Harmony, Disharmony, Nudity

The next two weeks are filled with practice; the good news is that Tiana's right: each of you has an utterly fantastic voice. Hers has that high-energy teen crush thing going, yours is solid punk neo-grunge, Olivia might have inherited her voice from Natalie Cole, Maureen has a dramatic country lilt with a hint of a twang, and Jess's high-pitched trill oozes horror-movie seduction. But that's the problem; they don't work together. Every attempt to sing as a group has ended up sounding like a car wreck, unless Maureen's involved in which case it's more like demolition derby.

The good news is on the instrument front; each and every one of you is a natural at any instrument you pick up, reaching a passable level of skill in just a few hours of playing. There are a few standouts, too: Olivia can actually carry the melody on drums, Tiana's a real-life guitar hero, and you totally rock the bass. If Maureen and Jess are prodigies, you haven't found the instruments yet.

You're the one who came up with the brilliant idea. If you can't sing as a group, each girl can sing individually while the others back her up; you'd be a five-girl music festival! It would be risky since your musical styles are just about totally incompatible, but you practice anyway and work out a fifteen-minute set to test the concept. The only issue you have is the costume changes; you had to do jump cuts in your test video but there has to be a better way. In fact, that's the one huge stumbling block before trying a live show.

"Face it," says Jess, "there's no way we can change costumes fast enough that they don't interrupt the music."

Tiana replies, "Then all we have to do is make them part of the show."

"What, strip to our undies on stage?" says Maureen, "That would be a totally different type of show."

"We could sing in the nude," suggests Tiana. The looks tell her that's not going to happen.

"Maybe we could put a change booth on stage and step through it; we'd need quick-change clothes, though." That's your contribution.

"How about we douse the lights and change in the dark?" says Jess.

"There's a reason I don't dress in the dark," says Maureen, "I'd probably end up with my pants on backwards and my ass sticking out the front."

After the laughing dies down, Olivia looks up from the thoughtful trance she's been in the whole time. "I think I have something," she says. "A way where we can change clothes onstage and not actually flash everyone." She looks around. "Remember that fabric I developed two years ago, the translucent stuff that blends to match your skin colour?"

"The stuff we said we wouldn't be caught dead wearing?" Adds Maureen.

"Yeah, that's it. I've been wearing a bra and panties made of it for about a year now. See?"

Olivia sloughs off her peasant dress and stands before you in the nude. Except that you can't see her nipples or her pubes, just flesh-tone with a slight darkening where the 'highlights' would be. You can't even see the lines where the garments end.

"Would you wear those on stage?"