Arishika smiled, pushing her cat ear back before it flipped back into place.  Ari was, of course, a neko; and being in the world of Felarya, this made her existence a certain level of danger.  However, unlike most Felaryans, she was wearing a thin layer of clothing; a miniskirt made of tight, so-dark-purple-it’s-almost-black leather.  She also wore a sort of vest from the same material, which was open to reveal a good amount of her chest; in fact, it barely covered her nipples.  She had parted black hair down to the bottoms of her shoulder blades, with one fringe of it to the right of her nose.  Not to mention, her skin was glowing a light blue, looking rather like a mutated firefly.
And of course, Ari wouldn’t be Ari without her two age-old companions.  The first, a cherry red Kramer Vangard guitar, which rested on her hip.  It had once been a lute, but like all Soul Objects in Kiria, it had changed over time.  The second was a sort of mechanical arm that was connected to her shoulder; it was thin, like a mic stand, but had a joint halfway down the arm, and a microphone at the end, so Ari could wail on the guitar and sing at the same time.
To understand what exactly was going on, you would merely have to look below.  The rock diva was currently crouching in a tree’s branch; underneath was a mass of nagas, humans, nekos, mermaids, and any other species that lived nearby.  The terrain below was rather fortunate; a giant stump with a river on one side, Crisis’s territory on the other.
This stump was what many of the women were looking at; after all, Ari was supposed to be playing a concert there.
The catgirl sighed, calming her nerves and gripping the branch with her foot.  It was about time to start.  Normally, Arishika lived for this kind of thing; however, this had the capacity to go very, very wrong, if any of the audience happened to be hungry.
Of course, Ari had hired some of the best security—Lara, for one, was decent enough with martial arts to hold away the human-sized ones, and could slam her long tail and whip the larger ones if they tried anything.  Katrika, of course, had the size advantage; she was about as big as the rest of them.  Then, of course, there was Aurora, another giant naga, and with a very comforting “whatever” level of security, Anna.  Namesta had volunteered, but Ari was worried that she might distract people too much; nothing against her, but the catgirl found her a little self-centered and sex-crazed, which was exactly what would ruin the concert.
After all, Ari was the only one that had room to be self-centered and sex-crazed, and she finally decided it was now or never.  She brought her Kramer into her lap and played a few quick riffs—Mozart, to be honest—and grinned as the crowd gave a little cheer.
More was going on, however; the sky darkened above them, and even those that relied on senses other than vision felt as if they had been blinded in those senses.  It was a darkness that enveloped a person, lingering without quite touching their soul.  From it came a crackle of lightning above the trees, then suddenly, a bolt; it stayed rooted in the center of the stump, crackling dangerously, before many curved bolts flew down from above, making a funnel like a tornado before erupting, a good blast with at least a ten-foot radius.
It didn’t take long for the smoke to clear, and in the middle of where the blast had been stood a lone catgirl, guitar resting on her thigh.
“Do~
You~
Want~
To~
Plaaaaay?” she asked, and the crowd erupted, her words lost over the song streaming from the guitar, the screaming of the crowd (which those more accustomed to concerts had started), and the crackle of Ari’s electricity as it danced around stage, winding itself around the audience flawlessly, not even touching their skin, but coming incredibly close.
Ari smiled, her fingers laying out a comfortable rhythm, eyes gazing amongst the crowd.  She had noticed several people she recognized from elsewhere; Vixie was standing near the base of Crisis’s tail—
“Kick the can, cowboys and Indians—“
—and Missan, a doggirl from one of Ari’s earlier concerts, standing only a few steps away from Vix.  She decided to send a spark between them, one hitting Missan’s ear and moving through her, making her fall to the ground; but of course, Ari had guided the lightning through the inu’s pleasure centers.  She didn’t have time to stop and watch that show, however, as she had her own to do; the song was slowing down, but even those who had never heard rock before knew that it was the calm before the storm.
She skipped forward, detaching her guitar from its shoulder strap with a flick of the wrist and hopping, planting the butt of the guitar onto the ground, gripping its neck as she propped herself up on it, doing a sort of handstand; the audience gave a ‘wow’ of amazement, as Ari showed considerable balance.
But of course, the song was not over; Ari’s fingers were still hard at work, and hammered out a very quick series of 32nd notes.  As soon as it all winded down, Ari frontflipped over the neck and tossed the guitar into the air, catching it and finishing up the song, hand moving rather quickly; this is where the vocals took backstage to the guitar.
“Doo youuuuuuuu~”
After another quick bit of Mozart, Ari finished, grinning at the crowd; it was rather obvious they liked it, considering the applause showed little sign of ending soon.
Ari laughed, raising her arm to get them to quiet down.  “Now, now, I’m gonna be here for a while,” she chuckled.  “It’s great to be here tonight, I would like to thank Crisis for not making me a snake turd—“ this got a little laugh from the crowd—“but I DID have to shock her a little.”
Crisis gave a little blush; she hadn’t been able to help herself, but had (luckily?) received a few jolts at the ends of her fingers; nothing lasting, but a definite “Don’t do that again” from the Kirian catgirl.
“Well, I usually don’t do a lot of songs, but this one’s gonna be different.  This time I’m gonna do… six,” she chuckled.  Only a few really understood the joke—concerts were supposed to be hours long, but Ari’s tended to last for only about forty-five minutes, including the parts she wasn’t playing.
Ari grinned.  “All right… here’s the next one,” she smiled.  The crowd was still a bit hesitant; many had no idea what to do at a concert, after all.  Before they could figure it out, however, Ari’s next song had started with a slow loop.
“Walkin’ the streets, I got a feelin’…” she sang, fingers making a simple rhythm on her guitar, although it was rather catchy; the essence of hair metal.
“Sunset strip, California, west Hollywood, I’m gonna warn ya~” she continued, then returned the chorus.
“I’ve got the heeeart of a lion,” and her guitar slowed, “and the wiiings of a bat, because it’s midnite!”  Soon, the song paused for a second, then started right back up in a fury; Ari’s fingers flew, finger-tapping at the base of the neck as lightning flew everywhere, some striking audience members and making them fall to the floor in pleasure as Missan had done earlier.  Electricity crackled along the stage, over Ari’s body, and in the air itself as the solo finished, the catgirls’ fingers finally becoming visible again as she went back into the main swing of the song as if it were a normal concert.
She was rather enjoying herself now, and as she finished her song, the crowd erupted; they finally figured out that what you’re supposed to do at a concert is essentially whatever you want.  What this crowd wanted was, quite simply, “more.”
“Ahaha, thank you!” said Arishika over the audience.  “Now, both of those songs… I have to admit that they weren’t mine.  This one, however… is,” she grinned, bowing quickly to sweep her hand through a small puddle that had formed on her “stage,” (Anko had been cheering, after all) taking a gulp before tossing her head back and starting.
The strings’ song was simple, but complex; perfectly organized, but chaotic; sophisticated, but ohhhh, so naughty.  After a few seconds of what came second nature to the neko’s fingers, her mouth opened, and she let loose a loud, long, wavering meow that sounded rather reminiscent of a police siren.  This crescendoed, then slowly got softer until Ari broke the lyrics in.
“I hear your siren coming for me
I know how your little squad adores me
I love it when those ‘cuffs adorn me
I only hope you brought a paddle; don’t bore me!”
A quick pitter-patter on the guitar produced a sound reminiscent of several shots of gunfire, along with ricochet from a metal surface.
“They tell you that it’s red alert
But I don’t think it’s quite the time
I’m such a nasty little flirt
But that’s why you find me so subliiiime!”
Ari’s guitar quickly shifted to the complexity, the chaos, and the raunchy side, and she grinned, tail swaying as she thrust one arm into the air, the other tapping the strings hard enough to make them sing anyway.
“It’s too bad you like your big ol’ club
‘Cuz I prefer the whip;
I suppose you won’t take me to the pub
I guess you won’t get my lip.
But if you really want to play
Those prisoner games you love,
Then let me open my legs today
And take you in, my dove.”
At this, her hand flew down from the air, bringing more lightning with it in addition to the pulse that was still moving about the stage.  It hit the stage with such a thunderous crash, many forgot all about Ari; well, at least until she threw her vest at Anna’s nose.  Anna promptly freaked out, flailing a little before she noticed what was on her (having had a suspicion of a certain other dark material), and gave a grumpy huff.
Of course, this brought the audience’s attention back to the now-topless catgirl, and many began drooling, although whether they had food or sex on their minds wasn’t quite clear.  Now both her hands were at the base of the guitar’s neck, quickly hammering out notes in a chaotic, yet perfect rhythm.  Ari leapt, a pillar of electricity shooting from beneath her and lifting her into the air; as it reached its peak about a head higher than Namesta, she leapt backwards, backflipping; her hands never strayed from her guitar, however, and as she landed, she played the final, triumphant chord.
The addition of a topless Ari, another fantastic light show, and the music itself made the crowd erupt once more; she giggled, looking them over with a huge grin.  She was very, very happy.
“All right!  All right.  I think it’s time we took this to my slower song…” she said, and without much pause, began the next song, accompanying her guitar with a line of “Ooooo-oooo-oooo-ooo.”  One would think Ari had shredded her fingers off by now, but that wasn’t the case; Ari was used to this, after all.  The song had a suave feel to it, and sounded like it belonged in a time when people actually said “suave.”
“Black an’ orange stray cat sittin’ on the fence…” she sang, fingers plucking out a simple melody as she slowly began to sway her hips in time to the beat.
“Ain’t got enough dough to pay the rent…” she smiled, taking a few steps towards the right side of the ‘stage,’ towards Lara.
“I’m flat broke but I don’t care,” she grinned, turning as soon as she was about to walk into her security manager’s face, “I strut right by with my tail in the aaair,” she purred, taking a few steps and looping her tail under Lara’s nose, who leaned as if to follow, then fell, rather heavily infatuated (and, truth be told, a little drunk).
“Stray cat strut, I’m a—“
“LADIES’ CAT!!” shouted Missan from the floor, who knew the lyrics, along with one or two other less enthusiastic audience members.
It didn’t take long before Ari was merely walking from one end of the stage to the other, singing and playing, the crowd following her every movement and occasionally one would accidentally fall over, leading to a short laugh from Ari between lines.
“I wish I could be as carefree and wild—
But I got cat class and I got cat styyyyle,” she finished, playing a few quick notes to wind it down, then smiling up at her audience; some hadn’t even realized the song was over, too busy watching Ari; the addition to her two perfect breasts to her already-appealing appearance was too much for some, and if there hadn’t been security or electricity, Ari’s creamy thighs would surely have disappeared inside someone by now.
Ari smiled, giving a tiny little bounce on her heels, making her chest bounce; this, of course, got a cheer from the crowd and Missan’s “inside joke” with Ari:  “DAMN!  I WANT A PIECE OF THAT!!”
Ari giggled.  “All right, all right.  As a few of you know—“
“WE LOVE YOU AGRIIIFFFFFTSHHHTHBTIBBLE!!” shouted someone from the back of the crowd, who quickly fell over; he or she had been drinking too much.
“—every concert, I take someone from the audience to play onstage with me.  Not like that, Missan,” she said, giving a smirk to the doggirl in the audience, “And since I love all of you…” she smiled, putting a hand over her eyes, “I’ll leave it to chance.”
Ari grinned, starting to spin on one foot, pumping with the other until she came to a stop, outstretched her arm, and pointed, quite clearly, at Katrika’s vagina, having ended up about three inches from walking into it.
“…Will Katrika or her netherlips please not eat me,” she chuckled, taking a step back.  “All right, what do we have in way of instruments…?” she asked, looking back at her stagehands, Lance and Anna.
Anna knelt over and produced a gigantic, beautiful violin, carefully carved from the finest wood in Felarya, with Katrika’s name engraved into it.
Ari blinked.  “Violins suck,” she said flatly, and smote it with a bolt of electricity.  It burst into flame, completely unusable.  Katrika cried a little.
Vixie blushed, timidly stepping onto the stage.  “W-well, there’s always this…” she said, holding a bass guitar in her hand, in the shape of a rounded “X.”
Ari smiled.  “That’ll do nicely,” she said, gripping it by the neck and holding it up.  From where she was, Katrika looked way, way bigger than the bass.  Katrika, too, recognized this as a problem.
“Uhmm… I don’t think I’ll be able to play that, Miss Ari,” she said, looking confused at the tiny little bass and the topless catgirl holding it.
“Nonsense,” chuckled said catgirl.  “You just need to shrink a little,” she smiled, spreading her stance a little and putting a hand under her skirt to procure a fat pistol-like object.  She fiddled for a few moments, then pointed it at Katrika and fired.
It wasn’t long before the one-huge Katrika shrank to a size that was a bit familiar, yet felt distant—she was back to forty feet long (and about six feet tall) for the first time in… well, how long had it been?
Ari grinned.  “Think you’re big enough to play this now?” she asked, handing the bass to Katrika.
“Uhm, I have no—“ she started, but Ari quickly stepped forward and put a hand over her talking mouth (at which point Katrika realized that Ari tasted even better than she looked).
“Sure you do… here, play a few notes,” she smiled, sending a few pulses through her hand into Katrika’s brain, giving her short-term memories and abilities she never had—namely, being able to rock.  As Katrika followed Ari’s instructions, she realized she could make a pretty good groove.
Her eyes widened and she smiled wide; Ari knew what she was doing, and she didn’t spend a bunch of time wondering how she could play.  In fact, it felt like she was able to play, and didn’t even notice her fingers starting a beat Ari had “taught” her.  It was incredibly surreal, to put it mildly, but it felt so familiar.
It wasn’t long before the Kramer joined in with Katrika’s new bass guitar, and the two began to rock.  Katrika barely even realized her lips putting forth music to back up Ari’s, although unlike her newfound musical abilities, her voice was hers alone; Ari had not enhanced it, seeing no need to.
“What can I do for you?” Katrika sang, and Ari added “Oh-ohh!”  This repeated itself a while before Ari took center stage again, and Katrika’s lips stopped moving as she focused on her fingers.
“Never though that I would wind up by myself,
If I told my wild imagination
But right here I am, finding myself so lost
And there is a way—for me to turn back!” the catgirl sang, dancing seductively onstage, making sure every movement was as much as she could get out of it without going over the top.  And Ari, being gracious, had let Katrika’s bass still be heard amidst all her own singing and playing.  When it got to the solo, Ari had already started to glow a light blue again; she was saving up for the big finale.  She let the naga handle most of the stringwork in the latter half, although occasionally giving a riff where needed.
“I can hear you~
I can hear you~” they both said in unison, and the song ended on a short note.
Ari gave a laugh, lost in the moment.  “Haaa… well, I’m afraid I’ve only got one more song for you guys,” she grinned, pushing her hair back.  “But I’ve also got a lot of lightning left.  So this should be fun~ here we go, guys!” she said, galloping a little to one side, kneeling down, and beginning an insane guitar bit, hammering notes in thirty-seconds and sixty-fourths; Katrika was left speechless, fingers frozen in place as she watched.  Ari seemed to even be using her tail!
“This… is my own…” she grunted, “…personal creation!” she smiled, a bead of sweat forming on her forehead; she was deep in concentration, it seemed.  It took a while before Katrika even remembered she should be playing, and meekly began as Ari’s playing slowed slightly, a lot less barely-detectable notes in her playing as she focused on her thirty-seconds, tail going back to rest.
“Here I am,
Running as fast as I can,” she began, panting a little, although her voice was louder than ever; a pillar of lightning shot from the center of the stump, then fountained off, making itself into a dome that slowly got narrower, passing harmlessly with a crackle over Katrika and Ari’s bodies.  This served a greater purpose, however, as the Macro Ray was pushed next to the neko.  With a precision one wouldn’t expect from someone so deep in the middle of a shred session, her tail flicked out and looped itself around the trigger, aiming at Katrika and firing.
It worked without a hitch; Katrika wouldn’t have noticed a change if she had her eyes closed, but she grew to her previous height, the bass coming along with her.  Katrika knew better than to stop playing, however, as Ari continued the stream of quick notes.
“But I will soon be caught,
No matter how hard I fought,
Soon to become a feast—
In the belly of the beast!” she sang, as loud as she could, chest feeling tight as she sang her lungs out.
Katrika took the second verse as a cue to play louder, and a decent amount more complex; but Ari had sent a jolt of lightning to tell her this anyway.  By now, the naga’s hair was standing straight out, and her actions were not her own; all she could control were her eyes, and they were fixed on the small catgirl as she grooved.
Ari’s guitar had become a good bit slower; the notes seemed tired somehow.  Katrika’s, meanwhile, seemed excited.
“Now I’m trapped
Like a little mouse or rat
I know that I’ll be least
In the belly of the beast!”
Katrika’s hand moved of its own accord to scoop up Ari; her notes were faint, muffled; Katrika only had one hand to strum with, until she tossed the catgirl high into the air, opening her mouth wide and tilting her head back; her fingers returned, as did Ari’s, and they played a quick climax before Ari landed on her tongue, which she withdrew into her mouth.  Ari’s notes became muffled, but frantic; Katrika’s became slow, and calm, with almost a tone of playfulness to them.
The naga’s eyes widened, however, as she was fully aware of what was going on.  The song seemed to revolve around the “belly of the beast”… Ari couldn’t plan to go there…?!
However, it soon became evident that the tiny neko did; she sent a few pulses into Katrika’s tongue, hitting the right nerves to make her swallow; the diva guitarist disappeared, slowly sliding down Katrika’s throat.  Her fingers couldn’t help but speed up as Ari’s singing and playing died out; Katrika felt horrible, but as Ari would have said, “The show must go on!”
Of course, the crowd was screaming, cheering for Katrika; half thought it was part of the show and felt bad for Ari; the rest (those that didn’t know either of them very well) thought that Katrika had done it on her own.  Regardless, the crowd erupted as the final song ended.
“Uhm… I guess that’s it,” Katrika said, blinking as she looked down at her stomach, biting her lip; it didn’t feel right to have swallowed Ari like that.
Then she gave a little burp, eyes widening in surprise.  She coughed, shaking her head, then gave one huge yelping hiccup; Ari flew up Katrika’s throat, sending a few volts through her feet into the naga so she would stick her tongue out; Ari stood on the tip.
“Thank you!  I love you, Felaryaaaaa!!” she shouted, giving another insane riff as lightning enveloped the stage once more; soon, absolutely nothing was visible.  When they could all see again, there appeared to be a harem of Aris, all made of lightning.  As each one mirrored Ari’s playing, they each made a similar note, but with an electric crack to it.  After a minute of wind-down, Ari collapsed backward on stage, panting tremendously.
Katrika blinked.  “Are… you okay…?” she asked, looking down at the little catgirl.
“I’m fine,” she smiled.  “Just tired.”
Katrika smiled, nodding.  “All right.  Thanks for that… I’ll see you!” she said happily, starting to slither off to rejoin Crisis.
“Hey, now!” shouted Ari from the ground, “Don’t you know the other tradition?  My guest goes with me somewhere private for the night,”…