Can you feel it calling in the air tonight [Closed]

[eba02]

Who: J, Ankh, and Ivan, at different points
What: The city's playing a different tune, and J is trying to figure out the details.
When: End of March, midafternoon
Where: A park in the city
Warnings: None yet?

It's a quiet day at the park, which is good - after the events of the past week, J can definitely use one of those. For now, he's got his hair pulled back and his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, just taking in the music.

[Feel free to start separate subthreads! :D]

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[sponsorigami]

Ivan is dressed to be as unassuming as possible, and yet he has his shamisen packed up in his case. There's no bodyguard in sight because Ivan used his shapeshifting to sneak out of Virgo HQ. But... he also has no real goal for being outside. (If anyone asks, Ivan is out and about for his missing manager's sake as she is "part" of the family... even though she's not in reality.) It's mostly to think and search for answers. What can he do? Continuing on as a musician with his crafted life isn't something he wants to do, but he knows that Virgo is too strong and powerful to fight as well. Acting rashly will bring punishment and possibly harm his family and friends.

He takes a seat on cement retaining wall in the park and starts playing. Despite the reality of his kidnapping and brainwashing, he feels the itch for music still. Ivan may even break out singing.

[eba02]

When in doubt, follow the music. J hears the shamisen mingle with a now familiar and much improved tune and heads towards it, finding Ivan sitting on a low wall. He takes a seat a few yards down from Ivan and sits, listening. There's something different in Ivan's tune, but he can't quite put his finger on it yet.

[sponsorigami]

He continues playing, not worrying about if anyone hears him for the moment. The strings are plucked to a traditional Japanese song at first, but then Ivan stops like something has come to mind. The tune becomes more modern but still keeps a mellower rhythm. Ivan wants to fight the new song forming in his head because it feels like it's playing into Virgo's hands. But he knows he can't forever. It'll only be delayed until he can't fight it any longer.

Ivan sighs a little. Maybe he should just get the urge out of the way and hope Virgo doesn't find out and turn it into a whole production.

[eba02]

Ivan is wavering on something, and J leaves that bit alone for now - he'll come to that decision on his own. For now, J reaches for the parts of Ivan's tune that are undamaged - and there are more of them now, which is great - and silently mimics them, drumming his fingers against his leg in time and using them to smooth over the static. Who knows - maybe a little clarity will help Ivan make his decision.

[sponsorigami]

Ivan gives up to the feeling, wishing that he could enjoy music for pure enjoyment than worrying and fearing that every instance is all part of his brainwashing. He's frustrated and hopes that after this, he can focus on something else. And he figures out a way to keep this song from being used by Virgo. That'll suffice.

He picks the strings of his shamisen and begins to sing.

Here in this city that is ruled by two titans, a song of discord is running through my bones
And I find the flower of who I was is wilting, petals blown away, thoughts left all alone

Yet I do not know myself or my dreams or truth anymore more, more...

Lost in this world, and torn away from my own, I look for that something that I can do
Because every memory I that see in my dreams, feels more real and coming true
But I'm locked behind bars, Orion, take me away and give me another view

In my dreams, I see the blurred shapes of family, drifting away to the distance
I chase them down with shinobi speed, but I'm left behind
The metronome ticks away but no longer can I claim ignorance
And the horrors of the reality (It's a lie)
Because I know they are playing games with my mind

[[ OOC: Mind Game ]]

[eba02]

Well. That's pretty dang on the nose, isn't it. J stays quiet and listens, to both the tune on Ivan's lips and the one in his soul, and continues working on the latter. There's something off about it - like something's been added when nobody was listening - but that doesn't seem right, somehow. He works around it for now, but he can't avoid it forever.

When the song finishes, he gives Ivan a few moments to settle before speaking up. "For what it's worth, it's gonna get better." He's skirting a line, talking like that, but after that song it's pretty unlikely that Ivan doesn't know what's been done to him.

[sponsorigami]

And what if that line that J's skirting has already been crossed in various, more direct ways?

Ivan stops playing and looks at his audience. Then, it clicks, and his eyes open a little wider. Why else he would keep meeting a complete stranger over and over in such a big city? Ivan's still worried that Virgo might have more on him than a tracker, but he has to ask. "... Y-You're one of them, aren't you? Not one of the Space Ladies, but still..." One of the people here to save them. To get them back home.

Otherwise, Ivan might wonder if he's got a stalker.

[eba02]

This is the second time in less than a week that someone's figured out who J is. On one hand, the musicians are really on their game; on the other hand, evidently J is really off his, and that is not a good thing. He looks down at himself, then back to Ivan, offering him half a grin. "Do I look like a Space Lady?" Playing it off is his first instinct, and it's a hard one to break.

[sponsorigami]

And the fact that the other rescuers haven't been so secretive doesn't make J's job obviously any easier. Ivan knows that people from Rei's world have come to save her. He knows of Gold and Silver and the four alien ghosts. It's not too hard to guess there's more. Ivan's head hurts and starts to repeat how he's wrong whenever he starts making connections, and his tune fumbles a bit.

That only makes Ivan feel like he's onto something, something his has to fight and push though to say.

"So maybe not from her world, but... from another?"

[eba02]

Ivan is struggling, and J has to make a decision: keep his identity a secret (a lost cause at this point) or help Ivan (what he's here to do in the first place).

It's kind of a no-brainer at this point.

He grabs hold of Ivan's tune and soothes it, smoothing over static with full, real music. It won't take him long to fix it completely; still, he can't leave the conversation hanging either. "Yeah," he admits with that same half-smile, "something like that. I'm here to help."

[sponsorigami]

"I-I won't compromise you. I won't ask for details or anything that could be taken from me." Ivan straightens up a little and searches his pockets for some paper and a pen. "Although, if I leave something here, maybe you could take care of it for me?"

Ivan plans on writing down quick notes about what Flowers Over Bones have put together, about saving Stella from her containment in the Virgo Basement with Arpegius' help, about the holiday party, about the blue alien ghosts helping them remember and how they were murdered by the labels, and every strange thing he could think of since the music Gala. Ivan doesn't know what information that the rescuers have or is Alex (Haruka) passed along the info he left her, but he writes it all down.

[eba02]

J appreciates the consideration, but it doesn't really work that way. "You know my name, an' my face, an' where I work. For someone like Blanche, that'll be enough." He shrugs. Ivan knows his alias, at least, but that's still something to go on. "Just don't get caught."

He's not used to musicians asking him favors, though - that's interesting. "Sure." He waits while Ivan writes, silently working with Ivan's tune, smoothing out static and warping until it's intact again. He can't touch Blanche's deep bass woven through it, but that doesn't stop him from feeling around it, seeing if there's some way to loosen the connection-

Or finding something else - some foreign backbeat - running along the same lines of that bass, connected to Ivan's tune in the same way. He stiffens in surprise - what the hell is that?

[sponsorigami]

"I... have my own tricks to avoid that, but..." The label is so strong. Ivan wants to do something, but how can he do anything more but sneak out and leave pieces of paper to the rescuers he happens to meet? How can he do something that actually amounts to something?

Ivan crumples up the piece of paper and lets it fall to the ground. "The... um.. lyrics didn't turn out... Please don't sell that on an auction site."

He is such a bad actor when he's not depending on his brainwashing, but he at least attempts to be secretive.

[eba02]

It takes J a few seconds to ground himself back in reality. He continues to look into Ivan's tune, trying to figure out where that backbeat is coming from - or, more importantly, who it belongs to.

Right. There's still a conversation. "Hey, if it works, it works." He watches the paper fall to the ground and flashes Ivan a grin. "I'll treasure it forever."

[sponsorigami]

When Ivan realizes that J's zoned out, he shifts uncomfortably. He's seen other musicians get lost in thought. That usually meant they were reliving a memory or something similar. But why's this guy... (Jeremy?) doing that? Ivan worries his lip. The thought that the people trying to save them might have lost something too hadn't occurred to him.

He doesn't like that idea. Something inside of him, though weaker now, reminds him how futile it is to go against Virgo, against Blanche. Remember what they did to Luce. To those that were caught. They've done things to him as well, and he should remember. The rescuers are weak and frail because of them, and they'll accomplish nothing.

Ivan shakes his head. Think. Think. Don't let go of that previous thought and give in. Ask. "... H-Has the label taken something from you too?"

[eba02]

Nothing - nothing yet, at least - and now he's got Ivan worried. Not as planned.

"They took our friends an' families," he says. "People we care about." But that's not really what Ivan's asking, is it? "They haven't gotten to us the same way they did you, though. If they ever do, they're either gonna put us onstage with you guys, or...six feet under." That's not really an easy idea to live with, but at least it's still living.

[sponsorigami]

"So... they don't have a general way removing people's powers or memories in the city. It's more specific... maybe done when they brainwash us." Blame the fact that everyone in his band has regained a power that he thinks it's more common than the reality. Everyone in the band except Pao-Lin, but they suspect she may have something because she's from Ivan's world. They remember some of the same things.

He looks at his hands holding the shamisen and bachi. A memory steals his attention. He's a child. Other kids his age are taunting him, calling him a monster, a freak. Their parents demand the school give them list of all NEXTs and their powers enrolled, so they can remove their children from classes shared with those dangers. If only the registration bill could get passed. Couldn't they just use the technology in Abbas Prison everywhere? It'd be so much safer to control those powers.

The memory doesn't feel blurred or fuzzy in the same way like his memories in the past have been. Any fuzziness is from the age of the memory. Odd, but Ivan isn't going to focus on that change too much. He's more shocked at how easy the memory came so easily and triggered by something so tangential. Is this related to how he discovered he could fight with katana days earlier?