Donna Luce (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
giglio_madonna) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
interstellar55552015-12-06 09:28 pm
giglio_madonna) wrote in interstellar55552015-12-06 09:28 pm
003 ✽ I'll be with you again
Who: Various Virgos and Priders
What: What's that? Mall trip? MALL TRIP. A mingle log for party clothes and holiday gifts of all sorts.
When: Before the inter-label party
Where: The Wave Boulevard Mega Mall
Warnings:
Luce hits her fellow Virgo musicians like a hurricane. A loving, maternal hurricane.
For the lucky ones whose numbers she has, it's simply a ring up that morning inquiring if they'd like to go to the WBMM that day for some holiday shopping, or to pick out any clothes for the inter-label party if nothing in their closet is satisfying them. "Or if you just want some fresh air while we still have it," she jokes, even if the more empathetic can taste a hint of sharpness in that line. My, whatever could she be referring to?
For the unlucky ones... She makes a personal visit, practically sweeping some people off their feet. It's a rush of friendly chatter that's almost overwhelming, and some people might find themselves agreeing without realizing what they've done until Luce simply beams as she says she'll pick them up in an hour. "Oh, and you might want to wear a hoodie or something like that. Don't want the paparazzi bothering you too much!"
Congratulations, all of you: You've just agreed to the great mall trip whether you meant to or not.
The Wave Boulevard Mega Mall, or the Double M as it's known to locals, is the largest mall both in Vista City and this side of Americana. Considering things, that's an impressive feat. It's an enormous multi-level building filled to the brim with practically anything your little capitalist heart could desire. Various department stores, a movie theater dominating an entire two floors, an arcade somewhere, proper restaurants and food courts both.... It's called a "mega mall" for a damn good reason.
Once everyone gets there, they're let loose to their own devices.
As for Pride Records? Well. Maybe some of you are just at the mall for your own reasons. Maybe you got a call from Luce or another Virgo friend talking about the place. You don't need much of a reason to be there. Double M is that kind of place.
What: What's that? Mall trip? MALL TRIP. A mingle log for party clothes and holiday gifts of all sorts.
When: Before the inter-label party
Where: The Wave Boulevard Mega Mall
Warnings:
Luce hits her fellow Virgo musicians like a hurricane. A loving, maternal hurricane.
For the lucky ones whose numbers she has, it's simply a ring up that morning inquiring if they'd like to go to the WBMM that day for some holiday shopping, or to pick out any clothes for the inter-label party if nothing in their closet is satisfying them. "Or if you just want some fresh air while we still have it," she jokes, even if the more empathetic can taste a hint of sharpness in that line. My, whatever could she be referring to?
For the unlucky ones... She makes a personal visit, practically sweeping some people off their feet. It's a rush of friendly chatter that's almost overwhelming, and some people might find themselves agreeing without realizing what they've done until Luce simply beams as she says she'll pick them up in an hour. "Oh, and you might want to wear a hoodie or something like that. Don't want the paparazzi bothering you too much!"
Congratulations, all of you: You've just agreed to the great mall trip whether you meant to or not.
The Wave Boulevard Mega Mall, or the Double M as it's known to locals, is the largest mall both in Vista City and this side of Americana. Considering things, that's an impressive feat. It's an enormous multi-level building filled to the brim with practically anything your little capitalist heart could desire. Various department stores, a movie theater dominating an entire two floors, an arcade somewhere, proper restaurants and food courts both.... It's called a "mega mall" for a damn good reason.
Once everyone gets there, they're let loose to their own devices.
As for Pride Records? Well. Maybe some of you are just at the mall for your own reasons. Maybe you got a call from Luce or another Virgo friend talking about the place. You don't need much of a reason to be there. Double M is that kind of place.
no subject
[Putting back some of the things she was looking at, Luce fetches out her phone and smiles up to him.]
Is it alright if I position your head a certain way for a picture? I need to compare something. It's not just for giggles, I promise.
no subject
[It's kind of a strange request, but it seems harmless. He's fairly certain she's not going to do anything weird with it. Tease him about something, maybe, but she doesn't seem like the type to draw dumb crap on it and post it on the internet. Well, she better not be.]
no subject
[Fortunately, it's not a whole lot of touching. She really just needs to get his face juuust right for her to take a picture. It wouldn't do to get a crappy shot after all. It's a quick and painless process, and immediately she starts to fiddle about with her phone.]
[Only a minute is really needed to get the two pictures next to each other, and Luce makes a triumphant little noise.]
Ah ha. I thought so. Look- [Turning her phone about, she shows the screen to Yan. Besides the picture she's just taken of him is one of Koumei from the music festival.] The two of you are so alike! Not just the hair, but your facial structures, too.
[Koumei's only real difference is that he's more sleepy looking- and in fact literally asleep in the picture- and Yan is more grumpy. Still, there's no denying the similarities.]
no subject
You can send this to Koumei, but don't tell anyone else.
[He can almost feel his blood run cold at the thought of what might come of it.]
no subject
I didn't plan to go smearing it around. I don't know what's going on between you two, but I don't plan on interfering or messing it up somehow.
no subject
I don't know, either. Neither of us does.
[He looks back down at the pictures, frowning deeply as he does. There's absolutely no doubt of the resemblance. He's surprised no one else has caught on to it. Maybe it's just because you'd need to see them side by side for it to really have an impact and they try very hard not to be seen together in public, but there's really nothing internet conspiracy theorists can't latch on to.]
If you wrote his name in Chinese, it would only be one character different from mine. Hongming Lian.
[Saying it out loud drives it home that that reading just isn't right.]
I'd be Kouen Ren.
[And, as much as he hates to admit it, that one is. It's the one that's harder to explain. And the one that would force him to consider that there's something suspect about his past.]
no subject
Koumei and Kouen... Like a family name.
[Just like him, she keeps her voice low. Something in her tries not to think about it often, but... something is truly well and unusual about their circumstances.]
But you don't know each other, do you?
no subject
[He didn't particularly keep up with Pride's acts before. Now he pays much more attention to everything that's going on in the industry. There are too many strange things going on at both labels to ignore.]
That can't be true, though.
[He feels quite secure in saying that. They're undeniably related, and closely at that. There's no reason why they shouldn't ever have crossed paths before.]
no subject
[If this were 'before', when she was still oblivious and happy just to be a music star like she always dreamed, maybe she could explain it away. There are stories of twins or the like finding one another. It could be happening here.]
[...But it doesn't explain the basement. Or Rei's sudden ability towards fire. There's too much, too much.]
...You know Greg Universe, don't you? [Her voice is definitely low now.] I... saw something of his like I did with you. In the light. I'd swear on my own blood that the voice in his memory was that of Tiger Universe's. They were talking to each other like family.
So... Whatever is going on, I don't think you're the only one.
no subject
Have you noticed it with anyone else or just him and me?
[As far as he knows, Pride isn't treating Koumei with much suspicion, but he has no idea if the same goes for Tiger. It may well be something only Virgo knows about, though.]
no subject
Unusual family resemblances? So far, just you two. I mean... [A pause as she rapidly flicks through all her memories.] At our little impromptu music session near Halloween, Ivan and Pao-Lin were the only numbers that had even anything in common with one another... But that could just be coincidence, I don't know.
[They tease up the sibling thing to the media, but it's not actually true as far as Luce knows.]
no subject
Has Pao-Lin been called in for a solo meeting by the higher-ups at any point? Had a psych evaluation?
[Because if not, she's the only one that's been named so far that hasn't. He has, Greg has, and even though Ivan's name wasn't on any of the files on the desk when Yan had been called in, he was still singled out about his behavior in October.]
no subject
[Surrounded by clothing and hangers, Luce crosses her arms and holds them against her body tightly. What's going on here? And why does there seem to be a strange fear curling in her chest to press further?]
Koumei hasn't mentioned anyone else at Pride, has he?
no subject
[As much as he'd really like to start pacing right now, it would only draw unnecessary attention to them. But what the hell is going on here? Ivan ended up in the hospital, too, but Greg and Pao-Lin didn't? There's no consistency in how all of this is being dealt with and that more than anything is driving him nuts. It's taken his head a long time to clear, but nothing seems to have changed in the meantime and he's too afraid to go back to the doctors and say as much. He's just been trying to keep his head down, play along and keep quiet, but this keeps spiraling bigger and bigger with each person he talks to about it.]
Pride doesn't seem to be pushing the sickness angle.
no subject
[She's missing something. She has to be. Taking a deep breath so not to get frustrated, Luce takes his arm and tugs him along.]
Come on- let's keep moving and pretending we're shopping. I'm starting to feel paranoid now.
no subject
[If nothing else, he's very self-aware. His face naturally looks like this, but it's going to stand out if Luce looks unhappy. On top of that, if for some reason they actually are recognized, it will be easier to shrug off if it looks like she's forcing him into a new wardrobe. That's a lot more believable than him accompanying her while she shops for herself.]
no subject
[Still, since his permission has clearly been given, Luce doesn't hesitate in taking him by the arm. Tugging him by the arm, she switches gears to the men's section.]
Have you heard what angle they are pushing over there?
no subject
[That's what bothers him more than anything else. There's no explanation that makes any sort of sense. Ivan is determined that the cause is supernatural and management is feeding into that and letting him believe it. Meanwhile, Yan had a perfectly understandable, realistic theory as to what might have been going on and he got called delusional and rushed to a hospital for brain surgery. There's no consistency at all.]
no subject
[She keeps moving until she's suddenly not, whipping off a shirt from a rack and holding it up to his shoulders. It doesn't break her train of thought at all, apparently, because she's still talking as if she didn't do anything at all.]
Sora, Flashstep. Tail end of the lockdown. Keep this quiet, because he trusted this with me even though he didn't have to, but Santiago herself called him up to her office. He can't remember what they talked about, or how he seemed to have 'gotten sick'. One of his bandmates says he was gone for two days.
no subject
[He can at least fake being interested in the shirt to hide how keenly he latches on to that. (Though he couldn't be less interested in the shirt, honestly. It looks like pretty much any other shirt, which means it's not his style, as far as he's concerned.]
no subject
[As if dissatisfied with the shirt itself, she puts it back and continues to tug him along. Really, she's dissatisfied with this whole mystery.]
I don't doubt that there were probably others, but Sora is the only one I know of since I spoke to him.
no subject
So no gaps in his memory afterwards, then? No difficulty remembering names or recent events?
[So far, he's only aware of one case with those symptoms and it might put his mind at ease if there were others, as selfish as that is.]
no subject
[All the confusion on her face is only half from the line of questioning. The ugly sweater rack is earning a fair bit of it as well.]
It was only a quick phone conversation... I didn't get any indepth details. I'm sure at the party, he'll show up, so perhaps you could try speaking with him yourself there?
no subject
[And it's going to be him whether anyone else likes that or not. He just isn't the type to sit idly by while someone else does the work.]
If I can't catch him, I'll make Koumei do it.
[It's said almost distractedly as he looks through the sweaters on the rack, as if he doesn't realize just how that must sound. Or as if he's used to ordering Koumei around.]
no subject
[There's a danger to spreading information around too loosely, but just as much so with keeping it all with one person.]
[And in the meantime...]
See something you like, dear?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)