Locked in a Room

[dishevelment]

Who: Everyone stuck in Pride HQ
What: This load of crap.
When: Nov. 1-5
Where Pride HQ
Warnings: Pg-13 minimum because Carnies. Tag if it gets over that.


Everyone got the same call-- and now we're all stuck in HQ with no hint of release in sight.

The reason? No one knows.

How are you coping?

Comments

[stylistic_disloyalty]

If I don't perform soon, my head is going to explode.

[She rubs her forehead.] I've had this goddamn headache for three days-- meds have done nothing which means it's completely psychological.

[traumatizing]

Drimk'll help.

[He says with a mix of sarcasm and sympathy as he orders something stiff for himself.]

[stylistic_disloyalty]

Oh yeah-- drink away your problems, that's the Pride way, right? [Luci has another mouthful of her drink.]

...everybody seems like they're off. Or is it just the Carnies?

[traumatizing]

Pretty sure it's everyone. Lockdown isn't helping, that's for sure.

[His drink comes and he takes a sip with a deep frown. He is beyond ready for this to be over.]

[stylistic_disloyalty]

Were you guys looking forward to performing too? [She asks, resting her chin in her hand.]

[traumatizing]

[He nods] Can't speak for the others, but I know I'm about ready to vibrate out of my skin being stuck here instead of being on stage.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

Glad to know I'm not alone in that. I thought, for a crazy second, that maybe some people were treating this like a vacation instead of an inexplicable lockdown. You haven't heard anything about why they've locked us in, have you?

[traumatizing]

I wish. [Terry leans forward and rests his elbows on the bar.] Our manager just keeps saying not to worry about it.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

Ours too. [Luci looks down at the bar, hard.]

Part of me says to leave it alone, the other part of me thinks that first part is some kind of weird, reasonable doppelganger.

[traumatizing]

[He laughs a little, but. After being hauled up to Lesedi's office, he really feels like he needs to leave this thing alone. And that's... It doesn't feel like him.]

Which part's louder?

[The reasonable side seems to be winning for him.]

[stylistic_disloyalty]

The part that says to leave it alone.

[She drops her forehead into her hand.]

It just feels wrong. Or at least disjointed. I'm leading us all into rebellion against Predator, but I can't do shit against whoever's responsible for essentially doing the same thing Predator did? Minus the handcuffs and crazy Rube Goldberg death machines? The hell is wrong with me?

[traumatizing]

Yeah. [He frowns into his drink.] It doesn't feel like me either.

[It's wrong. So much of this is wrong.]

[stylistic_disloyalty]

But what do we do about it? That's the worst part-- we can't just make ourselves feel differently, and if we don't know what's causing it we have nothing to push against.

[traumatizing]

Maybe we're getting old.

[He scoffs at his own joke, but he's got no better answers.]