Radiant Eclipse

"Is it bad or weird that, I actually miss the cold and snow?"

Jess asked aloud, as she peeked out the window of the bus.

Currently, the girls of Radiant Eclipse sat inside their bus, which was parked outside the Sovereign Center, in Reading, Pennsylvania. It was the first night of the Nightmare After Christmas Tour, which they would play alongside New Medicine, Hollywood Undead, Stone Sour, and of course, Avenged Sevenfold.

"No. Because as much as I enjoy the Huntington Beach weather, I miss it too."

Anne replied, from where she sat munching on a cream cheese bagel. It was a relatively low key and quiet day, as the girls had already completed their soundcheck, and were just lounging about the bus. Anne and Jess sat upfront, while Corinne and Mateja did an interview in the back lounge, and Ash napped in her bunk. Once their interview was completed, they woke up their bassist, and all the girls headed inside for the rest of the day, where they went their separate ways until it was their turn to play. In the short time since they had finished recording their major label debut, the girls had taken steps to either supplement their income, or further their education.

Both Ash and Jess, took the necessary tests to become licensed bartenders in the state of California, along with Ash and her tattoo license and Jess and her piercing license. Corinne and Anne decided to start offering French lessons, and already had their first students in Stone Sour's Corey Taylor, and Hollywood Undead's Danny Murillo. Mateja had made the decision to go back to school, as she was now taking a marketing course, via online correpsondence. After discussing a new piece that he was looking to get for Corinne, Matt and Ash, found a quiet corner to do their vocal exercises, then fit in a small, pre show workout; where they ended up running a few laps around the arena.

Once the doors to the arena opened to the public, everyone ventured to the safety of the backstage area, to start getting ready. All the girls showered and dressed, and were just now, sitting around the dressing room, waiting for their turn to play.

"Are you sure that's a decision that you'll be okay with?"

Anne asked Ash, as she sipped a mug of tea. Before leaving for tour, Ash visited the doctor one last time, to get a status update on her voice. He had given her the okay to start screaming again, but she already had her mind set, on not screaming anymore. It was decided that after some tweaks to their set, Anne would take over those duties, when the need arose.

"Yes. I think it would be better for me, and my voice, now and in the long run."

Ash continued, with her pre-show stretching routine, until Dan came to get them. The girls followed him to the stage, where their respective boyfriends, waited to see them off. They grabbed ahold of their respective instruments and in-ear monitors, then got into the pre-show huddle. Once their walk on music started, they put their monitors in, accepted good luck kisses, and took to the stage.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS UP READING?! WE ARE RADIANT ECLIPSE AND THIS IS TORONTO IS FOR LOVERS!"

Corinne screamed into the mic, before they blasted into one of their biggest hits to date. By the time the girls staggered off of the stage, half an hour later, they were all dripping with sweat.

"Holy fuck, that crowd was insane."

Mateja breathed, as she accepted a towel from Matt Berry. The girls nodded in agreement, as they all chugged bottles of water on the way back to the dressing room, and their showers. After getting cleaned up and changed, the girls all scattered. Anne and Jess ventured sidestage to watch Hollywood Undead, Corine found her way into Avenged's dressing room, while Ash and Mateja, ventured out to the lobby and merch area. After grabbing some new shirts for themselves, and signing some autographs and taking photos, the girls headed backstage to drop off their purchases, and join their bandmates sidestage. After pouting at a short joke that Dylan aka Funny Man made about her, a sly smirk slowly graced Ash's face.

"That's your plotting face."

Mateja whispered, when she saw the look. Ash turned to Mateja, Anne and Jess, quickly explaining her plan, which caused them to display matching looks. Quickly, they headed backstage to gather Corinne and supplies, along with recruiting Jake and Brady from New Medicine, and Corey and Jim Root from Stone Sour. It was about halfway through HU's last song, No 5, when toilet paper, streamers, tampons and sanitary napkins, started flying about the stage. Everyone beat a hasty retreat, when they ran out of supplies, and the guys started throwing things back at them. Larry stood waiting for the girls, once they reached their dressing room, and tried to look upset with them. But his resolve failed, when his face broke out in a wide smile, and he started to laugh.

"Can I just ask, that whatever you have going on, not escalate like it did with Asking Alexandria?"

He asked, as the guys from Hollywood, stepped off of the stage.

"I don't know what happened there, but I can't make any guarantees."

Jordon, aka Charlie Scene, quipped as he walked past. The girls stuck their tongues out at him, and headed into their dressing room, for a quick interview with a local paper. As that finished, they headed into catering, to quell the noises that their stomachs had started to make.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Jess asked Mateja, who looked like she was anywhere but in the arena.

"I've just been thinking. Jimmy's birthday is coming up, and I want to do something for it, but I don't know what."

"It's February 9th right? Well, I believe we're in Nebraska at the time, so it'll have to be something indoors, unless we all want to freeze to death."

Anne replied, as she popped a grape tomato into her mouth.

"What you girls talking about?"

Matt asked, as he pulled a chair up next to where Corinne sat.

"What to do for Jimbo's birthday."

"As long as he has booze and all of us, well mostly Mateja, I think he'll be happy. I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"What if we did a surprise party? With some kind of theme."

Ash replied, as she dumped her unwanted olives on Anne's plate.

"We could make that work. Let's not worry too much about it right now. We'll talk more later."

Matt pressed a kiss to Corinne's forehead, and headed back to his dressing room to get ready for the show. After they finished eating, the girls fixed themselves drinks, before venturing in the same direction Matt went. After a few rounds of blackjack, and the end of Stone Sour's set, the girls walked with Avenged to the stage, and waited for them to go on. Each guy snagged good luck kisses, before they took to the stage, and their adoring public. Halfway through the set, the girls left to make sure the afterparty was set up, then reappeared at each side of the stage, with Corey, Jim, Danny, and Brady at their sides. For the purpose of onstage antics, the guys in Stone Sour, had brought a box of rubber chickens with them. Just as the guys kicked into their last song, which was of course, Unholy Confessions, they started launching the rubber chickens from one side of the stage to the other. Everyone ran off when Matt caught one in his hands, laughing maniacally, and seeking shelter in the safety of their dressing rooms. Before the party could get underway, everyone cleared out their dressing rooms and loaded everything onto their buses.

"Where the hell did you girls get the rubber chickens?"

Brian asked, when Avenged finally joined the after party.

"Ask Corey and Jim. They're the ones that brought them out."

Ash replied, as she handed Johnny a beer.

The afterparty continued late into the night, which included Ash, Zacky, and Matt venturing outside to meet a few fans. At one point, the guys in Hollywood Undead, had their crew bring in their cornhole boards, and bags were flying all around, some far wide of their targets.

"What do you say we get out of here?"

Zack whispered into Jess' ear, as his hands traveled down her sides, to rest on her hips.

"I like that idea. Let's go."

It seems that Johnny and Ash had the same idea, as the four of them were now quietly leaving the party. Zacky led Jess onto the Avenged bus, and Johnny followed Ash until the Radiant Eclipse bus, where they enjoyed all the privacy they could get until bus call. Since the next day was an off day, they headed to Lowell, Massachusetts early, and got hotel rooms.

"So, we miss anything last night?"

Jess asked, once all the bands, gathered for lunch at the hotel.

"Yeah, Shads had George nearly shitting his pants."

Jess, Ash, Zack and Johnny, all raised their eyebrows at Matt, before he explained that he had made George think that he was really pissed, about his part in the video for, This Is What Rock And Roll Looks Like. After a laugh at George's expense, everyone dug into their meal, and spoke about their plans for the day. Since it was still snowing and quite cold out, most of them decided to stay inside, except for the girls who decided to venture out and explore the city. Not wanting them to go alone, Matt, Dan the Body, and Jason Berry went with them. As they perused the racks of Forever 21, they informed Dan and Jason of their ideas for Jimmy's birthday.

"We should find a bar, that would let us do a beach theme inside. With kiddie pools, and sandboxes."

Dan suggested.

"And go go dancers!"

Jason added in, drawing an evil eye look from Mateja. After visiting Hot Topic, a shoe store, and a GNC for Matt and Dan, everyone headed back to the hotel, to get warm and rest. Mateja, Matt, and Dan informed Larry of their ideas for Jimmy's birthday, and he agreed to start looking for a bar that would accomodate them. Later that night, while mostly everyone on the Nightmare After Christmas tour was asleep, Ash, Johnny, Anne and Brady from New Meds, were still wide awake. They sat in Ash and Johnny's room, munching on popcorn and watching an All That marathon on Nickolodeon.

"We should do something."

"Create more mayhem?"

"Ding dong ditch?"

Brady suggested. Everyone's faces lit up, wide smiles and all, as they scrambled to their feet. It so worked out, that the tour had most of the floor they were on, and the floors above and below them to themselves. After knocking on all their bandmates doors, and running like their lives depended on it, when they got up to answer, they decided to keep on going.

"What else could we do?"

Johnny asked, as they all sat in the stairwell, outside their floor.

"We could order room service, and an early wake up call for a select few."

After a dash back to their room for a few pens, they snuck around to the rooms of Larry, Jimmy, the Berry brothers, Jake, Corey, George, and Dylan, and not only ordered them roomservice, but decided to have it delivered at six am.

"This is going to be one hell of a tour."

Johnny murmured, once he and Ash finally climbed into bed.

"That is is."

She giggled, as she pecked his lips, then closed her eyes, finally letting sleep overtake her.