The Subway wasn't Paige's idea of an ideal performance location. But she needed a break from bars. And the park was the same old people. The blonde spitfire figured she could get herself out there more by playing in the subway. Because it was New York. And who didn't ride the subway?

She hadn't seen her roommate in awhile, but the dragon-kin had managed to give her a nice acoustic guitar.

It was black, with a very nice shine to it, not that it mattered in the dim subway tunnel. What did matter, was the clean sound that came out of her pick gliding over the strings and her fingers dancing over the frets. Today, she was doing nothing but improv. Picking a key before-hand, and playing whatever came to mind. Sometimes it was fast and upbeat, others it was melodic and beautiful.

Her case was open, and there was a little money in it, but not enough for her to want to call it a day yet.

There was a girl in her spot, playing guitar in fact. Seyta couldn't legally own the pillar but that was the one she was always at when she was playing. The only reason for being in the subway was that more people meant more chances for a few bucks to slip past her mutation, and it was cold outside on the street.

Adjusting the violin on her shoulder, and double checking the Ka-bar in its sheath on her belt Seyta moved to the next closest pillar facing the girl. She looked to be in her teens, might have been twenty but no older. The space between the pillars was just about the same size as Seyta's range. If things worked out this girl might even help her make a bit more than normal. Nothing wrong with some friendly competition right?

Setting her case down Seyta quietly tuned her violin and grinned. The girl didn't seem to be playing anything specific, so Seyta setting a stern glare at the un-knowing girl played the first line of Dueling Banjo's. Loud enough to be heard over the bustle of the people without giving anyone a direction to look at for the source.

Paige heard a violin playing, but that was all she knew. It could have come from almost anywhere down here, after all. The girl knew she had a challenge, and that was all she needed to know. Maybe her confidence as a fighter or 'the tough chick' were shaken, maybe even close to nonexistent now. But her confidence in her musicianship was one thing she felt could never be taken away. She listened carefully, tuning into the music the way she'd picked up on over the years.

Every note that rang out, her brain processed. She was never one for schoolwork, or math, or planning. But her mind and heart were both hard-wired to music. It was her passion. Not knowing exactly what was being played, she did respond by playing what she heard the violin play on her guitar, adding a little mini-solo to the mix. Part of her wished she had the means and the nerve to bring one of her electric guitars down here. That would definitely have drawn some attention.

But, an acoustic paired well with a violin. So the playing field was even.

The girls response took a moment to match Seyta's tune, but there was an air of confidence that came with it. However it was apparent that she didn't know Dueling Banjo's but was bold enough to improvise a response. Well well well, lets see if the kid can keep that up. A simple idea, keep the challenge going for as long as possible. If they cold play off each other long enough Seyta's mutation would be less of an issue for a larger audience if they attracted enough attention.

On the other hand Seyta did plan on winning. Keeping her stare locked on the girl, she moved into the next verse of Dueling banjo's and picked up her speed. Her opponent had confidence, and enough skill to show she had been playing for a while. Unfortunately for her, Seyta had been professionally trained in violin for several years. As she ended the verse a grin spread across her lips like a cat deciding to play with a mouse before eating it.

Paige had the heart, the skill, and the passion. Also her family had a buttload of money to put into lessons for her from the age of six. But Paige wasn't doing this for the attention, the money, or the recognition of her skills. This was something Paige had to do for herself. To prove she was still on top of the food chain somewhere. She remembered guitar battles with punks in the park. Stomped each and every one of them. But this wasn't technically a guitar battle, and violin was something Paige had never played with, against, or near before. But it didn't matter. If any new creature stumbled onto the apex predator's turf, they got devoured. And music was Paige's turf.

It took a bit, but she got comfortable matching her tones to the violin. This time, she deviated from the song, because she had no idea it was an actual song. The blonde thought it was still improv.Staying on the right key signature, she started out with a slow, melodic melody that built up, becoming faster, more driving. Aggressive. The aggressiveness was of course toned down by the acoustic guitar, making it sound more upbeat and fast.

"Whoever this is is going down..." the young woman muttered to herself as someone dropped a couple of dollars into her guitar case.

Her eyes flicked to the few dollars dropped in her opponents case, Seyta had no idea what was in her's, nor was she going to break her attention to look. Even without the second player the main chorus of the song was easy enough for Seyta to play, and play well. She saw the girl speak, but didn't catch what was said over the music and the people around them.

Picking up the speed again, nearly double the norm for Dueling Banjo's, Seyta left her pillar and moved towards her opponent. Stopping about three feet away she stopped and played just a bit softer, so is didn't sound like she had moved much closer, though the echoes off the walls did make it difficult to judge exact volume. intimidation factors aside, being closer made it possible to hear what was said in case the girl spoke again.

At the chorus of the song, guitar and violin blended together. As the speed doubled, Paige picked up speed as well. She wished she brought her electric; not just because she could turn it up as loud as she wanted and completely drown out the violin, no. Paige didn't fight dirty. The electric had a few more frets, making it possible to hit even higher pitches.

But as it stood, the way she was picking and bending the strings every now and then, that acoustic guitar was doing things it wasn't meant to do. But Paige was loving this. This was Paige's passion. Here, in the subway with people everywhere and music bouncing off the walls,Paige was at home. She was an eagle, soaring above the clouds. On top of the world.

And then she missed a note, causing her to cuss under her breath, but she recovered, picking up the pace again. Her heart was racing inside her chest. The apex predator had taken a blow. Her rough, calloused fingers, conditioned from her years of doing this very thing, were starting to hurt.

"No. No. It's not ending like this," her voice was cold as she pulled a trick out of her hat. She continued to play, but then her hand slid down the fretboard. She was essentially playing the same thing, but she'd just dropped an octave lower. Some might say this was a silly thing to take as seriously as a fight to the death. But this was Paige's life. It was all she had left.

One wrong note, the girl was slipping. Seyta kept up her playing but held back from the finishing blow. The first mistake didn't lose the fight and Seyta wasn't willing to strike too early.

>> "No. No. It's not ending like this."

As the girl dropped her octave Seyta held back a slight flinch. Her opponent recovered and came back swinging. It was a good move to make in a musical duel, but intuition told Seyta to through in her own wild card. Up until now they had been playing off each other, trying to one up on the footing the other had left for them. Now it was time to be aggressive.

Almost punching each note with her bow Seyta brought the song to a definite close and held the last note. The girl played improv well. Now it was time to test real skill, not just luck and talent. Taking the note she still held Seyta took a musical u-turn into Music of the Night. Follow this if you can girl...

Inwardly, Paige cringed as the song changed. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening! She was slow on the uptake. Stumbling over the notes at first, and finding it hard to find solid ground. Finally, she managed, growing more and more confident, though nowhere near as bold. She hated being the follower. She stuck to the bare bones, playing notes and chords in a nice accompaniment.

When it ended, Paige bit her lip, deciding that two could play this game. But she was stumped. Wait...no she wasn't. There was one song Paige knew could bring her out of this. Her go to song.

Breaking the silence, Paige regained her confidence as Sweet Child o' Mine rang through the subway. "Let's see you stick with this..." she snorted, getting the fire back into her green eyes.

Seyta knew she had it in the bag. The girl stumbled several times before being stuck with following Seyta with simple chords. Seyta of course had no problem and led her by the nose. When it came to the slow classical style nothing beat violin except perhaps a piano or an organ. Letting the song end Seyta waited for the girl to admit defeat.

>> "Let's see you stick with this..."

She arched an eyebrow in surprise, the girl still had some fight left in her. Seyta shook her head sadly as she heard the first few notes, it was impossible not to recognize the song. She joined in right away and right at first matched the girl note for note. To her opponents credit, it was an excellent song to try and make a come back with, just not against someone with Seyta's level of skill.

After just a few lines however she upped the tempo and started to add some fiddle style flair. It was murder on the fingertips but worth it to put this girl in her place. As she played Seyta moved closer again. Now barely a foot away she didn't bother with controlling volume. It was time to let the girl know who she was dueling. Seyta kept her eyes locked on the girl as notes danced off the walls from their instruments. As they reached the solo Seyta pulled out everything she had. If, she didn't need her chin to help hold the violin Seyta would have started singing just to add insult to injury.

Dragging the song out as long as she could without forcing it Seyta played to win. No, she played to dominate. A friendly competition might have been part of the duel, but Seyta had enough problems playing for people with her mutation, and this girl had picked the wrong spot to set herself up. AS the end of the song came to an end Seyta smiled. Not a warm or endearing smile, but a cold almost heartless grin. "I can stick with anything you got."

Paige had to admit, her opponent was good. At the solo, Paige too gave everything she had. But something went wrong. Her fingers slipped. No. No. NO. Then again. Her hands were trembling even as the song came to an end. Her left fingers were sore, a few of them cut from the intensity with which she'd played.

"Whoa...that girl on the guitar was okay, but man...did you hear that violin? Amazing." It was a male voice, and it cut Paige deep. Other similar murmurs and even the occasional whistle filled the air for the next few minutes. Paige's throat was tight as tears threatened to stream down her face. But she choked them down.Her pride was shattered. She realized now that she wasn't the apex predator. The lioness had roamed down into the riverbed, and got devoured by a crocodile. Paige Mason had been kicked off the top of her last mountain.

Standing face to face with the girl Seyta could see the tears she was forcing back. Also, despite her insult at the end of the song, the girl was too focused on the music to have noticed her even still. Seyta decided to let it stay that way for a moment, letting the comments from onlookers sink in. Most of the audience couldn't tell where Seyta was either. The people in the front row where within her range, and those behind had their view blocked. The title of musical assassin floated through her mind for a moment.

However the crowds did mostly have laces to be and such, and since the duel was obviously over from the lack of music they dispersed steadily. Basking in her own victory Seyta took the time to really get a look at the girl, only a few seconds really. The look of defeat in her eyes was more than from just loosing the fight just now, though it may have actually just be that important to her, in which case life just taught a lesson in failure. Seyta was willing to take the chance though. Tucking her violin under her arm she placed her right hand on the hilt of the Ka-bar strapped to her belt, just in case. "Welcome to the bottom of the ladder sweety." Her smile held a touch of pity beneath an obvious layer of gloating.

"Welcome to the bottom of the ladder, sweety."

The words cut deep, but it was true. Paige found herself on the bottom of the totem pole. This wasn't LA. A tightness still gripped at her entire body, her vocal chords unable to form words. She lost; the last little bit of her pride was snatched away and smashed into little bitty pieces. And the words of her opponent cut her even worse, making her emotions rise even higher.

Too high. The mix of anger, depression, jealousy, and sheer worthlessness was too much. In an instant, Paige was a spork lying next to her guitar case. "Great...now, of all times...Perfect. Just ****ing perfect."

That same feeling Seyta got from the Pits during the dream crept back into her mind. The savoring victory, the power of crushing someone else. She would have simply soaked in that feeling if she wasn't distracted by a sudden change. One moment the girl was there the next, she wasn't.

>> "Great...now, of all times...Perfect. Just ****ing perfect."

IT Took Seyta a moment to realize what just happened. Seyta's first guess was invisibility but the change in the girls voice drew her gaze downwards to, of all things, a spork. While the spork was out of place she was more concerned with where the girl had disappeared to. "Nice vanishing act, now where the hell did you go?"

This was perfect. Just amazing, even...now she'd be a spork until she could calm down. But surprisingly, it seemed her opponent was looking for her. Eh, maybe she was just shocked that Paige seemed to vanish into thin air. Yeah, that had to be it.

"Down here...the ****ing spork. What do you care, anyway?" Even in shift, her voice was shaky, sad, and snappy. There was more than a hint of attitude behind her self-pity. What did it matter, after all? Paige was defeated, now she was a hybrid piece of flatware lying on the subway floor.