I won't pretend that I intend to stop living

[mildwildchild]

Who: erryone in Pride
What: recovering from the events of December 7
When: late December 7/early December 8 - ???
Where: Pride HQ and wherever else they're allowed to go
Warnings: Carnies? references to I Will Twist the Knife


So maybe you've just gotten back from the most mellow kidnapping ever and you're itching to tell your bandmates about what went on with the cool helmeted guys while everyone else was at that stuffy party. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a little while to tell them, but that's okay - surely you can keep yourselves occupied until everyone else returns.

Or maybe you're one of those who wound up at that party of Naomi's, and your night was a little less fun. Now you're back at HQ, possibly with mended physical injuries and almost certainly with a few new psychological scars. Now's your chance to check in on your friends and bandmates who missed out on all the trauma and deal with things as best you can.

Comments

text, pre-questioning!

[twoscompany]

Oh my god.

Terry. Finally, someone is answering!

[traumatizing]

[These all come as individual messages. The total lack of punctuation or capitals probably says a lot for how panicked he is.]

garnet thank god

where are you

is nariko with you

are you guys okay

[twoscompany]

We're here now, at HQ. Nariko's with me. We're both all right.




I don't know how long I have to talk to you. I'm being escorted.

[traumatizing]

im glad you're both okay

we can talk properly when you get home

[1/2]

[twoscompany]

So am I.

I'll see y6urigegdfm

[That's about the time the cell phone is yoinked from her.]

[2/2]

[twoscompany]

[Its a few hours later, before the penthouse door is practically kicked down by a very worried Garnet.]

Koumei!? Terry?! Rich!!

[traumatizing]

[JESUS.]

[Terry makes an incredibly undignified noise of surprise from where he's sitting with his coffee and he looks at the door, hand on his chest to keep his heart from leaping out of his chest.]

Garnet--!

[It's a relief to see her, and evidently she's all in one piece. He'd get up to greet her but... That's a little beyond him right now.]

[twoscompany]

Oh my god.

[She only takes to strides to get to him, ready to pull him into a bear hug.]

What happened!?

[traumatizing]

[He puts a hand out to stop her from crushing him in a hug, as much as Terry would appreciate it, he's pretty sure his body isn't quite up to such intense levels of hugging. Garnet is... Very strong.]

Short version? I guess that whole 'label rivalry' thing is more than just talk.

[twoscompany]

Oh....

...oh.

[She stops, eyes widening. Not out of anything towards Terry. She's not upset at you, if that makes sense.

It might make even more sense if he sees what her eyes are doing once she gets what the hand means. She's not looking at him.

She's looking at him, her eyes, at one point, staring at places that she reasonably shouldn't even think that injuries could possibly be, much less know. His chest, his sides, his thighs...]

Who did it to you?

[traumatizing]

I don't know, I didn't recognise him.

[He rubs his face tiredly, he knows he's seen the guy on stage before but he just doesn't know much about the bands on Virgo. He only knows so much about other Pride bands because of total immersion.]

[Regardless, he looks up at Garnet with a serious expression. He's been thinking about this a lot.]

I don't... I don't think they were in control of themselves.

[twoscompany]

[She looks back up at him, an eyebrow raised. Not that she'd doubt that's what he believed. But she clearly wants details.

If this isn't like with Predator, she doesn't want to do anything she won't regret, after all.]

[traumatizing]

I had to talk one guy down from a panic attack when he realised what he was doing.

[Which... Admittedly does sound like the guy could've been acting, but.] And getting the whole label to attack us like that? It just... It doesn't make sense.

[twoscompany]

And no one with us from Virgo attacked us. So something at the party...

[She rubs her head.]

We really need to figure this out. If something set them off, we need to figure out what it was.

[Because what's to say it couldn't happen to anyone in Pride, to turn them into an attacker?]

[traumatizing]

Maybe someone who was there toward the end saw something.

[Terry was a little busy being unconscious at the time.]

[twoscompany]

...Right.

[Sorry, that was...weird. Like, if she kept pressing she'd find the answers.]

Sorry about that. This is just getting insane, not that it wasn't before.

[traumatizing]

It's alright, I just wish I had more answers.

[He sighs softly, frowning down at his coffee.]

What happened to you guys?

[twoscompany]

...We were on the last bus to the party, but we got kidnapped by guys in helmets and kept in a warehouse. They didn't hurt us, though. They just kept us there.

[She has to be careful, how she says it.]

[traumatizing]

They just kept you all night for no reason?

<small[That's... Really, really weird.]

[twoscompany]

Pretty much.

[That and they seemed to know about the party, but...she's not saying it out loud, where Lesedi's men can hear.]

[traumatizing]

[Sorry Garnet, that's his next question.]

Do you think they knew what was gonna happen at the party?

[twoscompany]

...I don't know.

[However, her eyes say something different. Yes. Definitely yes. She doesn't say it out loud, not because she doesn't trust Terry. The fact she brings a hand to his shoulder should show that.

Its not Terry she's afraid of.]

[traumatizing]

[He gets it. Terry nods and puts a hand over hers, giving it a gentle squeeze.]

That's weird. [He sighs.] I wonder what they wanted.

[twoscompany]

I don't know. Perhaps they just wanted to keep us there as long as they could. For...whatever reason.

[traumatizing]

Whatever they wanted, I'm glad you guys are okay.