Cassy's Set List.

>It was another routine day at the spark-easy.
>Cassy was all warmed up for another night head-lining the club.
>It wasn't easy managing to stay in her position, especially with Moxie trying to take her spot every night.
>Her blonde-haired rival had constantly tried to to upstage Cassy ever since she'd been knocked from the top spot.
>As much as Moxie claimed it was just the novelty of Cassy being a nandroid, Cassy's consistency had shown her wrong every night.

>Before the show could start however, Cassy needed to grab her set-list from the control booth.
>Each Night had it's own set-list sheet, to help keep songs fresh. Repetition in songs or order would make things dull for the repeat visitors, and a dull night meant a knock in your placements.
>As Cassy reached the control booth, she gave a lil phantom hat-tip to Rusty, the lights and control booth operator.
>"Hey Rusty" Cassy called, getting the worn-down bot's attention.
>Rusty swiveled round to face her, his upper half rotating free of his stationary base that had been built into the booth.
>"Well howdy little lady. What can I do for ya?" Rusty asked. His use of "Howdy" told Cassy his voice-chip had been stuck on cowboy again, so she decided to play along.
>"I do declare, good sir, that I am in mighty need of my set-list sheet!" Cassy replied, pretending to fan herself with her hand.
>"Yer set-list? I gots a sign in here saying you already checked it out for tonight." Rusty queried with a head tilt.
>Cassy immediately cut the accent and looked at the operator confused. "Checked it out?"
>"Well yeah. I gots it recorded on the security cam, wanna look?"
>Cassy nodded. She knew she hadn't been anywhere near the operator's booth yet today, so it can't possibly have been her. Sure Rusty's optics could be a little bad given his age, but surely he hadn't given it to someone els-
>The security feed showed Moxie, with a ludicrously bad wig, and drawn on cheek circles approaching the booth, badly flirting, then taking a sheet of paper away from the desk.
>Cassy sighed internally. Moxie again.
>"See, lil' lady? That was you right there!" Rusty cried.
>Not willing to hang around any longer, Cassy decided to humor the older bot. There was no use upsetting the old-timer when she could just go after the true culprit instead.
>She put the accent back on.
>"Well shoot, guess that's just plain old me being forgetful. You have a good evening now, Rusty!" Cassy gave with a wave as she quickly began walking towards Moxie's dressing room.

>Once she was sure she was out of sight from the elderly operator, Cassy's pace picked up considerably.
>Moxie's little nuisances had been irritating at the best of times, but taking her set-list was too far.
>Cassy had barely kept her cool when Moxie had "accidentally" knocked her into a waiter, ruining her dress for the evening one night. Thankfully Cassy had kept a spare ready, but like the taste of the wine that had stained her outfit, it had completely soured any chance of relation with her fellow singer.
>Cassy found herself infront of Moxie's "dressing room". It used to be a small supply room, until Cassy taking the top spot had banished Moxie from the coveted "star" dressing room. A poorly star-shaped sign with "Moxie" crudely drawn on with crayon hung from a nail rather sadly.
>Cassy knocked.
>No answer.
>She knocked again.
>After the sound of scuffling and stuff moving about started and ceased, she heard an over-honeyed voice call her in.
>Upon opening the door, Cassy could see why there'd been a noise.
>While certainly less full as it used to be, the pile of fallen over chairs and mops was a testament that the management was still using this area as a supply room, regardless of the dresser and mirror Moxie had set up.
>and sitting at that dresser, was Moxie, looking like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. Which to be fair it wouldn't, given how she was mechanical, but still.

>Cassy leant on the doorframe with her elbow and smirked at the not-quite rubbed off marker-pen cheek circles on the wannabe starlet's face.
>"Hello, Moxie", Cassy crooned. She knew Moxie was guilty, but it was easier if she could try to persuade Moxie to hand it over first.
>"Why hello there, Cassy. Come to ask for advice?" Moxie asked with her usual negging tone. Cassy sighed internally.
>"Not tonight, no-"
>"Well I really think you could stand to work on your posture. It puts terrible strain on your-"
>Cassy fake-coughed, pulling Moxie from her unwanted lecture.
>"Oh dear, darling. Is there an issue with your voice-synthesizer? It'd be such a shame if you couldn't perform..." Moxie said with a crocodile's face of concern.
>"Oh no, I`ll be quite alright" Cassy remarked. "Though y'know what'd make it much easier for me to perform tonight? If you gave me my set-list sheet you took from Rusty."
>Moxie looked at her with an aghast expression. Moxie's over-acting was one of the many reasons the management decided to bump her down from her old head-liner role. Girl couldn't act her way out of a paper bag.
>"Now why would I need YOUR set-list!? I have my own act to consider for tonight!" Moxie cried
>"C`mon Mox, Rusty showed me the security footage, I know you have it." Cassy furled her brow in impatience.
>"I don't know what you're talking about." Moxie lied. If it was possible for a robot to have a tell, Moxie's eyes darting upwards and looking about was as clear as a neon sign. One of those big ones with half the lights out you'd see at a motel, whose rooms were somehow even more run down then this supply room.
>Cassy looked at her unamused.
>"Mox?"
>"Yes dear?"
>"You didn't finish wiping off the cheek circles. Which is kinda offensive by the way. I think." Cassy wasn't sure if it was, but it made Moxie squirm.
>Moxie looked like a deer in the headlight, as she quietly felt her cheek.
>"Gotcha" Cassy said with a smile
>Moxie knew when she'd been caught red handed.
>"Fine. Well it's too late anyways. I gave it to the janitor to shred, and he always incinerates the waste by 6."
>Cassy looked at the alarm clock on the dresser. It was 6:45. That set-list was ashes by now.
>Cassy was furious. She forgot her usual politeness as she marched a few steps from Moxie's face.
>As Cassy's mood and posture changed, Moxie quickly remembered why she was one of the Boss' favorites.
>"Now you and I are gonna have a little chat after tonight, Mox. Got that?!" Cassy said with a chilling intent.
>Moxie found herself at a loss for words, until Cassy put a hand on her shoulder.
>"Y-yes darling. of course." Moxie spluttered.
>Cassy's mood instantly shifted, a big, happy smile painting the stoniness of her face.
>"Fantastic. Break a leg tonight dear!" she said as she left the room with a wave.
>Moxie went back to painfully scrubbing the marker off her face, as the slam of her door sent more mops to the floor.

>After she got back to her dressing room, Cassy sighed. She didn't mean to lose her cool with Moxie, and was sure she'd pay for it later, but for now, she had no set-list. It was too close to showtime to ask for a new one, as she could already hear guests and patrons shuffle in from the back-alleys and secret passages.
>Anger was placed by fear, as she mentally scrambled to figure out what to do.
>She could play the same set as last night, but then her audience would be dulled.
>Cassy would need to make her own set-list.
>She got to work, listing out what songs she'd done recently, and what the best order would be.
>Finding the right order was tricky. Not only did two songs need to flow properly if they were next to each other, she also had to keep the pace reasonable, as there was no use putting the bigger numbers near the beginning, as it would leave nothing to end on.

>~Some Time Passes~
>Cassy sighed as she was about to go on stage.
>She'd given the new set-list to the musician bots by  the stage, and while it had given them an eyebrow raise, they knew their job was to just go with it.
>She could see Moxie going stage right after her performance, make-up hastily covering over any residual marks on her face from her poorly done disguise.
>Cassy took a deep breath, and stepped out.


>~After The Show~
>The crowd was in an elated uproar after her performance.
>Used to the set-list's routines, Cassy's improvisation was a breathe of fresh air (or at least as fresh as an underground establishment full of smokers could be).
>Cassy bowed before she went stage right herself, where Terry the stage manager was waiting for her, with an eager looking Moxie to his side.
>"So kid, I noticed you didn't stick to your set-list. Mind telling me why you ain't doing what you were supposed to?"
>"Yes, darling, how could you? Don't you know the fine gentlemen in charge work VERY hard to keep everything going just right?" Moxie asked, piling the honey on to a saccharine degree.
>"There was an... incident with my set-list. So I had to improve, sir." Cassy answered. Management knew her and Moxie had issues, so saying it was her fault would just lead to more trouble, or worse. And Moxie knew that despite any tough fronts Cassy would try and muster, she was still too eager to please, thanks to her nandroid baseline programming.
>"You improv'd?" Terry asked?
>Cassy gave a polite but concerned nod to confirm.
>Terry scratched his chin.
>"You did good tonight kid, but don't let it go to your head. Next time, stick to the script, got it?" Terry asked, pointing at Cassy
>"Yes sir." Cassy said, relieved.
>Moxie looked defeated and annoyed at Cassy swoocing her way out of any repercussions she had hoped for.
>"And you" Terry said, turning to Moxie, who quickly froze up.
>"You're wearing too much make-up again. You know how the boss feels about his girls making themselves look like clowns with that stuff."
>Cassy had a quick flashback to the time she literally once had to dress like a clown singer. It was for the Boss' nephews party, but still, it had taken days to get the smell of confetti out of her sensors.
>Back in reality, Moxie was apologizing to Terry, begging him to give her another chance.
>Terry just sighed and walked off.
>"Better luck next time, Mox~" Cassy smirked as she began to head back to her dressing room.
>"Oh and don't worry, I heard the circus is in town next week. You`ll fit right in."
>As she turned the corner, she leaned back, and gave a sultry "honk honk" as she pretended to squeak her nose.
>She left the infuriated Moxie standing there, as she laughed herself back to her dressing room.