interstellar5555 | 002 ✽ Come back! Even as a shadow, even as a dream

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002 ✽ Come back! Even as a shadow, even as a dream

Who: Everyone stuck in Virgo HQ
What: This happened, and now we're all stuck here.
When: Nov. 1 - 5
Where: Virgo HQ
Warnings: Honor system, I'm trusting everyone to put warning in the subject lines if it comes up in their threads!

So.

Press events? Not happening. Concerts? Cancelled. Going out at all? N o p e.

Everyone- well every newbie- is ball and chained to Virgo Entertainment's headquarters for the time being. What's the emergency? No one knows, but you're all stuck here regardless.

> What will you do?

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[There's a small rap at the door, before Greg peers in, awkwardly balancing a tray of tea.]

Hey--you awake?

[It had taken a lot to get allowed in. Angel had fixed Greg with a lot of suspicious and doubting glares, he'd had to use some of his most disarming smiles to get in the door--not due to charming her, but mostly to get her exasperated enough into deciding he wasn't worth blocking. He had an important delivery to make, after all.]

Oh- hello, Greg. Don't worry, I'm awake.

[Really, she thinks it's just a little bit of overreacting on her manager's part but at the same time she supposes she can't blame Angel. It would have been a nasty fall if Krieg hadn't been there.]

[It's just that she doesn't have any interest in sleeping the rest of this lockdown away, so she's been trying to distract herself with writing and bed rest. Having a visitor- especially Greg- makes her smile over to the doorway.]

Glad to see you're looking better than the rumors.

[He's joking, but when someone collapses it pays to play it safe. Cutting out visitors, however, is something Greg just can't see the advantage of.

He sidles in, returning her smile and carrying the tray over to her bedside, an overlarge bag of various tea boxes hung over his elbow.]

Wanted to get you something, like you're always making for us. But, I'm not... much of a cook, so.

Oh, you know rumors. I'm amazed someone didn't panic and start arranging my funeral! It was just a little swoon.

[She laughs a bit into her hand as she says it, and doesn't mention what she'd mentioned to Krieg in that moment of bewildered blurry awakening. That she'd felt like she was dying.]

[No one needs to know about that. With what's happened recently, she's certain of this.]

[Still, she doesn't hide how she's touched by the gifts of tea.]

Oh, Greg, you're sweet... Thank you so much. Would you like to sit down? Since you made it past Angel and everything, ha.

[Krieg hadn't exactly made it sound like a small thing, but Greg isn't here to pry or mother her. He's here to be decent company.]

If I'm not bothering you, or anything. I thought she might not be providing you with a lot of good conversation, either.

[He takes a seat, and rifles through the bag.]

Umm, I wanted to get your favorite kind, but... I didn't know what it was. So I just got a bunch. There's uh, some ginger, and lemon, and roy-boss, and... whoops. That doesn't go in there.

[Oh goodness. How did this ukulele end up under all those boxes of tea, where a manager couldn't be bothered to check.]

That's definitely not to your taste, my mistake.

Thanks to Ivan, I've grown to love all sorts, so I can promise you nothing will go to waste.

[Most of it is Japanese brands of tea, true, but she's an open minded kind of woman. At the ukulele's appearance, she lights up with a grin. Oh, Greg. That kind of cleverness is right at her own heart.]

Oh, I don't know. I wouldn't mind giving it a try, since it's already in with the batch.

[Greg peers at the door, before fixing Luce with a bright smile. He crooks the ukulele in his arms, and gives it a few tweaks to check if it's in tune.]

There's nothing like some jam with tea...

[He gives the strings a strum, before diving in to playing with earnest.]

Refreshment with a melody
So take a drink while I keep in sync

I'll serenade the Lady Bass
To keep a smile on your face
So take a drink while I keep in sync

[It's hard not to laugh at the delightful song Greg plays for her, but she's definitely smiling all throughout it as she relaxes. When he's finally done, she places her cup down and gives him some (quiet) applause.]

I couldn't ask for a better performance to cheer me up after everything that's happened lately.

[ He grins back at her, setting the ukulele down for the time being. ]

It's the least I could manage. Everything that's happened lately, I figured we could all use something a little more upbeat.

So does 'everything' include...

[She taps beneath one of her own eyes, talking about his little... facial rearrangement.]

[His grin strains a little. Maybe more than a little.]

Ehhh. Yeah... guess I couldn't keep out of the label drama, after all.

Label- Greg! You got into a fight with someone from Pride?

[She'd expect it out of some other people, but Greg Universe? Never.]

[The grin strains to the point of looking more like bared teeth.]

It wasn't much of a fight.

[He looks away. He knew someone would ask about it eventually, but he still hadn't figured out how to say what had happened.]

It didn't have anything to do with Pride or Virgo, really. I saw something happening, I tried to get in the middle of it. It didn't work out.

[Sounds like it's time for a Mom session. She leans over, carefully setting one hand on top of his.]

Do you want to talk about it...?

[There's a nagging feeling, for just a moment, that he ought to keep it to himself. It's weak, however, and this is too important.]

Tiger... I ran into him on the street, the other night. He was trying to get away from his manager.

Tiger, really? What was his manager doing?

[If it involves Greg Universe of all people getting a black eye, she can only figure it was something horrible.]

She hit him.

[Greg is tempted to simply leave it at that. It's the part that keeps replaying in his mind, details and reasoning lost to anger and regret. But Luce deserves the rest. ]

I guess he ran out on some press thing. When she found him with me, she was ready to drag him back, but. He... he was scared, and he tried to get away. And... she didn't like that.

[ His voice beaks at the end. He should have done something. Why couldn't he have done anything? ]

What-

[For a moment, Luce can't believe her ears. A manager should never handle the musician they're handling. And for this-]

He's only thirteen, that's child abuse!

[ Greg's eyes squeeze shut.]

I dunno what's going on over there, but Tiger--he was terrified, and broken, and... I couldn't... We have to do something.

[They do, and Luce doesn't say otherwise. Instead, she just loses herself in thought as she quickly thinks over everything.]

Pride is a beast in the industry... If you went the simply legal route, they could probably watch that manager's back alarmingly well. Pressure via social media and journalists would be more effective...

[Yet she shakes her head, frowning.]

But throwing Tiger into that kind of storm would be horrible, especially with no warning and without his consent. This is difficult...

[Deciding something, she points over to her dresser.]

Will you get me my phone there, Greg?

[ Greg has been going over much the same issues himself, the last couple of days. Pride's untouchable legally, without serious backing on their side as well.

He gets up to take Luce's phone, holding it out to her. ]

It took a lot to get him to tell me anything at all. It feels a little like I'm letting him down, talking to people about it, but. I know this isn't something either of us can do alone.

There's no shame in asking for help. Humans are a social race for a reason.

[She takes her phone with a smile, and quickly gets to work. She has contacts to hit up.]

[Quite a lot of them.]

I know some people over in Pride. We don't have to tell them the gritty details, but we can ask them to help watch over him since neither you or I can. Plus, in the event that anything else happens, it'll have more weight to it if someone from inside Pride says something happened instead of any of us from Virgo.

[The media would just chalk it up to that asinine rivalry, she's sure of it.]

[He really hopes, just for Tiger's sake, that this can be kept low profile. In the end, though, all he cares about is the kid's being looked after.]

Yeah. I asked a friend over there to keep an eye out.

[ He hisses a sigh through his teeth. ] This whole rivalry thing issuch bull. It's bad enough we've got to be careful just making friends with each other, and now we can't even look after one another right. What's the point of all the drama?

Who knows. I imagine you'd have to ask Santiago or Blanche, but good luck getting anything out of them... especially with the confrontation that happened at the Gala.

[There's a flicker of a dry grin on her face.]

Maybe if I ever get Blanche to reply to my emails, I'll be able to wrangle it out of him, but unfortunately he's a stick in the mud.

Gotta wonder if this whole thing is just leftovers from their spats.

[He raises an eyebrow, then gives a practiced toss of his hair.]

Luce honey, you have got to move on. You deserve better.

C

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