☆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]

"Greg? Where are you going?" Doctor asks. Not that Doctor cares that much with the love just taken from his soul but wanderers could be a nuisance in these situations. "In case you haven't noticed this isn't a very friendly basement."

[panspermia]

"Does it matter...?" He mutters it, to himself more than to Doctor. His breath catches in his throat, and he bangs a fist against the wall, raising his voice. "Do you seriously think any of it matters?!"

Ohhh jeez that hurt his hand. Pain. Pain and anger. He could feel that. He could feel something.

[trustme]

"Temper, temper," Doctor says raising a hand. "You won't feel any better if you break your hand. Juno could be back any minute demanding another performance. Your hands and your guitar will be needed if that's the case."

[panspermia]

"That doesn't--I don't--" Greg pulls at his hair with his good hand, teeth grinding. Juno. Juno might come back. For some reason, that helps him find a foodhold. He gulps at air, clutching his hand close. "We screwed up. She doesn't have any more use for us."

[trustme]

Doctor laughs; somehow his now cold soul finds Greg's rush to despair amusing. "She didn't say a word to us about how we did. If anyone is in trouble I'd guess it's Ivan. If she's dissatisfied, I certainly won't be accepting rejection from her. After all I've done for Virgo! And you've done a lot too haven't you? The leader of your band."

[panspermia]

That laugh makes him cringe. Even with the accompanying praise, he's sure it's meant to mock him. He is pretty pathetic, after all. "Band leader. Like that means jack. What kind of good is pulling around some strings supposed to do, huh? We're a bunch of jokes."

[trustme]

"Sometimes you have to crawl around in the mud before you can climb to the top," Doctor says, wagging a finger. "Blanche himself would appreciate that, what with his reputation. You seem to have lost your vision Greg. Where's your usual enthusiasm now?"

[panspermia]

"I dunno, Doc!" Greg throws his hands up in the air. He can't deal with an identity crisis and Doctor's smarm at the same time. "Gone off with the rest of my fucks. Just flown right the hell away. What's your diagnosis, huh, smart guy?!"

[trustme]

Very well.

"You feel unworthy of your success at Virgo. You're labeling our performance just now as a test and assuming you failed it so you have an excuse to throw your hands up," he says and points at Greg's literally raised hands. "An inferiority complex perhaps. You could do with some support and guidance right now." If it isn't clear immediately, Doctor has one person in mind: himself.

[panspermia]

Greg flinches, and lowers his hands. He isn't exactly being subtle right now, he knows, but he's already too vulnerable to feel anything but attacked by getting read so easily.

"Damn it. What's going on, I'm so..." Looking away from Doctor, Greg rubs a palm at his eye. He doesn't expect Doctor to make him feel anything but worse, to know anything more than he does, or to really be of any help at all. They're all in the same, sinking boat here. Still, he's too tired to argue. If he can hear someone else talk, it might drown out the echoes. "Sure, therapize me, whatever the heck you want, it'll be good for a laugh."

[trustme]

Greg's behavior was out of character even if he really did feel unworthy of success. When Doctor reconsidered it, it was unnatural that Greg's mood had swung so quickly from excitement and optimism to complete despair. Then again Ivan was the first to cause a scene- also odd. Illogical.

"This entire crowd could use therapy," Doctor says, waving his hand out towards the room. "But a moment ago they were all acting normally. They- We changed for some reason." Honestly he was acting different too wasn't he?

"Greg, I'm starting to think we should ignore our current emotions and focus on finding a way out of here."

[panspermia]

A rough little wheeze of a laugh chokes out of him. "You think I'm braindead, Doc? This--this sort of thing, it doesn't just happen! I'm not supposed to feel--feel like--"

He pulls at his hair again, as if it'll help him grasp the words. Too much is going on both inside and out, he can't process both at once. He wants to stay angry, because it's better than being scared, but all he can think to be angry about is how scared he is.

"Whatever happened, we don't know what it is. It could happen again, if we screw around." His face is hidden behind fistfuls of hair, and his breathing is erratic. "It could do worse. I don't--I can't. I won't."

[trustme]

"If we simply sit around we won't find any answers! You want to stop feeling this way don't you? Use your logic instead of your emotions!" he shouts.

Doctor stops himself and closes his mouth tightly. He ducks his head an rubs his temples. "When did I become so nasty?" he murmurs under his breath to himself. Really, when? "But I have to know what's going on."

"Ivan's outburst- did you feel normal up until that point?" he asks in a much more regular tone.

[panspermia]

Greg sucks his breath in through gritted teeth. "As if any of this makes any sort of logic." Everything they knew is gone out the window. "You're just trying to make yourself feel big, instead of how small you know you are."

He leans against the wall, glaring into the middle distance and rubbing at his hand. "Sure, maybe." He doesn't want to think about this; remembering how he felt before just makes everything ache. "Everything was already a mess before then, but I guess it probably went off the rails when he acted up."

[trustme]

"Believe it or not, not all of us magically lost their confidence just now. I am a perfectly sized person, thank you." Doctor huffs.

He snaps his fingers and points at Greg once he receives the confirmation he was digging for. "It's like Ivan's bad mood was infectious. But Juno dragged him away almost immediately. It didn't get a chance to spread the way a grouchy teacher makes an entire class miserable. That leaves one other possibility: Ivan was simply the first of us to lose their cool. All our moods changed during the performance. It might have even been because of the performance."

[panspermia]

Greg ought to win the gold medal in gymnastics, with how hard he rolls his eyes. Doctor can talk as big as he wants. It won't make any of them more than the worthless, replaceable pawns they are.

It does make sense, though, what with the weird blue lights and all... the creepy chanting Juno had been up to... but it still doesn't provide much in the way of a solution. Greg narrows his eyes. "You getting to a point, or am I just here to listen to you talk, man?"

[trustme]

It was at least half true that Greg was there just to listen.

"It isn't obvious? -Get taken to creepy unknown basement, get commanded to play in a very specific way, get emotionally and mentally torn apart by playing as instructed, get locked in. Juno, no- Blanche himself likely knows exactly what's going on right now! They're the ones who put us here! They might have wanted this to happen!"

[panspermia]

There's a stretch of a few seconds while Greg waits, just to make sure Doctor's done showing off how smart he is, before baring his teeth in something akin to a grin.

"Oh. I gotcha. Big evil corporation trying to control us, with their nefarious sellout music!" He waves his arms for emphasis. "It's up to this ragtag team of hip young musicians to save the day, with the power of friendship and rock and roll! Oh boy!"

[trustme]

Doctor's intense energy diffuses into deadpan in less than a second. "I don't see why I bother." He says to himself without blinking. "Fine. I should expect skepticism. It's a surreal suggestion. But you remember while you laugh it off: this entire event has been unnatural. There are no normal explanations."

Doctor folds his arms. "I was going to ask you to keep an eye out for Juno while I explore the other rooms. But you probably don't want to participate in my witch hunt." He turns to leave.

[panspermia]

Less that it's out of the realm of possibility, more that Greg finds it absurd that Doctor thinks they can do anything by ~banding together~. He's free to storm off as huffily as he sees fit; Greg sends him off with a mocking salute.

"Sorry, Doc. Suppose you'll just need to find someone else to be your plucky sidekick. Good luck finding someone willing to coo over your brilliant deductions."