☆TRACK III: THE STREETS ARE EMPTY

[interdimanagers]

Who: Drafted Virgo Members
What: Juno makes everyone do a seance.
When: October 21st-22nd.
Where: The basement of the Virgo residential tower.
Warnings: Ghosts, apparently.

“You can't shake the feeling. Be quiet not one sound. But the wind seems to speak, Something's here in the room with me.” ☆THE STREETS ARE EMPTY Juno arrives without notice. In fact, you can’t even really remember seeing her approach. One moment you’re doing your business, and the next she is telling you that you have to come down to the basement with her, in order to complete a “task” you’ve been assigned. This sort of thing would seem preposterous to a normal person, but even if you don’t realize it, you aren’t one. As Mr Blanche’s personal assistant and sometimes second in command, her word seems to carry almost as much weight as his does. You don’t really have any choice but to agree. “Bring whatever instrument you know best,” she says. “You’ll need it.” She snaps up every one of you that she sees in her initial sweep, and soon she has a whole pack of Virgo newbies following her down to the lowest floors of the residential tower. It feels weird, but it’s like you can’t quite articulate why. No one else seems to be able to either. Most of the lights are turned off on those lower floors, but it’s easy to tell it’s a place you’ve never been before. It’s strangely...hospital like, down there, in both aesthetic and a sense of sterility. Maybe some kind of laboratory setting? Which seems like a super weird thing to be in the basement of an apartment building, but this is yet another thing you can’t quite bring yourself to ask about. Juno leave most of the lights off, except for a few central features. The ambience is dim and cold. She tells you not to stray, and you don’t. The thought of going against her becomes somehow repulsive, like you don’t even want to think about it too long. You try not to think about your surrounding too hard, either. She lines you all up, and then after some strangely intense eyeballing, she starts breaking you up into some incredibly lopsided groups that seem to have nothing to do with your actual bands. In the end, she looks disappointed with resulting teams, but carries on regardless. Each “group” is given some complexly timed sheet music and a funny looking mobile speaker. She says that you have a half hour to compose a group piece to play alongside the sheet music , and that it needs to be good. Then, she wanders off to start pacing the basement in a strangely arcane series of movements, and leaves you all to it. Only among your peers do you start feeling like you can voice any of your previously stowed concerns, but make sure Juno doesn’t overhear you – occasionally she’ll come by to bluntly critique anyone who is performing inadequately. You feel lucky that she doesn’t have a whip with her, because you’re almost certain that she’d use it without much remorse. ☆THE SEANCE The performance is about as awkward as you’d expect, given the set up. The four groups are set up so that they’re facing each other, as if standing at the corner of a square. Each speaker is set up in the center of its group, and the precisely timed electronic beat that plays from them is what you’re supposed to perform along to. Odds are that you do your level best, but, outside of your control...something goes wrong. “Have you ever felt... Something evil, Lurking around? The moon is full, The streets are empty. Shadows cover the town.”

Comments

[trustme]

What an animal. Doctor could roll his eyes but he didn't. Instead he approaches Krieg, staying several feet away to be safe, and leans against the wall. The moment he finds a pause in Krieg's yells, he speaks in a low voice.

"You should consider saving your energy for when you're face to face with her. Though you know, Juno does what she does for Blanche. He deserves some of your anger as well."

All the while, Doctor makes note of their situation. How to avoid being struck if Krieg turns against him, what the others in the room are doing, calculating it all to make sure he has the upper hand.

[pecsonpecs]

Thankfully, the Doc has nothing to worry about. He, and the rest of these people, are the victims of being left behind--his cohorts. Even though he can feel nothing but rage right now, he's coherent enough to know that they're not the enemy.

And he brings up a good point, too. Enough of a point to quell some of Krieg's thrashing as he thinks it over. He hadn't made the connection with Blanche, since he was nowhere to be seen during this entire endeavor, but...he's right. Chances are that this was all Juno's idea was very slim.

"Then there will be enough of a feast to go around for everyone," he growls--but at least he's leaving the door alone for now.

[trustme]

"What would a music label benefit from locking its new promising talent in a basement?" Doctor wonders aloud. "One with gurneys too." He wrinkles his nose. The equipment he had seen while wandering the halls was all too realistic to be a poor tasting prank. "How about... brainwashing? Juno and Blanche would certainly deserve punishment for that."

[pecsonpecs]

Krieg tilts his head to the side at a visually uncomfortable angle as the Doctor monologues. The energy hasn't quite left him; though right now it only manifests as labored, heavy breathing.

The word punishment gets him wound up again.

"Wash them before you fry them and serve it to their families!"

[trustme]

"We are all new to the company. It would be a great loss to Virgo if their up and coming talent left them for another label, especially Pride. An underground hallway lined with rooms that look like they were meant for a hospital? Whatever could they have used these rooms for in the past to those who came before us?"

[pecsonpecs]

"This is not where we belong."

Well, yes. Obviously. But there's something about the Doctor's words that urges that unconscious thought to the surface without any actual thought behind it.

"Less soliloquy, more violence," he growls.

[trustme]

"The door Juno disappeared behind won't open but the other doors in the hallway might not be as strong. If you must tackle something, you could try the next locked door. Might find some answers if we open more rooms," Doctor suggests with a small shrug. He isn't about to get his hopes up that Krieg can knock them all open but you never know.

[pecsonpecs]

"I don't want answers! I want to CHOKE THE FEATHER-WEARER until I can count the veins in her forehead!"

He's right--you never know. They say that bringing a horse to the water is easier than making it drink, but it might actually be the opposite for once. The trick is all in getting Krieg's attention pointed in the right direction and observing what havoc will follow.

[trustme]

Doctor looks up and down the hallway again. Nothing but doors and stretchers for the most part- and a few security pads locking said doors. "Well..." he says, "Since Juno and Blanche aren't here you could wreck some of their stuff."

He points over his shoulder at the closest stretcher. "I know I don't want them tying me up to one of those."

[pecsonpecs]

Krieg gives the stretcher a hard, considerate glance. If it were alive, it probably would be intimidated by the maddened predator-like stare, and it would be rightfully so.

He approaches the stretcher and takes it by the corners, wheeling it over to the door and, taking a moment to position himself, roars as he swings it at the door. It's an awful noise to listen to in this acoustic-poor room, and all it really does is leave a nasty set of dings in both the door and the gurney's frame.

[trustme]

"Almost," Doctor comments. Krieg was just as strong as he looked, clearly. "The doors are thicker than they look aren't they?" He points out the security keypad near the dented door. "I'd imagine the doors can be unlocked if the security is put out."