Backstage settles into the soft hum of cooling equipment. Nemea keeps the transparent blue guitar in hand while Stella;) sits near a road case, pale and winded, and Kiki leans against her drum kit, catching her breath.
Sazabi's Santana, wearing a crimson leather vest over a yellow graphic shirt, distressed black jeans, and scuffed leather boots steps out from the venue, a young African American man in a dark coat, his massive floor-length dreadlocks brushing the fabric as he plants himself across the corridor.
Sazabi's Santana
That guitar is not standard stage equipment. What exactly did you play into it, Nemea?
Kiki
Santana, give her a second. The concert just ended.
Sazabi's Santana
I saw the distortions take form around Stella;). I saw the room answer your rhythm. Was that performance, or were you hiding something bigger?
Stella;)
His questions sound like an audition, but he is watching the guitar more carefully than he watches me.
Sazabi's Santana
If that power can strengthen a song, it could carry demands farther than any microphone. Tell me what it can do, and what it costs.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reveal the guitar's capabilities and cost to Santana
“I dismiss Santana, because magic is an innate part of me like his heartbeat is innate to him. I can't teach him because I never had to learn. It just happens.”
SUCCESS (Superb Charm, rolled +2)
Nemea of the Reed Isles
Santana, you're asking me to teach something I never had to learn. My magic is innate, as natural to me as your heartbeat is to you. I can't teach you how it happens.
The dismissal lands without a raised voice. Santana's expression tightens for a breath, then his gaze leaves the guitar and settles on Nemea herself.
Sazabi's Santana
So there is no lesson, no technique, no hidden exercise that makes it reproducible.
Nemea of the Reed Isles
His questions have stopped being an audition.
Sazabi's Santana
All right. I believe you. I was looking for a method because methods can be shared, but I won't pretend your nature is a curriculum.
He steps aside from the corridor, leaving the passage clear. Kiki exhales against the drum kit, while Stella watches Santana with cautious relief.