[Freezair]

Strange things had been spotted in the streets.

People were reporting catching glimpses of odd, glowing creatures out of the corners of their eyes. Those who had managed to catch long glimpses likened what they saw to astronomical photography--it looked like a picture of a nebula, they said. A few of the nerdier typed namedropped the Pillars of Creation. But while beautiful, the sources of these sightings had not yet been identified. And that was more than a little frightening for ordinary people.

Spike and Vincent knew what that meant: It was time to throw a benefit concert.

[Freezair]

Who, exactly, was the concert benefiting? Eh. Someone. They'd figure it out eventually. Put the money in a charity account, and figure out who to give it to... once someone actually determined what the problem was.

But seeing celebrities Doing Something, even if in a sideways, unhelpfulish sort of way, did at least make people more aware that there were... odd-looking little eldritch creatures scurrying about. And hopefully they'd educate themselves about how to protect themselves against... creatures.

And any excuse to play music was a good one.

[Freezair]

A hot, distorted sound came squealing out of the amp on the left side of the stage. Spike grimaced.

"Oi, luv," she said, speaking towards Vincent, "sounds like a cable's gone loose or summat. Too much reverb. Can you check it while you're over there? Ta."

Vincent muttered into his microphone. "Testing, testing... sibilance..." He grimaced too. "Yep, that's sounding pretty awful. I'm on it, babe." He bent down over the cluster of wires sprouting from the amp and examined them.

"What the...?"

[Freezair]

It wasn't that the cable was loose. It was that it was... chewed. Frayed bits of torn copper wiring were exposed to the air, and nibbled-on bits of insulation had been spat out onto the stage.

"What the...?" He held the ends of the wires and the tentacles on his head fizzled. "Something's been eating our wires!"

"Ent me," Spike said. "I just sticks a fork in a socket like a normal SparkDrake."

"Yeah. Teeth marks are small, anyway. Some kinda... small animal did this? Maybe?"

[Freezair]

"Ye don't think..."

There was a sudden skittering sound. Vincent looked up.

He caught a flash of... something. Something deep blue, with edges of green and brown. Something vaguely luminous. Something that his eyes couldn't properly focus on before it disappeared out of sight, hiding behind a big black case full of equipment.

"It's one o' them!" Spike said. "It must be! One of those li'ul glowing thingummies!... Now if that ent irony, I dunno what is."

[Freezair]

Vincent stared off at the spot he'd seen the thing disappear in.

"...Hold on a minute, babe," he said.

Vincent vaulted himself off the edge of the stage, though he tried to land quietly. He opened his hands wide, as if trying to catch something floating in mid air. Then, traveling on the very tips of his toes, he stalked off in the direction he'd seen the thing hide.

He didn't know what it was, but his default assumption was something cat-like. He started making soft clicking noises under his breath: "Here, critter critter critter..."

[Freezair]

Spike lowered her guitar and set it back into its nearby case after unplugging the case. She squatted down, arms resting on her thighs, and watched as Vincent approached.

"It ent a Kuhna, luv," she said.

"Hush," he replied. "Here, you little... thing..."

The little thing heard him approach.

There was a rush and a clacking of claws. A burst of blue-green light came from behind the equipment case, and the creature streamed out. It began its rush towards the stage--

"Catch it!" Vincent cried.

[Freezair]

It was coming right for Spike.

The world seemed to slow down in that moment. For she could make a sudden movement to try and catch the creature, but her guitar was right at her feet. And it wasn't true what they said about rock stars--her guitar was her sister, her best friend in all the world, and she'd rather come to harm herself than hurt a string on her guitar's neck. But if she moved suddenly--if her feet weren't careful--

The creature was coming right for it.

Ah, bollocks, she thought. And she dove for it.

[Freezair]

She managed to miss her guitar--thank goodness--and dived towards the greeny-blue puff of goodness knew what darting towards her. Her hands closed around something--fluffy, cool, silky soft--and then...

It was gone.

The rest of the creature streamed on past her with a sort of yelping chirp. It dove behind the stage and was out of sight. Vincent jogged after it and looked behind the stage--but already it had vanished into who knew where.

"Hmm. Might wanna get the janitorial staff on that," Vincent said. "I don't mind if it gets away, but I can't have it chewing our wires!"

[Freezair]

Spike stood up. Curses! She felt as if she'd screwed up--

And then she looked at her hand.

"Look!" she said.

True, she hadn't managed to catch the creature. But no wonder it had yelped--a little bit of its fur had come off in her hand. A strange puff of blue-green fur that had a faintly luminescent glow, tangled in between her purple fingers.

"Well, wouldja look at that," Vincent said. "It's kinda pretty, actually."

"Yeah," Spike said.

She wasn't quite sure what it was. But looking at the fur made her feel... less afraid of the things, somehow. Like maybe these little creatures weren't so bad after all.

[Wild Pet Found]