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 Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2025 7:22 pm
Elijah SuzukiWhile he hadn’t expected to get put so early in the audition list, Elijah felt ready to go! True enough, this wasn’t the same thing as doing a show at Scandals. For instance, he hadn’t come down to this audition dressed up like an onryō, or a nightmare creature straight out of Silent Hill, or Freddy Krueger But Make It Hoe. Instead, his outfit was simple: black jeans, black tee, and over top of them, the dupe Reiki had once made him of the iconic jackets from MCR’s Black Parade era, where Reiki had replaced the regular buttons with buttons shaped like skulls, just to make Elijah happy.
Still, different was good! Trying something new was good!! He’d gotten encouragement about that from all three of the people Elijah willingly called “Mom”—meaning, his drag mothers, Ms. Sibyl Disobedience and Ms. Cherry Poppins; and Dr. Noshiko Rokugin, Reiki’s mom (who deserved to be called “mom” far more than Elijah’s own mother). As he waited for his turn on the stage, Elijah made sure to keep himself breathing deeply, in the hopes that his anxiety wouldn’t spiral. Mostly, he was doing okay! Different setting, sure, but he’d been in enough shows before that he didn’t really need to worry too much.
Watching the two guys before him go, though, Elijah felt the chill of stage fright start to settle in. Holy s**t, the guy doing the Harry Styles cover was good. Whether he meant to stick around and win it or not—apparently, he didn’t, which at least made everybody else’s chances at winning that much better—needing to go up so soon after someone so clearly a virtuoso talent? Maybe it would’ve been easier if the guy in the Sabrina Carpenter cosplay had sucked, but then……nope. He didn’t only have a pretty face and a cute wig, but he also had to have good stage presence and be, like, endearing? And he was too committed to the bit for anyone with a functional brain and soul to hate his performance (at least in Elijah’s mind).
So, okay, wow. Elijah had to follow two crowd-pleasers.
Yeah, cool, no pressure, Elijah was great, This Is Fine.
When it was finally his turn, Elijah briefly wondered if he should’ve brought his guitar and a little amp to plug it into. Oh well, too late now. And, he reminded himself as he made his way onto the stage and toward the table where the Unfriendly Boy Band Hotties waited, arguing with his guitar in that way might’ve been………weird.
“……Hi?” Maybe this would’ve been a little easier if he’d ever listened to Reiki about what the procedure was at auditions for things other than drag shows. Like, no, this wasn’t really the same thing as the theatre kid s**t that Reiki had ever done—and actually, it did feel kind of more akin to auditioning for a new drag show—but even after watching other people audition, Elijah felt kinda like he was winging it more than usual. “I’m Elijah Suzuki, and this is ‘Welcome to the Black Parade.’”
If you could say nothing else about the performance, it was, indeed, “Welcome to the Black Parade” that started playing. It was also what Elijah started singing. Even if, right from the start, some of the lyrics came out ever so slightly to the left:
“When I was a young boy, my sister
Took me into the city to see a marching band.
He said ‘Kid, when you grow up, will you be
The savior of the broken, the beaten, and the damned?’
She said, ‘Will you defeat them, your demons
And all the non-believers, the plans that they have made?
Because one day, I’ll leave you a phantom
To lead you in the summer to join the black parade.’”
One person, Elijah thought, would’ve known exactly why he’d changed the lyrics, and why he’d put so much punch into the words “leave you.” He’d always had that kind of security with his big sis. Even when Reiki had needed to ask what Elijah thought he was doing with any given number, it hadn’t ever been judgmental or in a way to stifle him. But……well.
Reiki’s absence was also why he’d changed the lyrics.
The tempo picking up couldn’t have come much sooner. Maybe dancing wasn’t Elijah’s strongest suit, and maybe his choreography—insofar as it could be called—came out more disorganized and improvisational than the two powerhouses he had to follow. He moved much the same way while performing at Scandals (though here, he knew better than to run down to the audience and start collecting tip money). Regardless, Elijah moved with heart, passion, and raw emotion. And difficult as it was, in his mind, to work more conventional choreo like a good old-fashioned “windmill, windmill, windmill, leap, touch the toe, land, pas de bourrée, ball change, gimme a dollar”—drag staple that it was—into a My Chemical Romance song, Elijah found a way.
Mostly by doing the move with no concern for whether or not it fit, because some people (Elijah) hadn’t taken dance classes since they were like, ten or twelve or something? Around when how people perceived his gender had really started becoming an issue? And all the dance moves he’d learned since about age 17 had come from watching or studying with his drag family, so he was gonna work with what he had.
Even though the song had a proper outro, Elijah chose to close out with the final round of the chorus. Once again, he changed the lyrics ever so slightly:
“We’ll carry on, we’ll carry on
And though you’re dead and gone, believe me
Your memory will carry on, you’ll carry on
And though you’re broken and defeated
Your weary brother marches on.”
But, hey, if anybody had an issue with Elijah taking the lyrics into his own hands, at least they couldn’t argue with him making the most out of the last line.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2025 8:23 pm
Aleksey Lebedev @ MishaWatching the next auditioner come out to the stage, Aleksey thought very little of the obvious Sabrina Carpenter cosplay. Was she his favorite pop girl of the moment? No. But she also had too much personality and talent to deny, and it made nothing short of perfect sense that somebody might look to her for audition material. Personally, Alyosha admired her openness to experiment with incorporating different stylistic influences into her songs—and, well, her sense of humor spoke for itself. Even a somewhat mid Sabrina Carpenter impersonation would’ve been perfectly fine.
And then, Misha delivered the fuzzy pink handcuffs right to him.
The wink and the kiss were met with a closed mouth and a set of pointedly arched eyebrows, in which one could practically hear the deadpan sarcastic “Fascinating.” He held up the handcuffs while refusing himself any more emphatic or more telling facial expressions, allowing them to dangle off his index finger as though he meant to convey a sense of “Bold move” with a hint of “I don’t recall signing up to be a coatrack for your showy but dubious quality until proven otherwise kink toys.”
If anything else managed to slip through his buttoned-up, professional veneer, it would’ve been confusion. Never in his life had Alyosha tried something like this at an audition, and he honestly couldn’t fathom the thought processes that might lead someone to think flirting with the people reviewing their work was a good idea. Additionally, wasn’t Rory, like, right there? Last Alyosha checked, Vasha and Rory were everybody’s type, Emil was more or less universally appealing, and Alyosha himself was an acquired taste at best. What, was this some kind of stunt about hitting on him because he gave off some “nobody’s first choice, nobody’s bias, not going to star in anybody’s fanfiction about the band” vibes so maybe, he’d be more easily flustered or something?
Maybe he wasn’t saying any of that about Misha’s flirtatious overtures out loud—couldn’t distract from the performance, after all—but Alyosha sure was thinking it loudly.
Out at a bar, that whole flirtatious brat routine probably would’ve netted Misha his one (1) single-night stand, Alyosha couldn’t deny that. But as he set the handcuffs on the table and started taking his quick notes, Alyosha was determined not to reward this behavior. In the current context, nothing good would come out of letting anybody think they could earn higher marks by flirting with their potential future bandmates.
Especially not when they clearly had energy and charisma, but came up a bit lacking in vocal polish. In fairness, though, that was something that Misha could work on, the same as Alyosha had to work on his dancing.
When the performance ended, Alyosha steadied himself with a deep breath. Whatever bait got thrown his way, he wasn’t going to take it.
“So, Misha,” he said, “what do you think that performance tells us about you?”Sunshine Alouette misha sweetie i’m so sorry that this dumb-a** loser projected his own issues all over your cute little opener 💖
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2025 12:18 am
Todd Mulder [Fang]Todd's foot tapped nervously as he waited for his turn on the stage. He both did and didn't want to be here. The idea of singing with a group of people sounded like so much fun. But in practice, the auditioning part scared him. Being in front of crowds was still scary, though he'd gotten better at handling it over the years on Earth. A thousand years of nearly pure loneliness ruined someone when it came to living in a large city like DC. If his ears and tail weren't hidden by the glamour, his ears would be on a constant swivel with nerves and his tail doing the cautionary, anxious wag. He tried to take a few deeps breaths. He could do this. He'd be okay. He really, really wanted to sing. Rosie was out there rooting for him. That was all he really needed. At least he knew he looked good. Dressed head to toe in black: black shorts; black cropped t-shirt, and a black leather jacket because it was actually a little bit cooler than usual today, and the indoors made it seem even cooler. His hair was in a bushy, loose braid that he'd done himself. In short: he looked ready to sing something from My Chemical Romance.He came up to the mic when the stage cleared for his turn and he smiled at the four bandmates. "Todd Mulder," he said, introducing himself as succinctly as possible so they wouldn't think he was weird right away. "Singing, uh, Into the Unknown. From Frozen." Okay. He'd gotten through the hardest part. He even sounded almost fully natural with the English! He'd practiced saying that quite a bit. He took another deep breath, and shyly began, grateful the song started off very low and very slow. His dancing movements across the song were relatively small and simple, until he reached the big end, because... well, there wasn't any real choreography he could study, and he didn't really know how to make up moves—he wasn't Elsa, nor animated, so he had to work with what he had, which wasn't much. But he sang with passion, and mostly got the notes right for someone straddling the line between tenor and baritone singing a song written for a soprano. Above all, he felt free as he sang. Singing was a different part of the brain compared to day-to-day speech. It bypassed all of his weird problems with speaking normally, with skipping prepositions and so many other kinds of "unnecessary" words that made his speech stilted and distorted. He didn't have to worry about being a freak like this. Without realizing it, tears broke from his eyes as he hit the final notes. He let go of the mic and stepped back, breathing a little hard, and wiped them away, smiling at the band again and bowing. "Thank you," he said, grateful he'd gotten this chance. It felt good. Even if he didn't make it, he knew he'd done his best. He imagined his tail wagging, now in joy, as he waited patiently for any feedback the team before him might give. He felt... extraordinarily good. Maybe he should sing more, anyway. Even if he doesn't get the win here. Despite doing that in front of all those people, he felt wonderful. Singing was freeing.
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2025 4:40 pm
Aleksey Lebedev @ ElijahWell, if you could say nothing else for these auditions, the boys who’d come out were certainly giving variety.
Britney Spears on acoustic guitar. Harry Styles reconfigured into a ballad. An energetic Sabrina Carpenter cosplay. Now, one of the top two candidates for the honor of being My Chemical Romance’s signature song, and maybe it was coming off a little bit karaoke? But that wasn’t anything to hold against Elijah Suzuki, Alyosha didn’t think. Misha with the fuzzy handcuffs had a similar issue, and it wasn’t his fault, either. Especially with them following two contestants who had performed their own music, singing over top of someone else’s track would inevitably feel kind of like karaoke.
If anything, it made Alyosha feel for both of them. He often felt like he was doing little to nothing more than glorified karaoke during his performance training sessions with Joey. Using his body as an instrument to complement his voice, rather than his piano, guitar, or violin…… It was weird. He didn’t want to go too soft on anyone, but still, he couldn’t help feeling some empathy for everyone using a pre-recorded track rather than providing their own music.
Didn’t hurt that Elijah Suzuki also wasn’t a practiced dancer. Alyosha knew better than to let Ms. Voronin down by completely overlooking that fact, but <********> if Alyosha didn’t really like the sound of not being the only non-dancer in the group. Besides, what Elijah Suzuki lacked in polish or technical skill, he clearly made up for in passion, which was—as he’d learned over the past several months—both very important and something Alyosha struggled to convey while dancing. Getting Elijah Suzuki accustomed to choreography probably wouldn’t have been that much of a challenge.
When the boy finished his performance, Alyosha gave him a moment to settle. But only a moment.
“Elijah, your changes to the lyrics,” he said, his tone polite but not exactly warm, “switching out the father for a sister, and the inconsistent pronouns. Is there a story there?”Elijah Suzuki“Kiiiiinda? ……Yeah?”
Externally, Elijah was doing his absolute best to refrain from any excited vibrating, or bouncing in place, flapping his hands, or otherwise Doing Too Much during the Q&A portion. He was doing his second-most absolute best not to devolve into the emotional equivalent of a wet, shivering puppy because the Q&A portion was what had sunk his chances of winning, every time he’d gone out against some of the city’s other kings and masc-leaning drag artists in a Mr. Scandals pageant. But sue him, having his lyrical choices called out specifically was exciting!!
“So, I don’t have siblings and I don’t really talk to my parents,” Elijah explained, folding his hands together so he was slightly less tempted to fidget with them. For now, he didn’t mention what the story was with his blood family. If anybody specifically asked why he didn’t talk to them, he’d answer, but if they left it alone, then it wasn’t important. “But when I started sneaking out to some of our local drag shows, one of the queens busted me going with a fake ID. And she could’ve had me thrown out, but she took me under her wing instead. Like a big sister. Except he was a cis guy out of drag, which is why with the pronouns?”
He gestured vaguely in the general area in front of himself, then folded his hands back together. “My drag sister went missing, spring last year,” he said. “But she always, y’know, encouraged me about performing? And a big reason I haven’t totally quit without her is that I know he wouldn’t want me to.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2025 9:50 pm
Aleksey Lebedev @ Fang!ToddWatching the next performer come up, Alyosha silently prepared himself for something more in the vein of what Elijah Suzuki had given them. Something with an edge to it, even if it wasn’t quite on the level as black metal. Tall, extremely fit, wearing all black including a leather jacket in the middle of August? There was no way, Alyosha thought, that this guy was going to give them anything but edge.
Which really wasn’t a bad thing. Considering the four of them already in the group, a Bad Boy might have given them some balance in a different way that a Lover Boy would have done.
Except, then, Todd Mulder started singing—and in so doing, revealed himself as a Disney Adult.
He was good, Alyosha wouldn’t deny that. Unpolished and rough around the edges, but clearly, he had experience that came from love. Someone could work with him on honing his voice into the best, most fully realized version of itself, giving him some better technique to go along with his raw talent and love of music. The dancing wasn’t particularly impressive, especially not on the heels of three other performers who had put in much more effort—but even as he noted that down, Alyosha knew that he didn’t have any room to talk. At least Todd Mulder conveyed an emotion other than “desperately trying to remember the steps and hoping that he got them right”.
As Todd Mulder took a moment to settle after finishing his number, Alyosha took a moment of his own. Nobody before them had cried yet, and that display of emotion made the idea of critiquing Todd Mulder……more daunting than it needed to be. Eugh, Alyosha didn’t want to come off as rude or cruel or anything, but how would it look if he seemed to go softer on this boy than he had on anybody else so far? Part of him wanted to look toward Ms. Voronin for some guidance here, but—could she see the tears from where she was? Besides that, looking in her direction too much might have given people in the audience a different bad impression.
They had to properly debut and establish themselves before Alyosha was allowed to fully commit to the aloof, strong, and silent ice prince bit.
“Your emotion really showed through in that performance,” he said, tone still not warm, but at least making an effort not to be cruel. “What does that song mean to you?”
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2025 2:37 am
Vasily Voronin, @ MishaWell. Vasha had to give this one points for boldness.
There was certainly no tension in his smile when this Misha presented Alyosha with a pair of pink, fuzzy handcuffs. That was funny. It was saucy. It was commitment to the bit.
The fact that he'd specifically chosen to pseudo-hit on Alyosha was definitely not something that bothered Vasha at all, and it definitely didn't take him a little longer than it might have otherwise to start making notes on the performance because of that.
(f he lied to himself enough, it would be true. Probably.)
The performance was good. There was plenty of heart. A true and genuine commitment to the bit of being just so incredibly ******** horny, even if the actual skills were only so-so. Lack of skill could be trained, lack of ******** could not, so that was...well, it was something.
And he did sort of take a moment to see how Alyosha was reacting, and at least he seemed like he was handling the whole thing professionally, and maybe that soothed Vasha just a little bit. Whatever.
Certainly it made it easier to smile when the performance was finished.
"It's obvious you've brought a lot of enthusiasm to this," Vasha said. "So what's your favorite part of your own performance?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2025 11:47 pm
Vasily Voronin, @ ElijahThere was something deeply nostalgic about getting hit in the face with the beloved opening G note of "Welcome to the Black Parade." Yes, okay, Vasha had been five when it released, but he had also listened to a truly heinous amount of classic emo once he hit his own tweens, and it did stir something in him, to hear it played.
Perhaps his intense familiarity made him a little more judgemental of the performance; the altered lyrics had his eyebrows going up, but there was obviously something going on underneath them.
At least they'd only had one person wander out onstage and Wonderwall them. Everyone else was at least trying to perform. And Vasha at least had positive notes for all of them.
None were really blowing him away, but there was plenty of time left.
He waited until Elijah had answered Alyosha's question--interesting, and a moving story, he had to admit--before asking his own.
"You mentioned drag, so I assume you have experience with that kind of performance; how much do you have performing as yourself?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 1:26 am
Vasily Voronin, @ Todd MHonestly, Vasha couldn't fault the eye candy being presented in front of him for the auditions. This second Todd (what an entertaining coincidence) was certainly memorable, given that he was huge, and yes, alright, before he started, Vasha was mentally positioning him in choreography to take advantage of All That Height.
Of course, once again, there was some disappointment--the singing was good, the voice was good and they would be able to work with it, butt he dancing was understated and shy, not really the kind of boy band choreo they'd be looking for.
Apparently, finding a strong dancer was going to be the hardest part of all of this. Plenty of good voices, not a lot of good movement.
And of course this one was all emotional. Vasha briefly bit his tongue, considering exactly how to approach it.
"Have you previously had any professional training? Or is this all home practice?"
That was...a softball question. But whatever. Making an auditioner cry was not a good look.
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 2:03 am
Todd Mulder [Fang]Oh, no, they were asking him questions. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. They probably wouldn't think less of him if he ended up not talking the way he'd be expected to talk, right? "Home practice," he answered Vasily first, looking at him and concentrating hard on using English the right way. "T—I've never had any classes. But. I would take them. I want to do good. It's... fun. Exciting." It hurt his brain a little to be thinking so hard on saying everything the right way, instead of just expressing his thoughts the way he always did. It almost made his thoughts too simple, because he needed his speech itself to be complex, and that sucked. If he wasn't afraid of being judged in a bad way, maybe he'd be able to explain himself better. He turned to Aleksey, smiling a little. "It's about fear," he said eagerly, "leaving behind... everything you know... To chase something new. Might be good. Might be bad. But... want the new." Biting his lip a little, he breathed through his linguistic fumble. Concentrate. "Too comfortable, staying with what you know. The new thing, the unknown, could change your life. For so much better. You... hope it's better." He gestured to the stage. "To—I've never done anything like this before. It is... the big unknown. But I wanted to try. I know I need... some re- refining." The fancier word came from him with almost no issue and he felt quite proud of that. "But I had fun trying." Talking this was exhausting. He hoped the other two didn't ask him anything. He was afraid if they did, that he'd lose all control he had over his speech and talk in his usual, ugly way, the way that made lots of strangers think he was extra stupid. But then... if they did ask, and he did give up on being normal, and they wrote him off for it, would he really want to be in this band? Probably not. He decided he could take it, whatever it was. If they asked stuff. He didn't want to be with mean people, though he did want to impress these guys.
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 11:06 am
Rory Kae
It had to be admitted that Rory wasn’t… the best at taking actual notes. Or asking pertinent questions. He’d always preferred to go by his gut and saw no real reason to change that now. But he did at least try to make some notes about his impressions. Thus far, his list was fairly succinct.
Todd - Clearly lost a bet, but ******** funny
Ilian - Could be perfect, but doesn’t want to compete? Also possibly lost a bet but better results.
The third entrant had, to put it mildly, sent twin sparks of alarm and OH NO HE’S HOT into his brain. Guy was cute enough, certainly energetic and entertaining. The cosplay was a choice, but he’d clearly committed to the bit. Voice was good, though Rory would have preferred a more unique take on the song. Todd and Ilian had each put their own stamp on their performances. Misha just felt too much like he was trying to give a Sabrina performance instead of a Misha performance.
Even with that, Rory would have been open to giving him a chance. Had he not opened his act by presenting Alyosha with fuzzy handcuffs and clearly been directing all of the a** shaking in that direction. Gold and coral eyes cut to the side, watching Alyosha and Vasha carefully, scanning for any sign of distress. Because, had there been distress, or even mild annoyance, on either face, he would have risked the wrath of Ms Voronin to jump up and haul Misha from the stage. But no, both of his friends remained coolly professional. Vasha was even smiling. Allowing himself to relax slightly, Rory decided in this instance that he would defer to the others and let them do the questioning. But he did make a note.
Misha - ******** hot and ******** ballsy. Can’t tell if serious or not
Fortunately for Rory’s peace of mind, the next performer, Elijah, practically radiated sincerity and puppy dog earnestness. And he was… fine? Dancing was pretty good. And the lyric changes showed an adaptability that Rory liked, even if he wasn’t a big MCR fan. He smiled and nodded encouragingly. This was someone that they would all be able to work with. At least as far as first impressions went. He let himself sink into the background, as much as any giant jock was capable of anyway, when Alyosha began to ask questions. And when Elijah answered, Rory felt his heart go twinge. He couldn’t imagine not being on speaking terms with his parents or the rest of his family. Sure, he did his best to avoid being alone with gran and gramps, but he could still sort of talk to them.
Rory did smile slightly at the mental image of this guy being busted by a drag queen for flashing a fake ID. And the smile grew broader before fading entirely as the story wound down on a depressing note. To have found your people only for the one who really got you to just vanish. It had to hurt. Rory knew he’d rip down walls with his bare hands if any of his cousins vanished like that. He couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be to lose a sister.
“I’m sure your sis would be proud of you, man,” he began, determined to put out some good vibes without interfering with his bandmates’ questioning. “Performing isn’t easy, even if we make it seem like it is.”
He wanted to ask if Elijah thought that doing drag shows might not interfere with any band scheduling. If he really loved the drag community and wanted to perform there, well. Joining a boy band might not be the best career path. But he couldn’t think of a good and diplomatic way to do so. Therefore, he simply nodded along with Vasily’s question and made another note.
Elijah - Sad story, but good overall performer. I like him.
But the next guy… Rory had gotten used to being The Tall One. But this Todd (Todd Two? Todd the Second? Todd Two.), was ******** massive. He looked like he could have bench pressed all of Star Eclipse and not broken a sweat. Therefore, Rory had mentally already prepared for this guy's performance. It would be a metal ballad, or maybe something more along the lines of Linkin Park. But it was sure to be hard. It had to be.
It was ******** Into the Unknown.
And… it was good? His voice was rough, but not in a bad way. He wasn’t going to knock Todd Two for not hitting some of those high notes. But he hit most of them and did so reasonably well. Hell, maybe Into the Unknown was a great audition song since it was made to show off range. His dancing was for all intents and purposes non-existent and that could be a problem. To Rory’s eye, it looked a little like this Todd wasn’t all that comfortable in his own skin when it came to moving around. Possible side effect of being huge? But he could maybe be taught to dance? But could he be trained to be more confident in his movements. That was the question here. As big as he was, it might be a disaster waiting to happen because he would naturally draw eyes to him. But that voice. And he’d clearly put his everything into the song…
Rory was not going to be the one to break this guy. Fortunately, Alyosha and Vasha were on top of the questions. And as Todd Two spoke, Rory gave a little nod. The way he talked… English had to be his second language. And he talked about fear and leaving everything. So, someone who’d left his own country to try and make a new and better life here. No wonder he acted like he wasn’t comfortable. But he’d tried anyway. Rory could respect that.
“Hey, I’m glad you did!” Rory spoke up and grinned at Todd Two. “It’s never easy to try something new and different, so don’t be so hard on yourself, okay? Even if you don’t end up joining the band, you can be proud of yourself for daring to do the hard thing.”
Dammit, he wanted to encourage the guy! With the lack of dancing skills, he wasn’t likely to be chosen, but he clearly had dreams. Rory didn’t want to kill those dreams off.
Todd Two - Really good voice, dancing needs SO MUCH work. Too bad we can’t sign him as a solo act.
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eldritch stardust
eldritch stardust
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 5:44 pm
Misha Sokolovsky“Oh, I don’t know, what do you think that performance tells you about me?” Misha answered Aleksey, all playful cheeriness. “I’m short-ish. I’m cute. I like to have a good time. I figured if I was going to audition I should have fun with it.”
His smile remained as wide as it had been since he first stepped on stage. Misha had been told many times by many people that his smile was infectious, but he wasn’t so full of himself as to think no one would be immune to it. Some people took themselves far more seriously than he did. Maybe Aleksey was one of them. Maybe the stoicism was an act. Misha could probably figure it out with enough time.
Maybe later.
“As for my favorite part, hmm…” He pretended to think on Vasily’s question for a few moments. “Probably the outfit, honestly. And the audience! They were so fun!”
Misha turned to wave at the audience. “You guys were amazing, thank you so much! Sorry not sorry to anyone who brought their kids!
“Anyway, good luck picking your fifth member,” he told the boys, fishing several business cards out of the same boot from which he’d revealed the handcuffs. “Destiny City’s bursting with talent! Any chance we’ll get to see a performance from you today?”
He wasted no time waiting for an answer and showered them all with his business cards, which listed his various social media handles.
“I love your shirt, by the way,” he told Rory. “Also your boots are amazing,” he told Vasily. To Aleksey, he said, “You could do with a little more shimmer. Loosen up a bit. You guys are gonna be great. Expectations are high. No pressure, though, seriously.”
From his other boot, Misha drew out his phone and quickly turned it on to pull up the camera.
“Everyone smile!” he said, and snapped a quick selfie of himself throwing up a peace sign with the boys behind him. “I’m calling it now, this is going to be my most viewed video. I should make this my thumbnail. Oh, but I guess if you don’t want to be in it… I should’ve asked. You know what, take some time to think about it. Check out my socials. Give me a follow. DM me and let me know.”
He was taking up too much of their time. Misha let a little guilt filter into his expression but didn’t really feel bad for it. He left them with the cards and the handcuffs as he pranced away, blowing exactly four kisses as he went—one for each of them.
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2025 10:23 pm
Min-su Malcolm HwanTruth be told, Malcolm wasn't expecting anything to come from this audition. He was still trying to figure himself out. But song and dance had always interested him, so when he heard about the auditions for a boy band, he impulsively decided to do it. And then spent several days creating a routine to a song that deeply resonated with him. Creating something for a boy band was different from working in the ensemble of a musical. But it was similar enough that he felt fairly confident in himself. Really, all he had to do was act confident enough. That seemed to be half the battle. When it came to be his turn, he approached the microphone and introduced himself under his English name, though he recognized one of the band members as Korean—he couldn't be sure that Rory was as in touch with his Korean side as Malcolm himself was. "Malcolm Hwan, performing Poison by Blake Roman," he said. Those in the know would probably understand why he didn't just outright admit it was from Hazbin Hotel. The last thing he wanted was for any "normies" to immediately write him off for being cringe. He stepped back and bowed his head as the introductory notes played, and then immediately shifted into movement with the first few lyrics, singing along. he let himself get lost in it, every note and every shift coming smoothly from hours of practice. "'Cause I know you're poison, you're feedin' me poison
I'm chokin' from the taste and I can't help but swallow up your poison
I made my choice, and every night, I'm livin' like there's no tomorrow!"He pretended to choke himself on the right cue, acted as though he was signing his life away on I made my choice, and pushed himself away (with a spin) from the future he didn't expect to have on no tomorrow. Malcolm poured his heart and soul into the performance, thinking about his ex-girlfriend, the way she treated him, the way he couldn't stop going back to her until he'd finally left Scotland to get away from her. "Poison, I'm drownin' in poison
I'm fillin' up my glass, but it's always hollow
Full of poison, I'm sick of the poison
Wish I had somethin' to live for tomorrow..."With the final lines of the song, he became utterly devastated and slow in his movements, other than a sharp move of desperation on I'm sick of the poison, and slowly dropped to his knees over the notes of the final lyric, the picture of depression as his head hung low. Hiding his face was always a part of the performance, but right now, putting that performance out in front of people? It was a good way to hide his face as he took an extra few moments to gather himself, feeling scraped raw from putting out something so personal. But it felt good. Hoping he didn't wait too long, he popped back to his feet, taking a few deep breaths, and refrained from the urge to say "ta-da!" or something stupid like that. The band guys would talk when they were ready. Filling the empty silence with nervous crap would look unprofessional.
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eldritch stardust
eldritch stardust
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2025 10:13 am
Rory Kae When the next entrant had stepped up and introduced himself, Rory had grinned and given the guy a casual salute. It was always nice to see fellow Koreans around. Though, his voice had an interesting lilt that he couldn’t quite place. It sounded a little like gran and gramps, but not quite right. So… UK adjacent? Cool. Rory settled in, prepared for anything and nodded a little to himself in approval for the way Malcolm introduced his song. It was a smart touch since he doubted that Malcolm wanted to be compared to a gay spider demon porn star. Sure, some of the fans would probably go for it, but overall, they wanted to appeal to more than just the terminally online. Then, the music started and Malcolm just… burst into movement, singing energetically and putting more feeling than Rory would have expected into the performance. And he was good. Foot tapping to the beat, he glanced down the table to gauge Alyosha and Vasha’s reactions. Then glanced at Emil. Then, he glanced down at his notes and began scribbling furiously. Clearly, Malcolm had put a lot of work into this and it showed. Good voice, good dancer, just the right amount of theatrics. As far as Rory was concerned, this was their Fifth. He just needed the others to agree with his assessment. Todd Two and Elijah had been good, yes. But holy s**t! Malcolm sort of blew them out of the water. And when the song ended and the audience was applauding, Rory stuck his pinkies between his lips and whistled loudly. Would Ms Voronin approve? Probably not. But he, at least, was determined to show his appreciation of the hard work they’d just witnessed. Only then did he casually sliiiiiide his notes down the table where the rest of his bandmates could see. Good voice, good moves, clearly takes his s**t seriously. If you guys don’t vote for him, I will find a way to put live scorpions in your beds ♥♥♥ Okay, he wouldn’t actually put venomous arthropods in the beds, but he’d still find a way to show his displeasure. Maybe throwing their underwear in the freezer or something.
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