he's pretty good at it too, right Terrence?" Her friend gave no reply and just rolled his eyes. "I'm Jessica, by the way. I don't play any instruments, but I really like listening to music and dancing! And what's your name?"

"And like Jessica said, I'm Terrence," Terrence sighed. "I do some small concerts from time to time, but it's nothing big... I'm not in a band either, so I usually go solo with music. Uh, and what about you?"

[Azura Rayume]

Though he was a bit saddened by the fact that Terrance wasn't in a band, Valjean couldn't say it was unexpected. Most people in bands who came to these kinds of things were performing, or looking to at the very least. The other artists often found wandering around were usually solos. Not that there was anything wrong with a solo act; he had just liked the idea of meeting someone from another small band.

"Jessica. Terrance. Awesome." He hoped he would be able to remember that. "I'm Valjean. I've got a band going, actually. They all kinda ran off without me though. They have a habit of doing that."

[Thunder]

"Valjean..." Jessica mused aloud. "That's a pretty cool name. I've never heard anything like it!" She gave Valjean a big smile and let out another little laugh.

Terrence cocked an eyebrow at her. He recognized that Jessica was getting a little flirtatious, having been her friend for several years now, but he wasn't jealous, just slightly amused by her antics. Her eyes had also brightened at Valjean's mention of a band. Oh gosh, was she going to drag him along to meet the rest of this band too?

"So, err, would it be possible to meet the rest of your band?" Yes, yes she was going to drag him around again. "What's your band's name anyways? And what kind of music do you guys play? Jessica was talking very rapidly now, her excitement having gotten hold of her.

"Geeze, slow down a little there Jess," Terrence sighed. "I can hardly tell what you're saying."

"Oh! Uh, sorry. I get excited easily." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

[Azura Rayume]

Valjean just blinked at the two of them for a moment, initially unsure of whether it was safe to speak or not. They both seemed wrapped up in what they were doing, and he would have felt rude to interrupt.

Once they both quieted down, however, he reasoned that then would be a good time to answer all of Jessica's questions. "Alright, in order then. First, my parents were rather eccentric. They thought that, since our last name was shared by a famous novel and musical character, it was only fitting for their son's first name to relate as well. You can meet the rest of them, but, as I said, they all ran off to do different things. They should be happy to speak with you if we should run across them, though. The band is Music In Life, or M.I.L. for short. And we typically play a kind of classic rock, though some like to branch into pop and a bit of techno from time to time." He gave them both a small, awkward smile, not certain where to go from here.