☆TRACK V: I WILL TWIST THE KNIFE PT. 2

[interdimanagers]

Who: Everyone in the last part of the log.
What: Everyone has a terrible night.
When: December 7th, 2054
Where: Naomi's ocean side mansion, followed by a secret Pride laboratory.
Warnings: Violence, blood, and at least one murder. Vague gore. NPCs being unhinged in a threatening way, though it's possible to have your character avoid ended up in the ballroom if you don't want to see this mess.

☆I WILL TWIST THE KNIFE The bubble has burst. The chaos of the night’s violence has finally boiled over into something uncontrollable – blood has been spilt, screams have been heard. No matter where you are in the mansion, you know by now that something is acutely wrong. Multiple members of Pride have been hurt – possibly killed – and you may still have no idea why. Some will try to escape. Some will try to fight back. Yet, as any rebellion starts to descend, a piercing note - a melodic cry - will summon you towards the ballroom. It can be resisted, in part - but only as far as you find yourself frozen in place instead of moving forward, at least while this spell holds. It's drawing you to the source...if you follow it, maybe you can stop it. The compulsion is strong for members of both labels. The cry seems to echo long past its termination point, to be heard wherever you are. If followed, it will bring you to Naomi Rivers in the center of the ballroom, her expression creased with strain. Though you may desperately want to strike her, something intangible is holding you back. "No!" she shouts at any Virgo nearby. "It isn't done! You need to...you need to finish this!" She'll point desperately at the nearby Pride, rendered unable to flee. "Get them now!" You don't want to. "Do it!" The compulsion weighs heavily on you - for Virgo, to act, and for Pride to surrender themselves. All subtly has disappeared. This last effort is unconcealed and nearly hysterical. You feel yourself slipping beneath the soundwaves. Power rolls off of her, the energy thick in the air, like something you can taste and smell. You can't do this. "I command-" The fabric of space-time cracks like a peal of thunder. All at once, the spell shatters.

Comments

[panspermia]

Greg sat up straighter, watching her huddled by his side. "Mer, that's--that's not true. You know that." Didn't she? It wouldn't be the first time he'd made assumptions on her understanding of their relationship. "You're... it's you, who made it all worthwhile. All you've ever done is help me, and I won't--"

The false promise died on his tongue. They'd seen too much to give any illusion that he could make a difference if they were kept together or not. "If there's any chance at all that we can still be together... I wouldn't want it any other way."

[nibelungvalesti]

"The music made it worthwhile, Greg." She was grateful for his lie, but wouldn't let it stand. She saw how he loved to be playing, and moreover, how he loved the people who loved his music in turn. "But I am in no hurry to say our goodbyes either."

The stress and everything she had been through this night had broken her down and ground down her barriers. She uncurled one arm and reached out to put a hand on his forearm.

[panspermia]

His melody slows to a stop with her touch, and Greg stares at her. He wants to insist again, but... how often has he thought it, even said it, that it's the band that keeps him going? He's been relying on her as a bandmate, as his keyboardist, not as a friend, as Meril. He's wanted to keep the three of them together as a unit, instead of individuals who care about each other.

Pink lights shine up from under their feet. He scrubs his tears away as she watches, bewildered. "What... do we do now?"

Her question makes him ache. This was supposed to make things better for them, he thought. He still wants that to happen. She's worth it. She deserves him trying again, better this time. Now he knows a little better.

"Let's just... talk."

He looks at her hand on his arm, and speaks softly. "Meril... what do you think you did, to hurt me?"

[nibelungvalesti]

"I did my best to play my assigned role." They both knew what that role was -- a keyboardist who was competent enough to justify her position in the band while providing gratuitous fanservice and eye candy appeal. "And yet it seems to have not been good enough."

Had she been performing better, management wouldn't have felt the need to break them apart. A competent and capable band, one that brought in earnings and plaudits, would have been left together.

[panspermia]

Wow. He really did botch this, if that's all she thought she was good for.

"Meril, you... you can't blame yourself over their game. They didn't even tell us the rules, we all... you can't expect to take it on yourself. None of this is your fault."

Hesitantly, he rested on hand over hers. "I'm sorry too. The music made me happy, so I thought it would be enough for everyone else, too. You shouldn't hold yourself to that."

[nibelungvalesti]

"That is what I like about you, Greg. The music makes you happy. I wanted to preserve that as long as possible." And protect the others as well. Each of them needed it in their own way. But now they were gone and Greg had been hurt. Utter failure.

[panspermia]

Without his music playing, the balcony feels so much colder. Greg keeps his hand over hers, regardless. It feels as though this moment needs to be silent.

"You really did. You put so much into making me happy, and you really, truly did, Meril. Whatever happens next won't change that."

[nibelungvalesti]

She finally uncurled a little, looking up at him from over the curve of her forearm.

"I wish things did not have to change at all."

[panspermia]

"You're telling me." His hand squeezes hers, faintly. "But that's just not how the world works."

[nibelungvalesti]

"True. But we could have always hoped it would change for the better."

The very faintest of wry, sardonic smiles touched the corners of her lips.

[panspermia]

"There's nothing to say it still can't." He knows that sounds foolish and naive after the night they've had, but hope is the last thing they have available to themselves. "It might not seem like it right now, but there's always a chance."

[nibelungvalesti]

"...At this point, we will be lucky if I am not sent to jail," Meril admitted, very reluctantly.

[panspermia]

"Blanche won't let that happen." For a reassurance, his tone sure falls dead. "He wouldn't let us ruin the image of his label like that."

[nibelungvalesti]

"Yes, there is that." What a horrible thing to have to feel gratitude over. "Would it shock you to know I am not overly reassured?"

[panspermia]

"I'd be shocked if anything about him were trying to be reassuring." All Blanche wants is fear and obedience, by the looks of things. "But we have to hold on to what hope we've got, for each other."

[nibelungvalesti]

"I will... I am grateful to have you." And maybe there was real, if sad, warmth in the Ice Queen's low voice on those words.

[panspermia]

He has so many things he wants to say, to vow and promise. He can't. "Can I ask you a favor, Meril?"

[nibelungvalesti]

"What's that?" She lifted her head slightly, to peer at him over the curve of her forearm.

[panspermia]

"Could you tell me something about yourself?" He'd curled into himself slightly, shrinking in his chair. "Anything at all."

[nibelungvalesti]

What a curious question. Meril thought for a moment, trying to come up with something interesting. Some fact or interesting tidbit from her life. And yet nothing really popped into her head. Had she really been that boring?

"I believe there is some sort of life after death," she finally said. "I have no proof, I do not know what it is, but I think we must continue on in some way."

[panspermia]

It started to occur to Greg just how little he knew about her--about anyone. No one ever seemed too eager to talk about things outside of their career.

"I'd believe it." He nodded faintly. "Not something you need proof for, either."

[nibelungvalesti]

"Not something you could get proof for, but I would like it." And yet this belief had only come recently, along with those strange... dreams? Visions? "But that sounds terribly morbid."

[panspermia]

"No no, not at all." His head tilts, thinking of it. "There's people who would do anything to know what's on the other side, or whether things really end..." After tonight, it feels especially poignant.

[nibelungvalesti]

"What about yourself, Greg? What would you tell me about yourself?" If he hadn't asked, she never would have, but she was curious. Had been curious for a while.

[panspermia]

"Me?" Somehow, he didn't plan on the question getting turned back on him. It feels like everything interesting about him is tied up in music, and she knows all about that already.

"I don't think we're alone in the universe." He shrugs a little. "You probably could have guessed that from the songs, though."