interstellar5555 | Locked in a Room

[Koumei's chain-smoking had reached the point where people were threatening him with retaliation if he didn't attempt to contain his habit to one location-- and the bar it was. In places known for their alcohol and their lax take on the rules, it seemed to be the best place to lurk.

And, by the look in his eyes, it seemed like he hadn't slept properly in days.

....but, his steady diet of caffiene wasn't helping matters either-- especially when he ordered yet another Coke from the bar. He had lost track of how many he had ordered that day...not that he cared.

The lack of sleep was what left him unsteady on his feet, not the drinks. One way or another he ends up bumping into Xanxus in the bar-- literally-- and staring at the wild man with eyes that didn't seem to fully comprehend his surroundings for a moment before he glanced down at the mess.]

....Sorry, [he mumbled, lamely. As if that fixed anything.]

[Koumei isn't the only one like that. Xanxus hasn't moved from the bar for a long time now. His clothing is rumpled like he's passed out there, woken back up and started again about three or four times. It's a wonder he's still alive at this point. Drinking until he passes out seemed to be mostly working though. Keeps the fucked up dreams away and keeps him from throwing a chair through a window and leaving.

And honestly, there is something very very off because the first thing Xanxus does when getting bumped into isn't punching Koumei in the face as hard as he can. Because that's normally how he would handle that. Instead, he looks up. Koumei looks how he feels.]

Just don't let it happen again. Cause I'm really not in the mood to bust your face in.

[That. No punching and...he's actually scooting over to give the guy room. Just ignore the mountain of bottles around him. He's probably taken out half the bar all on his own. Good thing it gets restocked quickly.]

[Every napkin in the vicinity was being grabbed and thrown onto the ground to contain the mess as Xanxus spoke, and there was a distinct clumsiness in Koumei's otherwise fluid movements that told volumes of how he was faring in all of this.]

Thank you kindly for your graciousness, Mister Xanxus, [Koumei replied, blinking owlishly at the man before dropping down to retrieve the fallen cup. Fortunately it was plastic-- the bar had seen far too many drunks break their dishware in the middle of their debauchery.

Ordering another Coke, Koumei slipped in onto the adjacent seat and pulled out his case of cigarettes. He held it out toward Xanxus, politely.]

Do you want one?

[There's definitely something up with the other man. The few times they'd met he'd come off as someone capable. Here he is falling all over himself. It's like Koumei is drink. Only he's never seen the man drink anything stronger than soda.]

Whatever.

[It's dismissive because he doesn't like people to thank him for doing decent things. He has a reputation to keep and being nice to people sort of ruins it. But honestly, he's not in the mood to bully anyone. He just wants to get drunk. So drunk he can forget everything. There's probably not enough alcohol in the world for that.

He notes the other's smokes and reaches out towards them.] ...Thanks.

[He steals a smoke. He reaches up towards his face with one hand and for a moment, he pauses as if he's surprised that the cigarette doesn't just light. He drops his hand back to the table to look at Koumei...]

Got a light, Kou?

['Kou.'

Hearing that syllable on it's own stopped Koumei in his movement to dig out his lighter-- having already anticipated Xanxus asking for a light. The nickname didn't sound right...not in this context.

It felt like it belonged to something grander, more deserving of respect.]

--That's 'Mei', if you must shorten it.

[The reply was abrupt. He flicked on the flame for Xanxus to help himself.]

And I've always got one.

[He motioned for the barkeep again-- he was going to need something harder than just soda now.]

[He will shorten it. He doesn't know why, but it feels natural to shorten it. Somehow, this man has become a friend. Xanxus can't recall the last time he had an honest to god friend. It's weird but right now he's not going to question it. It's better just to get drunk as hell with a friend]

All right then, Mei.

[He leans into the flame. It's strange that he would be drawn to fire given the story behind his multitude of scars, but here he is leaning into that flame to light up and take a long draw off the cigarette]

Mmm...That hits the spot. That and whiskey. [The barkeep is just going to give him another bottle.] I'll pour you a glass to go with your coke.

Thanks-- I feel like I need it right now.

[And he did, both for the excuse to relax and the possibility of enjoying a night of sound sleep. The casualness of Xanxus's demeanor was oddly comfortable in the smokey twilight of the bar, and Koumei didn't want to question it either. Somehow just being near such a man, whose presence was larger than the room itself, was an odd comfort for him in the haze of questions and whispered misery that lurked in the back of everyone's minds.

He dropped a slug of liquor into his coke and gave it a casual stir with his straw, idly watching the ice swirl around the glass as he tried not to think.]

I'm not actually much of a drinker, [he confessed,] but this is as good a time as any to indulge in some vices.

[A sigh.]

This whole week...it makes you sympathetic for a lion that's kept in a zoo.

[Normally he would mock anyone for ruining the alcohol by mixing it with anything but more alcohol, but tonight, he really isn't feeling it at all. There's just too much of a comradery for him to feel like sniping at Mei. He might still give the man a small judgemental look, but it's more amused than anything else.]

We both know I make up for you and probably the rest of your band. In fact, you should probably start catching up. I've been here a while.

[He looks to his glass and frowns. He knows far too much about cages. He's been dreaming lately. Dreaming of being trapped. Nightmares of ice.] Lions can attack their keepers though. That's the thing about caging wild animals. They still have their teeth and their claws.

[He turns back to Mei and holds his glass up] To sharpening our claws.

And finding our way out by whatever means necessary.

[Be it with claws or with wits. Koumei raised his glass as well in a short salute, pondering over his own strange dreams. Claws felt oddly appropriate, in a way, although he couldn't place why...

He downed part of his drink, determined not to worry over bizarre period dramas for that evening.]

[The dark smirk on his lips seems almost more at place on an assassin than a bassist. He's been looking more and more like that recently. Only exorbitant amounts of alcohol or the occasional hit of morphine chills him out.] Sangue e fuoco...

[...Where did that come from.... What the hell did it even mean? Shit. Definitely needs to drink. Slamming his shot quickly and repouring immediately.]

[Somehow, the foreign words struck a dissonant chord in him-- as if the prospect of another language somehow didn't compute on a rational level. He cast Xanxus a strange look, as if seeing the light of fireworks for the first time.

Or as if something were clicking into place.]

We will do it, [he replied mildly, not questioning the strange words. The salute felt appropriate in it's own right, and there was no use in questioning the puzzle as it came together.

Underneath the seemingly innocent words was a note of steel, more akin to that of a military man than a pianist.]

We have a show to give, and it's functionally impossible for them to keep us in here for the long term.

[Unless this was a scenario that was designed to keep them out of action...or let unrest fester in the hearts of the Proud.]

[It's not rational for him either. It's been happening more and more lately. These words and phrases he didn't understand slowly worming their way into his vocabulary. It's bad enough with those fucked up dreams, speaking in tongues was worse somehow. He feels like he's losing his damn mind.]

They could be watching us. Seeing if we were lying when they talked to us. [He doesn't know who was taken to the office and who was, but it seems rather convenient that the boss lady would question them and then lock them away.] They might be hoping we'll do something stupid so they can fire us and replace us with better behaved stars. [There had seemed to be a rash of firings after all]

We can neither confirm no deny that until we have more information, [he mused quietly, taking another sip of his coke and whiskey.] But there is no denying that something strange is happening around us. The first few times were easy enough to write off, but now it's seems akin to a kind of outbreak-- like of a virus.

They may have quarantined us for observation; who knows?

[He swirls his drink a moment, considering. There are too many unanswered questions. Far too many. He doesn't like it. He doubts any of them do. But storming the boss and demanding answers won't fly. She would know he was lying then, about what he had told her.]

If they are watching us, then we just have to give them what they think they're supposed to see. [Meaning Xanxus being utterly terrible. But not to this guy. He respects this guy.]

And not acting like we suspect anything.

[Because that would clue even the silly ones, like Page, in on something going on. Although Koumei had never been anything but a law abiding individual in his memory, somehow this sort of plotting and counsel felt oddly familiar.

A sigh. It wasn't worth thinking over. Not yet.]

You won't believe how many teenagers I've had to school in keeping their cool over the last few days. One was saying things about aliens-- the kids really are panicking over all of this.

[A curt nod. It seems wise, yes. To just go around like normal. Pretend they don't know a damn thing. Keep what's happening to them to themselves. It seems...wrong though to do that. Like he should be storming the castle and burning it and everyone inside to the ground. Like cooler heads prevailing is a new thing for him]

There's too many fucking kids, period, Mei. This sort of life's too hard on brats like that. They need to grow some hair on their balls before they think about being a star. This business eats adults alive, fuck only knows how it fucks with the teenagers.

[Spoken like a true old man..What? He's "25". He's allowed.] Maybe, if this keeps up, we'll have to think of a distraction for those little shits.

[There was a time and a place for storming a castle and burning it to the ground-- right now, this wasn't it. Koumei was angered as well, but he was realizing that he had an odd knack for keeping a cool head in a crisis.

He knew in his gut that he couldn't let emotions blind him. People made mistakes that way.]

They're going to need to grow up quickly, or they're going to lose their minds. It's a shame, but in this world such things may be necessary.

[A tad dark? Perhaps...he wasn't even sure where the words were coming from.]

There's very few of us here who are over the age of twenty, and fewer still who have managed to stay as we are. We'll need to figure out something-- even if it is breaking a few rules and letting them have a wild party to get it out of their system.

[He wasn't going to advocate underage drinking, but desperate times...]

[And this is where they are different. Xanxus is all fire and rage and he doesn't take time to cool down and think. Mostly because he's of the mentality that he'll never lose, so he'll march right into the mouth of Hell and punch the devil in the face and take the consequences because that's just how he rolls.]

Some of them are probably well on their way to that. But I won't say no to finding a way to distract those brats. You know Carnies can throw a hell of a party when we want to. Just because we're locked in doesn't mean we can't still make some noise. And everyone loves Naked Twister...

[He's joking about the last part, but yep... he's all for throwing a party so loud, the cops have to come.]

[He is going to hope and pray that you're joking on that last part. There are literal children in the building.]

Twister is amateur level-- we're rockstars here. Perhaps encouraging the kids to compete with each other, like in the Bass Off, might be a good idea.

And Lord knows what equipment Terry has in his closets. We might have everything on hand to throw a rave.

[Totally joking because literal children and also there are actually some people in the building Xanxus doesn't want to see naked, present company included.]

I haven't had enough booze to be really creative. But competition is pretty distracting. Maybe a song writing contest. And the winner could pick who they want to have play it.. But I like the rave more. We could pull it off here. Move shit out of the way for a dance floor. Bribe Terry into DJing. Let those brats let some steam off...

[Good, because there's not much to look at on Koumei anyway. He's all disheveled hair and lanky limbs, with hardly any muscle on his body.

Similarly, Koumei wasn't terribly interested in seein Xanxus naked either.]

A rave is easier like that, and any amateur with a good set of speakers and a few lights would want in on the action. Throw in a few pillows and snacks and we've got the set up for an awesome sleep over kind of party.

Yeah...but if we do this shit, it ain't going to be amature hour, Mei. There's no way in hell I'd be caught dead at a half-ass rave. So, we catch word of a lockdown and we throw some smoke and get us some kickass djs in here before we lock down. I'm sure I can find places to hide them.

[And getting them in, no problem. Xanxus isn't exactly a boy scout when it comes to bringing groupies of all types. It's the hiding them that's the problem. He's willing to bet they have closed circuit cameras all up in this place.]

You can be in charge of snacks and shit... [Mostly because if this is for the kids, he can't be allowed anywhere near the refreshments]

[That actually earned a tired chuckle from Koumei.]

That sounds like a deal. I'll man the details so long as we can throw a rave that only a Carnie could throw.

Locked in a Room

Sometime later in the week

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