<Nocturnal Harmonia>

[Bloodedge]

What was Ronnie's opinion? She had enough information to create a list, which she ordered: Donnie, Shawn, Ryan. Donnie thought that was a bit weird for basketball. He didn't ever consider himself able to outright beat Shawn, nor did he think he had an absolute win against the NBA player. There was reason to assume she was talking beyond the realm of basketball alone, earning her a sideways glance from the musician. "I ain't too sure 'bout that list... but you probably got an angle I ain't got," he said, leaving it at that. As for Leon, he was at a loss for knowing about Donnie's college basketball career, and Shawn's for that matter. He did, however, have an excuse. "The hell would I watch college basketball for? All the good players go to the NBA," he said, immediately hesitating as Donnie quirked a brow. "I mean, 'cept for Don!" With that quick save made, Leon reached out to take a singular cookie offered by Nikki. She'd seen the logic of his words, which often didn't exist. Apparently, that alone was enough to earn the man a treat. Meanwhile, Kim was joking about her upcoming move and how it likely shouldn't involve Nikki. Ah, but Donnie didn't have time to speak on that matter. Suddenly, Crow was speaking through the plane's intercoms to the group. "Alright ya' bloody legends, this is your captain speaking. If you look to your left right now, you'll see what's known as a dumb cunt. We'll be taking off right away, so if you want to see a bloody wanker be scared shitless, I'd suggest havin' a look outside when we start moving."

Casper Drake's security guard needed a drink, Shane decided. Upon receiving the man's gratitude, Shane nodded. "Yeah man, I ain't gon' leave you out. We might be here for a little while," he said. Just as he thought, Drake would soon be starting one hell of a tirade just to discredit King Don's place in the hip-hop world. Apparently, taking time to sing to women, dance, and generally carry on... was enough to negate any lyrical ability Donnie had. It was a little strange to hear from Drake, who wasn't even on the list of 'top lyricists' in the culture... but Shane always played the neutral role for the sake of continuing discussions on air. There was even a special note from Drake about how Donnie didn't 'put him on' as it were, which had Shane's brow furrowing in minor confusion. "Wait what you mean he ain't put you on? He got on your track back in the day, you got on his this week, what else we got?" he wondered. Beyond that, Shane found himself pointing at Tima again, agreeing with her curiosity. What was Drake actually offering the streets? "And that! The way you talkin', Drake, you gon' have to spit somethin' for us. We don't let nobody just start talkin' on this show. Shit if we did, Tima might get the claws out, and it ain't gon' be sexy like it sound," he said, half-jokingly as always.

[Apollymi]

Ronnie's opinion wasn't solely based in the point of sports and just from a pure point of physicality. "I got a few different angles, yeah~" Ronnie said with a cheeky wink at that sideways glance. Beyond that point, Leon seemed to be working his way into and quickly out of a bit of trouble. Claiming that watching college basketball didn't make sense when all the good players went to the NBA with the exception of King Don, "Close save there, Big Dawg~" Kim muttered. Nikki was standing and holding up her right hand. Her forefinger and thumb so close together they were almost touching. "This close to revoking your membership to the King Don Fan Club," Nikki claimed. "But I'll educate you instead. We'll get you some highlight reels, so you can see the Maestro work!~ It's poetic bruv, you don't even understand~" Nikki said happily. Only to eventually have their conversation muffled by Crow. How was still harping about that poor TSA worker and all the other bits. Kim for her part in this was aghast. "Yo.. He's our captain? And he just let that shit fly?" she said about the use of the word cunt in addition to several other points. She went to buckle herself into a seat, to avoid any potential problems, not knowing that magical planes didn't have the same problems as normal commercial flights.

While the short flight to New York finally seemed to be getting underway… after Shane fully acknowledged that poor security guard, that same guard's life was becoming harder with every word spoken by Drake. At the same time, Drake was hearing the current spin, by his own account he was on a track and Donnie had been on one of his so it should be fair. "What else? First of all, we don't even know when that thing is gonna drop. Or if the feature still gone be there when it do. After it all went down, he was actin' like I won't even post to be up there and shit. It was mad crazy, mad disrespectful. Artist to artist right… as someone who came up after, I expected more love like I be hearing bout, and he ain't got no love for someone making moves out here…" Drake let that accusation just sit on the air. "I'd never do something that kinda dirty. Like he couldn't even hold the door open after he'd already walked through," Drake ended that claim like Donnie was some kind of gatekeeper for Lost Galaxy. Shane's commentary implied a desire to get Drake rapping for the group and Drake chatted him up. Shane pointed out that Tima might get a little aggressive if stuff went awry, "Yeah, I ain't having it. We stand on business. And I don't be taking nothing baseless as fact, feel me?" Tima pointed out. Drake held up one hand while the other scrolled his notes app. He'd been writing something exactly for this in the car and it'd be easy enough to put it to any beat. "I got ya'. I got ya' I still figure Tima would be pretty hot even with the claws out though~ just run me a little free style track and I got ya~" Drake claimed while he adjusted his headset and did a little forward reading. Now was the time. Tima was more than willing to witness this downfall so she'd be cueing up a general rap battle beat. Easy to flow to..

[Bloodedge]

Ronnie had a few angles, did she? Donnie clocked that statement just as it was truly meant, and didn't take his eye of the elder Corbyn. "Uh-huh. We gon' have to chop it up, you and me. Gotta see what kinda highlight reels you been checkin'," he said just as cheekily as she'd winked. Meanwhile, Leon escaped certain danger just to receive a most interesting offer. At some point, he'd get to see the basketball skills of King Don himself. That would probably result in some indirect bragging against Ryan. Whatever the case, an apparently concerned Kim was questioning Crow's announcement ─ or rather, him being their pilot in general. "Yeah, he'll be aight. Aussies be lettin' that shit go like it's nothin'. He a cool dude, and he gon' get us where we need to be. Queen approved and shit~"

Drake still had much to say with the goal of incriminating Donnie. To his credit, at least Shane was offering an ear. It wasn't strange at all to wonder when Donnie's song would ever release. "I mean you not lyin' about that. I hear a lot of comparisons to them uh... what is it, they got all the books and movies wit' like a crazy release schedule, and don't nothin' finish?" he chattered, recalling some assigned similarities between Donnie and the 'Aeons' who dominated written and visual media. The other things Drake had to say about King Don were strange, not aligned to the other male's personality as Shane knew it. Why would he close the gate to Lost Galaxy for another major artist? "Don ain't in charge of Lost Galaxy though, right? Ain't it Doc, or Dream? One of them. Anyway, that don't sound like the lil' Donnie I know. You sure y'all ain't have a misunderstandin' or anything like that? Like maybe he was gon' drop a word for you when he got back wit' the other dudes. Press management and all that." Ever the neutral party for the show, Uncle Shane still couldn't outright believe what he was hearing. Maybe there was some truth to it, though; he couldn't assume. He could, however, be at the ready for a follow-up show with King Don himself later. For now, he was waiting for Drake to deliver a... freestyle, if it would be called that, and for Tima to get her point across to the pink-haired man. "Oh nah, Tima got her certifications and all that, but I still don't wanna see the claws. Not on me anyway. I'ma just watch if she end up havin' to put 'em on you."

[Apollymi]

Donnie and Ronnie were apparently in for a conversation at some point. Ronnie was a well-traveled girl, who could and did have any man she wanted whenever the mood struck. A few athletes were par for the course for a supermodel of her caliber. "Of course, bruv. It'll be great to go for a chinwag~" Ronnie said just as cheekily. Of course, such flirtations weren't missed by Nikki or Kim who both just shook their heads, but such was a simple expectation at this point. Meanwhile, with the flight about to be in progress, Nikki pulled out her phone and went to a couple of highlight reels she had saved to show her cousin, sitting on the arm of his chair like an excited kid so they could watch the Maestro work. At the same time, Kim was now completely over the idea of flying with the pilot being the man she'd seen walk off with a bottle of booze and some pilfered cake. "Right, Queen's gift, this one. Got it. Just letting bro with the stolen cake and a bottle of booze operate the heaviest of heavy machines. Bet," Kim said making sure it sounded as ridiculous outside of her head as it sounded inside her head.

At the same time, Drake's narrative was meeting a bit of resistance. Such was to be expected given, this was a radio station frequented by King Don. But before then the radio hosts continued doing their job, bouncing between topics and keeping it mostly peaceful. In this case, a jab about not knowing when a track would release, was likened to some works of popular culture. Tima would fill in the blanks for the elder that was Shane. "Unc, you gotta buckle in. That's the Aeons, and they out here releasing movies and tv shows now. You gonna end up on it eventually," Tima said lightly, before tossing out a jab of the medium variety, "Besides all that, true fans of the Aeons and true fans of King Don, know the same truth, it don't matter how long it takes, because when the shit drops it's always fire. There isn't a miss in the repertoire and errbody know that~" Tima said. And Drake clicked his teeth. "Aeons? Like all that kid shit? You really helping make my point~" claimed Drake with his hands up, taking all the shots he could and letting them land. "Respectfully, it ain't like that… those of us who was in that VIP know what it is… he said himself he didn't have people like that, even when I mentioned the one that got me in and all that… shady shit out there for real," Drake said alluding to the idea that there was some more to say but it wasn't the sort of thing people could just say. "Here's ya' beat, let's hear ya out before I tear you apart~" Tima said turning over the sounds and watching as Drake began bouncing in his seat and casually glancing towards his phone as he began the flow of words he'd already written to a new beat.

"Look, you wanna know who's in my top ten?
Me, me, me and me again
Run and tell them that it ain't pretend
No fake news, CNN
Run and tell them that I lay the pipe
All my exes still sprung
That must mean the double X's on my chest ain't the only thing hung
What did I do to deserve this?
I can tell you if you listen
The difference is you a gimmick,I earned this
Someone give me some detergent
I just came out of the mud
Wipe my sneakers on the rug
No ID's for the club
No idea where the stash is, hidden pocket for the drugs
Tell the police suck my dick like sluts
I will not budge
Nor will I trust, I am rich like Russ
I used to grab my daughter from her mothers house on 112th and Dove!"

[Bloodedge]

Though Shane didn't know the Aeons by name, Tima certainly did. He wasn't bothered at all by that; the group was so phenomenal that almost everyone in the world knew that identity. "Yeah, them. I hear a lot about 'em, but you know that's never been my thing. I seen clips of some of them characters boxin' though, shit kinda live," he said, taking a different perspective to Drake's beliefs. The notion of Aeons works being for kids was, frankly, quite a wild one in Shane's opinion. "Iono man, I think they got a lot of mature stuff in there," was Shane's only comment on the matter. Ah, but he didn't care too much about that stuff anyway. No, his primary concern was music... so he was simply waiting for the beat to drop. When it finally did, Shane's head began to bop, stopping only when he decided to sip a bit more cognac. It seemed Drake had a few decent rhymes going, but... it didn't look like a true freestyle, nor did it sound like something that would truly compete with King Don lyrically. Regardless, he could enjoy it for what it was.

The radio show 'The Usual Suspects' was one with many listeners. Among those listeners tonight was a young African-American male currently residing in Brooklyn, not too far from the station in which the show took place. He was in a recording booth already, pausing the start of a new track to hear the show. Thick, shoulder-length dreadlocks swayed as his head moved to the beat. He appeared quite pleased... but not because of Drake's rhymes. Instead, what gave him ultimate satisfaction was the mention of a daughter, and... very stupidly, a location to boot. "OOOOH! No ya' boy didn't! That's too easy mane! That's too easy! This nigga gon' get cooked!" he chanted, performing a google search on his phone the moment he heard that line about a daughter. Sadly, he wouldn't be finding any details on said search. . .

[Apollymi]

As was usually the case with the older and less interested audience, the Aeons works needed a bit of qualification. Tima knew that old heads like Uncle Shane wouldn't just watch, but his statement about boxing had her chuckling. "See, Unc, that's the beauty of the Aeons, every series got something for everyone. Boxing, normal stuff, complicated interpersonal relationships and…" she paused, Drake called it kid stuff and she just shook her head. "Let a kid watch Aeons stuff without supervision and you gone learn how much ain't for kids. There are terms among the fandom that exist to explain how much in the story is embedded in mature content," Tima managed but then there was a song going and notes to take, so she did, as Drake kept up his rhyme scheme which even Tima could admit had a nice flow to it, it still wasn't exactly the kind of thing one could be used to after ingesting heavy quantities of other lyrics. Much like Aeons works tended to leave people wanting when they took in other works of fiction.

"They tried to kill me in my dad's truck
I had a 40 in my pants tucked
You know I am from the land of Young killers, no manners
Put the purple in the Fantas, eyes red like Santa's
And now a driver pulls the van up
Now they trackin' me wit' cameras
Had to shut down the campus
All the way to Los Angeles See ya'll got me on some trash
Got me speakin' on the past
Like I wasn't on a private jet with Dan Gilbert gettin' Kyle for free at the draft
Like I wasn't shining on my XXL freshman class
Like I needed these collabs Just to get these plaques
No, I got plenty of 'em
Man I'm solo on many of 'em
Y'all know I changed rap
Live shows I changed that
Mosh pits since way back
My guitar, I play that!"

Drake was going in but when he looked around and saw nods and people just drinking and nodding their heads along. He took that as tacit approval. It made him more hype had him delivering the lines even smoother, full of information about his own life that he slipped in or lied about on the spot to embellish just a bit. He was still reading but he was starting to remember the lines with a bit more ease, and knew he'd be coming up on the best part pretty soon.

"Ya'll witnessing a rock star kissin' on a pop star, haa!
Power. I bloom, no flower
Swisher Sweet full of sour
That's a juxstaposition
Shut the fuck up and listen
Just to meet me in the present is a present
Meet me for dinner at seven, a celebration is in order
Book me a table at Beauty & Essex
I don't need the menu neither Bring me some
Yellow Tail and tequila
Used to eatTaco Bell, no flossin'
That's what the fuck I was doing in Boston
Aye, worth the wait Third album on the way, y'all know I slay
I shotgun pump, I don't pump brakes!"

[Bloodedge]

And so, Drake continued. Shane could only think that, for a freestyle, the bars he was hearing could be considered good. That would have remained the case if one couldn't see Drake's eyes trailing along the screen of his phone, clearly reading every word he spoke... or at least most of them, by Shane's approximation. Still, not everyone could be like the members of Lost Galaxy. He'd been in the game for a very long time. Shane knew some rappers weren't built or freestyles. Some had to write, memorize their lyrics, or even have some go-to bars or the sake of completing a freestyle that would otherwise lose its pace. Giving Drake the benefit of the doubt, he assumed the pink-haired male to be that sort of rapper. In due time, Shane even had his glass raised. Cognac sloshed about as he carefully avoided any spillage, but still caught a decent rhythm with the movements of his upper body.

At the same time, that man in the studio was behaving quite similarly. His movements had nothing to do with feeling the beat or enjoying the lyrics, though. No, this man was dancing in excitement even as he failed to find anything online about Drake's daughter. This man already had ample reason to hate Casper Drake as a rapper and a man. What he was doing on that radio show now, was simply... fuel to a raging flame ─ one that would be used to immolate the lesser rapper. First though, he had to make contact with the mystery figure who sent him a ton of information on Drake. A simple email read: What you got on Drake having a daughter? That the same girl here?

[Apollymi]

Uncle Shane was willing to give Drake the benefit of the doubt and just enjoy the music. Technically speaking, Tima was able to do the same, foot tapping to the beat and her head gently nodding along. Those big curls in her hair bouncing about as she seemed to be quite interested, her glass was even turned up. All the while, Drake found approval and the movement of the room going along with him, had him… ready to put down the phone for the last bit which he was so sure of he didn't need to reference the screen he'd had up in front of his face. All the way to his wrap up.

"I'm the greatest rapper I see
Since my favorite rapper banned me from Lost Galaxy
I wonder, what now?
It's the Gunner, click clack, keep going?
Look, ya'll don't gotta hear shit, ask anybody in the thick of this
If my name rings bells in them bricks, everybody know who that is
So what you hate boy, you late boy
You ain't heard about that great boy
The 5 letter name caucas' boy
Used to live right there up the way boy
Man you heard about him, said the name
Saw the iTunes and clicked to play
You liked the shit and then bought the shit
And put 'em on a playlist right next to Dre
Yo girl saw me and I signed her tits
Disappeared, you couldn't find the bitch
And your heart stopped, you know what time it is
Aye her man called me like...

Be humble...not now...
It's the Gunner... need my crown...
Gimme that!"

While Casper Drake worked through a song he'd obviously written with the intentions of firing shots at literally everyone, someone else was listening and ready to put together something else. This was a different rapper, in a booth, composing an email to his… information plug. A girl who happened to be, sitting on an airplane bound for New York right at the moment. As she was talking with one of her friends about a different problem in her life, the light up of a specific email notification made her pause. She kept listening while she read it, her brow furrowing but a smile spreading across her face at the same time. "Bloody hell, did you just send me?!"Iris questioned aloud, but immediately she shifted that laptop. Melty looked at her and she simply shook her head, "Research," she explained simply and Melty nodded and went a little quiet for her friends' concentration. Beyond that, a quick message was sent back so that person would know he wasn't being ignored. Hadn't heard about anything like that, but give me a few and I'll give you everything I can find. That was all. Her fingers began moving and she began searching America's public records systems. She looked for references it was easiest to track through the court systems, as court orders were documented things… and through that with about five minutes of extra thought she managed to find it.

[Bloodedge]

The reception to Drake's rap was anything but negative. He could, and should, take pride in that much. The Usual Suspects wasn't the kind of radio show that allowed any random person to deliver a few bars and receive a positive reception. There had to be something good, or innovative... or entertaining for other reasons. Whatever Drake thought he was, the truth had him placed as the latter option. Things would only get worse when Drake let the hype of a moment get to his head. At that point, he lowered his phone and seemed to be legitimately freestyling... or reciting from memory, not that it truly mattered. What did matter, was the context of that final set. He called out King Don in a very direct way, making clear accusations. Worse still, there were implications that he'd encountered the other musician's significant other at some point. Shane couldn't hear that bit and remain silent. "OOOHOHOH NO! NO HE DIDN'T!" he shouted, spinning around in his chair and actually spilling a bit of that cognac.

Shane's hype had suddenly grown to match that of the rapper currently working on a diss track against Drake. This alleged daughter was a total mystery, but... he luckily had a new contact that could be trusted to find the necessary information, if anyone could. There was so much material to use already, but this was something he absolutely had to include in the song. His contact didn't seem to know about the child either. Maybe it was a lie? If it wasn't, then he doubted it belonged to the same minor he already knew about in Drake's life ─ or rather, the same two minors he could officially count. Take your time. I got allllll night! he sent back.

[Apollymi]

Drake lived in the hype of his moment. By the time he was working through the end, he had quite a few things to say that many would have 'advised' him against saying. But in the moment, Uncle Shane seemed just as hype as Drake himself. So he basked in it. For Drake this was all part of the game, Get out ahead of the public outcry. Spin everything and by the time anything he said that was wrong unraveled he'd already have trended and cashed in. A little drama never hurt anyone, and it was like Drake had to worry about anything. No press is bad press… or whatever his old publicist used to say. "Yeah! Ya'll liked that, right. Got an album dropping soon, bangers with more polish than that are comin'!~" Drake claimed. Willing to stand on what he just said. "That's wild!~" Tima said, but that was a general response. "Careful… people have gotten shot over less," Tima wrapped up. "Tell him, Unc…" Tima pointed out not even the worst of the things said by Drake but just the one that she knew would sting to almost anyone. She'd keep to herself the fact that Drake hadn't proved he wasn't just someone's bitter ex, but she'd say he was at least, good for the business of attracting viewers and listeners. Tima could feel in her soul the influx of watches coming to her podcast later.

Speaking of those in the know the rapper still in the booth was looking for information from the one person who could give it. Iris, used the online ID PrismIQ42 to drop knowledge on people all over the world. And… in this case she would eventually have an entire list of information for this particular man. Her search took her for the name of Casper Kelly Drake, past his more recent legal troubles with Nikki and straight into his past. She found his name on a Child Support Court Order, with a case, that included mandatory DNA testing. A child, young girl, aged 4 currently and a bit more research soon after would lead down a trail which let Iris know one more thing, that the girl's mother was only currently 21, which was a pretty damning fact. 'He's a proper pedo. That girl's mother is the same age as Nik. We also didn't know he had a kid… there is also the underage girl he is currently still dating. He's serial.' Iris decided. Perhaps she'd waited too long, looking at it now, she probably should have thrown a bomb on the relationship with Nikki much sooner, as Drake seemed to be an actual problematic individual. Iris organized the folder and dropped it to several different places. Once to the rapper in question with a note. I don't need all night. Can't wait to hear what you come up with. Another to Victoria Sinclair, with all necessary meta-data to prove all of this information was a matter of public record. And also an addendum added to Donnie's files, because she couldn't not tell him important information too. Though that last one was put on a timer, she didn't want anyone popping a lid before they were settled wherever they were going today. Overall it took only a few minutes to scan for relevant data and compile it... which was still more time than it had taken Drake to out himself, which was surprising, considering how much of his life was easily readable online.