☆TRACK III: THE STREETS ARE EMPTY

[interdimanagers]

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.”

Comments

[sponsorigami]

Ivan shrugs. "I guess so." But it wouldn't have to be another shamisen player, would it? They could replace him with a different stringed instrumentalist. Or maybe a woodwind. That could work nicely Either way, he doesn't seem to fret over his future in the music industry, even if it could potentially be bad for him.

He keeps following her because she hasn't told him to leave her alone or to stay put. However, he does eventually ask, "What are you looking for?"

[giglio_madonna]

"Trying to find something..." It's an absentminded answer as she frowns at another wisp, not pleased with another go through. After a moment, she snaps out of things and smiles awkwardly back to him.

"Ivan..." Right, at the gala- "Do you remember what you saw at the Gala?"

[sponsorigami]

"I saw a lot of musicians and no internet." The no internet part is an important part of that night. "And Mr. Blanche got wine thrown at his face." Another important part of that night.

He saw a lot of things at the Gala. She'll have to be more specific.

[giglio_madonna]

"I mean something out of the usual." Specific, specific... Luce resists the urge to snap her fingers as it hits her.

"Why I had to bring you that tea. Do you remember then?"

[sponsorigami]

"... No... should I?"

Ivan remembers the tea, but he doesn't remember why Luce brought it to him. There had been a lot going on, so he doesn't think it's that far fetched to forget something like that. He does remember being tired for a lot of the night since they had just gotten back from their tour.

[giglio_madonna]

"You absolutely should. And that-" She reaches over to flick his nose just lightly. "Is what I'm looking for. It's important. I'm not sure how much so- it might be the most important thing for you and it just hasn't been realized yet. But it's absolutely important."

Her smile fades a bit, however, as she glances over the enormous space they've all been stuck in. "It's just going to be a bit hard to find..."

[sponsorigami]

"I lost something important?" That's news to Ivan. He doesn't feel like he lost something important. Well, there is his shamisen, but that's gone in a completely different way. He looks around and only sees those lights, fewer than there was before Juno took him away.

[giglio_madonna]

"That's right. It might not feel like it right now..." At least, it hadn't for her, and Luce shakes her head. She hadn't realized how important that song had felt until it had come to her once more, and the memories of those people...

"But it's definitely important." She says it right before she passes her hand through another light... and pauses, brow furrowing.

Heat, and desperate determination, and a name...

"Ah."

[sponsorigami]

"Ah?" Ivan repeats as if he's only capable to follow Luce's lead. His purple eyes land on the glowing her hand just passed through, and it's like he's been hit in the chest. His shamisen clatters to the ground as he reaches out for that bright blue light. This one is important.

The instant his fingers brush the tiny light, it disappears into him. He remembers. He remembers the feeling of needing to protect Edward with everything he had. How could he forget that name after the Gala?

And then there's something else right on that memory's heels. Ivan's being attacked. His attempts at defending himself are useless. He's caught, and two people stand before him, over him, laughing and taunting. He screams and swings his arms in front of him, as if to block a blast that isn't actually there.

[giglio_madonna]

"Ivan!"

A normal person's instincts would be to back away from the suddenly swinging arms. Luce, admittedly, knows she's no fighter of any sort. But instead of backing away, she rushes forwards and puts her arms up. It's not a good block. Not at all. But it absorbs the impact, just a little bit.

"Ivan, it's me! You're alright!"

[sponsorigami]

Upon hitting her arms, Ivan stops flailing and stares at Luce wide-eyed. It's like he's looking through her or maybe seeing another woman with cropped dark hair and a tattoo under her left eye instead. Ivan tries to back away and only succeeds in tripping backwards and landing on the cold ground. He throws his arms over his face, a feeble barrier against what he thinks is coming. "S-Stay away from me!"

[giglio_madonna]

Just blatant appeals aren't going to work. Luce doesn't come closer, but she does hold her hands up with the fingers spread- a clear show of non aggression. She lowers her voice, keeping it soft and cajoling as if she were dealing with a cornered animal.

"Ivan. No one is going to hurt you. Just breathe. In and out, okay? Slowly. No one is going to hurt you here."

[sponsorigami]

His first breaths are shaky, still deep within the terror coursing through him, but they begin to calm little by little. Ivan lowers his arms only after he's able to breath easily. He sees what's really before him. She's not that woman dressed like a playing card but the woman who has been like a mother to him.

"Luce... Oh god... I-I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Accidental or not, he hit her.

[giglio_madonna]

"It's alright." The last thing he needs is to be even more worried. Gently kneeling down, she raises up her hit arm with a smile. "Look, it's not even bruised! I lived on my own before getting picked up by Virgo, you know. I'm a lot tougher than people think."

[sponsorigami]

"Still..." The tension in his body melts away. Ivan's stunned, and his mind is still trying to make more sense out of getting possessed, questioned by Juno, and now this new memory. Why does he see himself with his life in grave danger? He's just a musician, not even of the crazy drink and smash guitars (okay, so he's going to have to repair his shamisen but...) kind of musician. There isn't danger in his life.

[giglio_madonna]

She'll let him have just a few moments. Whatever he went through... Even just seeing the result, Luce can see it must have been awful. After a moment, she starts to scoot closer.

"Is it alright if I come over?"

[sponsorigami]

Ivan nods and moves to sit with his knees pulled against his chest. He balls up a lot when he's sleeping, but he doesn't usually sit in this way. Right now, however, it feels right to him.

[giglio_madonna]

With that given, she immediately goes to sit besides him and wraps her arms around his shoulders.

"It's alright, Ivan. I'm okay, and no one is going to hurt you. You're here with me, and nearby are Rei, and Pao-Lin, and Doctor. You're not alone."

[sponsorigami]

"I don't even know what I did wrong or what I was doing."

What he saw felt more like "him" than what happened earlier with his shouting and shamisen breaking, but it still doesn't make sense. That's not him. He never been in that kind of situation. What is he seeing? Why?

[giglio_madonna]

"Let's... try what we did back at the Gala." She keeps running her fingers through his hair, hoping the repetition is calming.

"You can try to describe what you say. Sometimes, that can help you figure out what happened instead of keeping it stuck in your mind."

[sponsorigami]

"A man found me out from... something. He had tattoos all over his body and a metal leg. He shot these... lasers at me from his fingers. I threw shuriken, but he just... just danced away from them, laughing and taunting me.... There was no way I could protect myself. I was at his completely mercy..."

Ivan bites his lip, wondering if he should describe the woman he saw further. He can't imagine practically describing Luce will go well.

[giglio_madonna]

Lasers and shuriken... It sounds a little unbelievable, like something out of a cartoon or movie, but how can she deny it so easily when they're trapped in a strange basement with odd lights?

"And you were attacked?" she asks quietly.

[sponsorigami]

"I... I was," he says just as quietly, partially mumbled by his posture. There is no mistaking that he was the man's target. There was no one else there at the time, and then the woman joined in when he was brought inside the warehouse. "It felt like I broke something, and I'm certain I... or whoever's perspective I'm seeing these from was also bleeding."

His fingers grip his sleeves. "He knew. Whatever I was trying to do, he knew the whole time."

[giglio_madonna]

Luce squeezes him for just a second, pressing a kiss into his hair. "Whatever happened... Just remember that you're here, right now. You're not hurt. Nothing's broken. The only people here are people you know, and none of them would hurt you."

...Well, there's... whatever was happening with Krieg earlier, but that doesn't count.

[sponsorigami]

Krieg is in his own category, and Ivan likes playing cell puzzle games with him.

Ivan starts focus heavily on his breathing. In and out. In and out. His shivering begins to calm, and the tenseness in his shoulders begin to relax. He's still shaken up, but he's no longer panicking.