interstellar5555 | ☆TRACK III: THE STREETS ARE EMPTY

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☆TRACK III: THE STREETS ARE EMPTY

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.”

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"I saw something. Like...more of that palace. Only...something was wrong. It was..." she swallows, staring up at him. "It was on fire. And there was this woman. She was in a strange costume, and she had some sort of...I don't know, spear? Scythe? And she said she was Death."

Her eyes close, and she takes another breath, still shaking, though that's lessening.

"She did something. And then it all came apart. Everything just...turned into dust..."

"A vision of the same place twice," Doctor murmurs to himself. "There must be more to it. We- why we are in a room of lights that act as if they're alive! None of this makes sense."

His attention returns to Rei. "I'm so sorry. What a terrible thing to see. And it was such a beautiful vision when I saw it. What a tragedy for that place to disappear."

"Perhaps," he suggests, "We can see more if we touch another one of the lights."

"R-Right..." there had to be more to it than that. The woman's expression, that chillingly cold feeling she'd gotten as the weapon dropped, and the awful silence that followed would linger on for a while. She knew there would be nightmares, but...he was right. A tragedy. But just what was that place?

"Maybe so. We might...learn more about your police box?"

And she'll focus on other things, looking around hesitantly for more lights.

"Which do you think would be good? Just any one?"

Doctor takes a moment to reply. His expression goes blank at the mention of a police box. What was she talking about? Had they really had that conversation?

"Well!" he starts, forcing a smile, "I can tell you one thing about that light I touched. Something inside of me felt better instantly. I've- We've all been in a terrible mood since the performance but when I was near the light I felt a sense of... Compassion and duty. -Qualities that I admire in you, actually. Just being in this room with the sprites feels better, like a welcoming party, if that makes any sense?"

The compliments are appreciated, but the blank look and forced smile are all the more apparent now that she's feeling like her normal self. Frowning deeper, she pulled back a step or two and nodded. All of that did make sense. She's felt...right...when the sprite had come back to her.

"Then...we should find one that's like you. Curious, always questioning things. Maybe that will help you remember what I'm talking about. Since if you saw my palace...maybe I'll see your box."

And without a quick turn she started peering around, looking for more wisps...specifically for a blue one. That, she reasoned, might fit.

"Right. Which light fits me best?" Doctor starts looking up and down the room, turning in circles. His feet catch on each other when he spins around quickly to try grabbing one of the lights and he trips, catching himself on his feet and righting himself just in time.

He straightens his jacket and sputters, "What's more difficult? Catching lights with the lights on or tripping in the dark following very visible lights?"

One of the sprites zooms past his face and he gives a shout and points. "That one! I think? Yes that one coming towards you now!" As Rei guessed, it was a bright blue light and it moved in tight circles and zig zags.

She looked where he's shouting at and blinks, completely blindsided as the wisp fluttered into her range of vision. She lurched forward and grabbed for it, fingers brushing it briefly. And the instant she made contact her entire world spun.

Dizzying shades of blue swirled in her eyes and she twirled with it, trying to hold the wisp and the vision at the same time. That box, and that girl. It was something totally different than she'd expected, and it was jaw-dropping.

"It...God you weren't kidding..." she gasped out, thrusting her arms towards him. "It really is a police box!"

"You did it!" he cheers and applauds. He remembers again that they're in a rush, and Doctor sprints across the room to her and clasps his hands over hers, the light leaking out through her fingers and into his hands, flowing up his arms into his chest with sparks going off on the surface of his skin here and there.

He blinks rapidly as the memory takes over his vision again. Rei, standing in front of him, starts to look blurry but the police box is crystal clear where it stands a few feet away, closer and easier to see than it was the first time.

"Yes... police box and that girl is..." Doctor mumbled as he looked for her.

"Grandfather, where are we going next? Can we go to Earth again? I'd really like to see the pyramids being built." The girl appears beside him suddenly, beaming at him.

"I'd like to see that too, Susan," Doctor finds himself replying. Susan grins and hurries into the police box. He stands, dumbfounded, in place for a moment. The police box is supposed to get them there? How? "The pyramids?!" Doctor asks, crinkling his nose.

"Well you're not going to just stand there are you? You're keeping her waiting." A woman's voice says from behind him.

Doctor turns and finds a long dining table behind him. Seated around the table are several beautiful women wearing fashions of different styles and time periods. Some of them, like the young lady decked in bright pink, smile at him while others, like the dark haired woman in indigenous attire, look at him nervously. One in an ornate dress and crown glares at him. The lady at the head of the table, a blonde with wild curls, smirks and lifts a glass of wine to her lips. "You know better than to disappoint a girl on a mission. Well except for Liz. No way you're making what you did up to her." She glances in the direction of the woman glaring at him.

Said woman leaps to her feet and shouts, face turning nearly as red as her hair. "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!"

Doctor stumbles backwards with a small shout. The lady at the end of the table laughs under her breath. "Later, Sweetie."

Doctor falls flat on his posterior with a gasp and the hallucination disappears. He looks around to find Rei, eyes nearly bugging out. "That was... That was very very... odd."

The way he freezes up is an indication that something was going on. Again. This was now the third time, and she wasn't stupid. There was a pattern to this, to all these weird things going on. And that meant, more or less, that this was going to happen again probably.

So it stood to reason that he was seeing something like she had. A vision? Some revelation that wouldn't make sense? It seemed important, somehow, that they paid attention to these. But...why? She couldn't say. What she could say was that she was concerned for Doctor, and the minute he stumbled she was down beside him, reaching for his shoulder to steady him.

"It...you saw something new, too, didn't you?"

"Yes," he answers, sitting still as a statue. He stares ahead at where the table was a moment ago trying to draw a line between the first vision and the new one. Visions of women and a police box? What exactly did that say about him?

He rips his eyes away from the other side of the room and looks at Rei with a small chuckle following the smile growing on his face. "I saw much more this time. But it became even stranger."

He bows his head then throws it back to laugh again. Somehow he felt more complete again. Even more than when he had touched her sprite. "Knocked me off my feet but it was worth it," he says, "The girl with the box is named Susan. She called me Grandfather."

"Susan? And...grandfather?" Rei blinks, surprised by the statement. Extremely surprised by it, in fact. "You don't have biological children, and...Ivan, Pao-Lin, or I certainly aren't old enough to have a child."

And, she manages a weak laugh, glad to hear him returning the sentiment. "And...I don't think we've acquired a sixth, have we?"

"No, no," Doctor shakes his head slowly. "I'm far too young to be anyone's grandfather. That's physically impossible. Haven't dated since I was at Cambridge. And I haven't found the one." He offers the facts even though it's Rei he's talking to. The recent tabloid about him and Garnet had left him ready to jump to defenses if the subject of his love life came up.

"Susan wasn't the strangest part of what I saw actually," he says, clearing his throat and pushing onward to the next subject. "She acted like the police box could help us get to Ancient Egypt. -And then an entire table of women appeared behind me."

In her defense, Rei hadn't seen the tabloid. She avoided them wherever possible. But she did note that he seemed unhappy with it. And he did seem a bit on edge. Well. Really on edge.

She eyebrow shot up at that though, all thoughts of love lives vanishing.

"That doesn't work. I mean, it's just a police box, right? how can it get you anywhere? And women? Really?"

She didn't see him as the fantasizing sort...

The way Rei was looking at him- she might have been looking at him that way just as puzzled about the traveling police box concept but he skipped over that possibility and threw his hands in the air.

"No no no! The table of ladies isn't as bad as it sounds!" He can feel his face heat up as he attempts to explain himself. "Most of them were quiet, just smiling at me. One of them, dressed like a princess or the sort, even got angry at me!" See. Not fantasy-like at all. "Only the one at the end of the table was flirting!" Wait, no that didn't help his defense. "I mean- well it's not like I replied to her. She started it!"

"Father." Rei's voice came a little harsher than necessary, mostly to stop him rambling. Her hand grabbed for his and she laughed tiredly. "It's fine, I was teasing. It's perfectly normal to have a table of women looking at you. We're all famous, you know."

It's bound to happen sometime.

"And if you want to flirt, you can. I did go on a date last week, after all. And if I can you can."

"Right," Doctor's voice trails off as he bobs his head up and down slowly. That was right, he had lady fans now didn't he? He hadn't really thought about it before.

Being "Band Dad" though a certain degree of guardianship had been ingrained in him which had him leaning in towards her demanding information a spit second later. "Wait. What date? Who is it?"

That draws her up straight, and she tries to look innocent. Tries, of course. But the blush on her face says she's actually worried about his opinion...

"Ah. Yosuke Hanamura. One of the boys from Flashstep. We...met at the party on the first."

Edited 2015-11-05 14:40 (UTC)

"Really!" Doctor pulls himself up on his feet again and gives a twirl and what appears to be an attempt at dancing movements. If one squints, it's his best imitation of a move from one of Flashstep's music videos.

"Which one is Yosuke? Not the curly haired one I talked to at the gala. Is he the blue-eyed light-haired one with the long pointy hair?"

"Ah...he's got orange hair, but it is pointy...and not very long"

She's not entirely sure what he's doing, but she laughs. It's...wow, dad. Wow!

"He's nice. And cute."

"Is he a good person or is he one of those bad boys that so many young ladies like?" As he says 'bad boys' he throws his hands up and gives a mellower version of jazz hands for emphasis.

"Father." Rei looks Doctor dead in the eye. "Do you really think I'm interested in bad boys? Have I ever given you any indication I'm interested in leather jackets and motorcycles?"

You know, the things that she herself might want for herself, but not on a boy.

Doctor's eyes dart around in several different directions as he gives thought to his answer. Then he focuses on Rei again; shoving his hands in his pockets he admits, "No."

"You've never talked to me about boy before so... How am I supposed to know?"

"That would be because this is the first time I've even considered it." Rei leans in closer, giving him a cheeky little smile. "Honestly, I never really thought much about romance. And I've generally found girls more...um...attractive? But there's something about Yosuke that I like."

Mostly it's that he's honest and genuine. And he is a good person as far as she can tell.

"I don't think he'll hurt me or that he's capable of it, either. Remember I do practice Aikido."

"Only an idiot would try to hurt you physically." Doctor explains, "I'd just hate to your heart broken by... whomever." He waves a hand loosely in the air.

"Only the best for Miss Rei Hino. That's what I want for you." Shoving his hand back in his pocket, he adds, "Any trouble and you know I'll have your back. I haven't dated in a few years but I can offer what advice I can."

He blinks, finally giving his own history some thought. Yes he'd dated a few girls in college but in highschool he had been dismissed as a nerd until senior year when the little rockband he had joined performed publicly at last. Yes, he liked to think he was just as good as Luce to turn to for relationship advice, if not better, what with her nearly becoming a nun before, but now what he thought about it...

"I haven't had any girlfriends," he realizes aloud. In that second he forgets Rei is there with him as he whispers aloud, "...I'm a virgin. I haven't even been kissed have I? Have I?"

"I know," Rei says, in answer to his statement. She does know what he wants for her. And she does know that she'll get any advice she can out of him. Because that's the kind of man he is. A good man, a little muddled, but a proper "father" figure that she didn't have growing up.

Only, that train of thought goes completely off the rails like a train going too fast around a tight bend. Her thoughts come to a screeching halt. She didn't want to know about his sex life, really but that didn't add up...

"Doctor, are you sure you're not more muddled than you think? Surely you've been kissed...and you just said you'd dated before."

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trustme - 2015-11-11 10:21 (UTC) - Expand

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