MidReal Story

Neon Melodies

Shanni “essV” Sullivan

Jul 16

Scenario:Lady hero edm artist e$$V

Create my version of this story

Lady hero edm artist e$$V

Vanessa "e$$V" Rodriguez

aspiring and later famous EDM artist, friends with backup dancers and a producer, bold with blue hair, ambitious and conflicted.

Max "Mixmaster" Thompson

music producer and e$$V's mentor, collaborates closely with e$$V, tall with a signature fedora, wise and protective.

Lily Chen

backup dancer and close friend to e$$V, supportive of e$$V but has her own dreams too, petite with vibrant tattoos, spirited and independent.

Chapter 1

I’m a small-town girl with big dreams.

I’ve always known I was meant for something more, and I’ve spent my entire life working toward that goal.

When I was in high school, I’d spend hours in my bedroom mixing music on my computer, and when I got to college, I started DJing at local bars and clubs.

It wasn’t long before I had a following of my own, and when the biggest EDM festival in the country announced they were holding a competition to find the next big thing, I knew it was my time to shine.

I entered the contest under the name e$$V, and after weeks of fierce competition, I won first place.

A chance to play at EDC, along with a record deal with MixNation Records and legendary producer Max "Mixmaster" Thompson as my mentor.

My life would never be the same… from Vanessa "e$$V" Rodriguez, of course!When I first started out, I was just a college kid playing music for my friends at local house parties in Gainesville, Florida.

It’s not New York or LA, but we do have some pretty sick clubs here: Simon’s, The Vault … The Swamp.

I played just about anywhere that would let me—practicing my craft, building a following one sweaty dance floor at a time.

My friends were some of my biggest fans back then, but it didn’t take long before word got around and people who weren’t at our parties started showing up to hear me play. I still remember the first time I played Gator City.

It was one of the biggest venues in Gainesville and one that I’d always aspired to play at.

I couldn’t believe they’d booked me to do an opening set on a Friday night—it felt like such a huge opportunity.

But by that point, just about anything seemed possible.

In those early years, while I was working my ass off trying to make a name for myself in this crazy industry, Lily Chen was right there beside me.

Lily wasn’t just my best friend—she was my backup dancer, my confidant, and the person who believed in me when things got tough.

And in those days, there were plenty of moments that felt tough as hell.

You’d think that after signing with MixNation Records, the work would be over—that all I would have to do is show up in the studio, lay down some new tracks every now and then, and my career would take off from there.

But it doesn’t really work like that in this industry—especially when you’re just starting out like I was back then.

I still had to hustle; Max made sure of it.

Yeah, he was my boss now—but more than that, he was like a big brother or even a father figure to me at times.

I’d known him for years before signing with MixNation, but once he became my mentor, we got to know each other on a whole new level.

Our relationship went from acquaintances to close friends almost overnight, and now he was someone I could turn to with anything—whether it was music-related or not.

He’s always been there for me, offering advice or just lending an ear when I needed it—and I can’t imagine where I’d be without him in my life.

MixNation Records had provided me with studio space so that I could work on and record my tracks at any time of day or night—which was exactly what I needed to keep from going crazy.

My tracks are a mix of house, trance, and progressive EDM; I like to think they capture the energy and excitement of a live set when I’m playing for a crowd.

I have complete artistic freedom when it comes to the music I produce, which is something I’ll always be thankful for.

When you’re just starting out in this industry, it’s so important to have people around you who believe in you—and who are willing to give you the chance to find yourself as an artist.

MixNation isn’t about churning out hits or jumping on the bandwagon of whatever’s popular right now—they’re about developing artists and allowing them the space they need to grow into their full potential.

And I’ve definitely grown since my early days in this business.

It’s not easy finding a balance between being an artist and being marketable—and over the past few years, as electronic dance music has exploded into the mainstream, it’s been even more difficult.

When I first started performing under my e$$V alter ego, one of the reasons I chose to change my name was because I thought it would help me get noticed by more people—and it did.

I was just Vanessa Rodriguez back then, a girl from Florida with big dreams and a love for dance music that ran deep in her veins.

But there were hundreds, thousands of girls like me out there—all fighting for their shot at fame—and with so much competition, I knew it would take something special to make me stand out from all those other aspiring DJs and producers.

So I decided to reinvent myself, or at least part of me.

I dyed my hair blue—something that made me easily recognizable on flyers and posters—and I became e$$V: brash, bold, unapologetic.

It was a persona that I could slip into whenever I went onstage, giving me the confidence I needed to perform in front of thousands of people—but it wasn’t necessarily who I was offstage.

And that was fine with me at first; it was fun to pretend to be someone else for a while.

But as time went on and e$$V started to become more successful, I realized how much that blue hair had really changed my life—how much of myself I’d sacrificed at the altar of fame and fortune.

I’d always loved my natural hair color (ash-blonde with a hint of red) and it had been part of who I was for as long as I could remember.

Losing that felt like losing an important piece of myself…and at times, I wondered if it had all been worth it."I’d made a lot of sacrifices along the way—including my natural hair color."

Chapter 2

Staring at my reflection in the dressing room mirror, I found myself obsessing over my hair color again—wondering if it was really "blue" enough, or if my makeup was too heavy.

I did this pretty much every night before going onstage, even though it never made me feel any better about myself.

Despite everything I’d accomplished, self-doubt still dogged me like a shadow—and some days, it felt like that shadow was growing longer and darker with each passing minute.

I wasn’t sure if it was just the pressure of being famous—or maybe something else entirely.

But lately, nothing seemed to make me happy; not even music—which had always been my escape from reality.

When I first started out as a DJ, music was everything to me—I’d spend hours locked away in my bedroom, mixing tracks and experimenting with new sounds until the early hours of morning.

It didn’t matter that I didn’t have any fans—or any friends outside of Lily—it just made me happy to create something that was uniquely mine.

And when people finally did start to notice me and my music, it was an amazing feeling; there’s really nothing else like it in the world.

But somewhere along the way, everything changed—my music career had taken off, but other parts of my life seemed to be falling apart at an alarming rate.

I still loved being onstage and performing for my fans—but I felt like I was losing touch with the person I’d been before all this madness began.

And it wasn’t just my music that was changing; my relationship with Max had evolved as well.

He’d started out as my mentor, but over the years we’d become close—so close that he felt more like a brother than a boss or friend.

We were family now, in every sense of the word…which only made things more complicated.

This tour was supposed to be a new beginning for us: a chance to rediscover the magic that had brought us together in the first place.

Instead of winning them over with something new and exciting, I’d done just the opposite—and now there were rumors circulating that Max had pressured me into doing this collaboration, to make me more marketable on the global stage.

Both of us denied it, of course—but once those kinds of whispers start to spread, they’re impossible to control.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, there were rumors flying around about how MixNation wanted me to move to Los Angeles full-time after the tour ended so I could start working on my next album.

I didn’t want to do it—I already had a home in Miami that I loved, and I didn’t see why it would be such a big deal if I stayed put for a while longer.

I’d built my career here from the ground up; it felt like a betrayal to abandon the city—and all my fans—just when things were really starting to take off for me."But Max wouldn’t back down, and neither would MixNation."

They kept insisting that LA was where I needed to be if I wanted to make it big—and after a while, they started making some pretty convincing arguments.

To top it all off, there was still no sign of our new single getting released: we’d recorded it months ago and shot a music video that cost millions of dollars to produce—but as far as I knew, we didn’t have any plans to put it out anytime soon.

I had plenty of other tracks that could be used as singles in the meantime, but Max thought they weren’t good enough—he kept telling me that we needed something fresh and exciting to share with my fans before they lost interest.

It wasn’t an unreasonable request; most of them had been waiting forever to hear new music from me.

But at the same time, I didn’t want to rush things or compromise on my sound just because everyone else thought it was cool.

I had to find a way to strike a balance between what I wanted and what everyone else expected from me—otherwise things were never going to work out the way I’d always dreamed they would.

But as time passed and the pressure continued to build, doubts crept into my mind: maybe I should listen to them after all…maybe I really did need to change in order to succeed in this crazy world of ours.

We were only a few weeks into our tour when we hit Lollapalooza Chicago—the biggest music festival in the city.

I couldn’t wait to take the stage and show everyone what I could do; it felt like my whole career had been leading up to this moment…but when it finally arrived, everything fell apart.

I couldn’t believe what had just happened: I’d been booed off stage at one of the most famous festivals in the country.

It was every artist’s worst nightmare—and now it was my reality.

For a moment, I just stood there in shock as the crowd continued to chant for me: "We want more! We want more!" But when I finally found the courage to face them again, their reaction was even worse than before—they were furious that I’d come back out after embarrassing myself so badly in front of everyone.

I took a deep breath and addressed the sea of fans in front of me, doing my best to stay calm even though I was shaking with fear on the inside.

"Hey guys," I said quietly, trying to make myself heard over the noise.

"I know that wasn’t what you wanted to hear…"

The crowd erupted in boos and hisses, and I could feel my face turning bright red.

"It’s not what we wanted!" someone shouted from the audience.

"We came here for real music—not some stupid pop crap!"

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could say anything, another voice cut through the air:

"Play something good!"

And then, one by one, they all turned their backs on me—and kept chanting until MixNation’s road crew came out to clear the stage for the next act.

I could barely stand up as they led me back to our trailer; it felt like my whole world was falling apart around me.

I never should’ve come here in the first place—not when I still had so much work left to do on myself.

I dropped down into a chair and buried my head in my hands, tears streaming down my face.

What was wrong with me?

Why couldn’t I be the artist that everyone wanted me to be?

But no matter how hard I tried, nothing seemed to work: every time I thought that things were finally going well, something would go wrong—and then everything would fall apart again.

And when that happened, there was only one thing left for me to do: run away.

I didn’t know where I was going or what would happen next—but at that moment, nothing else mattered except escaping from all my problems and starting over fresh.

Chapter 3

I jumped when someone spoke up behind me; without thinking, I whirled around to see a stranger standing there, watching me with a strange expression on his face.

"Who are you?"

I demanded, trying to keep my voice steady even though I was still spooked from before.

"What do you want?"

But as soon as he started to speak again, it all came rushing back: the embarrassing performance at Lollapalooza, and all the other mistakes that had led us here today.

And this time, I wasn’t going to stand for it—not one more second.

"You son of a bitch," I said through gritted teeth as I sprang to my feet.

"I knew it was too good to be true!"

The man raised an eyebrow at me but didn’t say anything; he just stood there calmly, waiting for an explanation.

"Are you crazy?" he finally asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"What’s gotten into you?"

"I’m not crazy," I snapped back at him.

"Max, you’re sabotaging my entire career—and I won’t let you get away with it!"

His expression darkened at that, but he still managed to keep his cool; even so, it was clear that my words had cut him deeply.

"e$$V," he said wearily.

"I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?

Why are you so determined to push me away?"

I scowled at him; "You mean besides the fact that you’ve already pushed me out?" "I haven’t pushed you out of anything," he insisted.

"But if you don’t start cooperating with us, then maybe we’ll have no choice but to drop you."

I glared at him; "You wouldn’t dare," I insisted.

"You can’t drop me—I’m your biggest star!"

"And you could be even bigger if you’d just listen to us," he countered.

"e$$V, we believe in your talent—but we don’t think that you’re making the most of it. If you would just give us a chance to show you what we have planned for your music, then maybe things wouldn’t be so difficult between us."

I snorted derisively; "Oh please. You don’t care about my music—you only care about yourselves. And since there’s no way in hell that I’m going to let you change me into something that I’m not, then maybe it’s time we went our separate ways."

With that, his face fell—and without thinking, he lashed out at me with his hand.

I was so surprised by his reaction that I couldn’t move out of the way in time; before I knew it, his fingers were wrapped around my wrist—and the next thing I knew, they were wrapped around my throat as well.

"You stupid little bitch!" he roared as he slammed me up against the wall behind us.

"Don’t ever talk to me like that again—or else!"

As I did so, I found myself looking up into Max’s dark eyes—only to realize that they were no longer filled with anger.

Instead, they were filled with a mix of desire and regret—almost as if he was about to kiss me.

This can’t be happening," I muttered.

But even as I said those words, I couldn’t deny that there was something different about my mentor’s behavior; he wasn’t acting like himself at all.

In fact… he was acting like someone else entirely.

With that thought in mind, I couldn’t help but smile; maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

After all, it had been a long time since either of us had gotten laid—and now that our relationship was on the rocks, maybe we could just put our differences aside and enjoy each other for once.

My smile only seemed to encourage him; without another word, Max leaned forward and wrapped his arms around my body as he pulled me into a tight embrace.

For a moment, we just stood there in silence—our faces only inches apart as we tried to process what was happening between us.

And then… I felt something that I never expected to feel at this moment: desire.

As I looked up into Max’s eyes once again, I realized that he wasn’t just my boss—he was also a man.

A man who wanted me as much as I wanted him.

And even though we shouldn’t be doing this—not here, not now—I couldn’t deny that the thought of being with him was turning me on more than anything else ever could.

"Max," I said softly as I leaned up and pressed my lips against his.

He didn’t respond to my words; instead, he just kept staring at me with those dark eyes of his as he tried to process what was happening between us.

For a moment, it seemed like he was about to push me away—but then he let out a sigh and pulled me closer as he wrapped his arms around my body and kissed me back.

I could tell that he was just as turned on by this as I was; as our tongues met in the middle of our mouths, he let out a soft moan as he tightened his grip on my body.

And even though we both knew that this was wrong… neither of us could stop ourselves from giving in to the passion that we felt for each other in this moment.

When Vanessa stepped up and pressed her lips against mine, I couldn’t help but kiss her back.

"I want you now.

Please… tell me that you feel the same way about me."

At first, I didn't respond; instead, I just stared at him in silence as my mind tried to process what had just happened between us.

This didn't feel real—it felt like some kind of dream that I would wake up from any moment now.

How could this be happening?

Just an hour ago, Max and I were fighting each other—and yet here we were now: wrapped up in each other's arms as we shared a kiss that we'd both wanted for so long.

I knew that this was wrong—but it felt so right at the same time.

For years now, I'd been trying to ignore the feelings that I had for him—I told myself over and over again that nothing could ever happen between us because he was my boss and my mentor.

But as I stood there in his arms and felt the heat of his body against mine… I couldn't deny that I wanted him more than anything else in the world right now.

And even though I knew that this was going to be complicated… how could I say no to someone who made me feel this good?

As soon as our tongues met in the middle of our mouths, she let out a soft moan as she wrapped her arms around my body and pulled me closer to her.

And even though we’d only just shared our first kiss… I already knew that there was something special between us.

She wasn’t just another pretty girl—she was an incredibly talented artist who always managed to surprise me with every new track she released.

And even though I’d always tried my best to keep things professional between us… I couldn’t deny that there was always something more between us.

She wasn’t just my protégé—she was also my friend and the woman that I’d secretly been in love with for years now.

"I want you too," I said softly as I leaned down and pressed my lips against hers once again.

"For so long… all I’ve wanted was to be with you. And even though we shouldn’t be doing this right now"—I paused for a moment and let out a sigh—"I can’t help but give in to these feelings that I have for you." "Max," Vanessa said softly as she leaned up and wrapped her arms around my neck.

Without another word, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed me back; as soon as our lips met once again, it didn’t take long for things to heat up between us.

As soon as Vanessa stepped up and pressed her lips against mine, I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around her body and pull her closer to me.

And even though we’d never done anything like this before… it felt right somehow.

Chapter 4

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