interstellar5555 | Locked in a Room

[He smiles and nods back at her, absolutely ready to listen to her music. He doesn't mind listening to new stuff either, and it might make her feel better to get some feedback about it. That's what helped you grow as a musician too.]

I'm gunna get put to sleep if I wait any longer.

[He's ready!]

[If he's sure then there's no reason to argue or feel bashful about it. Being a musician means opening yourself to criticism, and he can't possibly be worse than her bandmates (not that they've ever been cruel to her in the first place). She unlocks her phone, gets to the music app and then lets it play.

And while that goes on she notably turns around to regard the stove again. The song is obviously rough because the guitar comes very easily, but it's very obviously something she's done on her own, so it's both emotional and yet oddly plane. And the words, too - it's less an amalgamation of languages and more the occasional humming along, a formation of syllables that don't quite make it to real words.

Excuse the songstress while she looks for some mugs and the whipped cream.]

[His head quirks to the side while he listens. It's definitely not bad, even if it's not the type of music he generally listens to. He does his best to listen with some kind of critical ear, but overall what he actually notices is the musicality of it. It's not that he can't place an emotion to it, it's just emotional in general. When it ends, he looks back up to her.]

Woah, that was pretty good. But...where'd it come from? That felt super deep. I was sorta expecting something angry because of the crap Predator pulled on us, but it totally wasn't like that at all.

[While the song plays on Nariko finds mugs and fills them appropriately, and even manages to locate maraschino cherries. Of course she's glad that he didn't hate it, but her expression is mixed nonetheless.]

I guess I should be angry. I was when we got to the end of all that. [Yosuke gets a mug of hot chocolate set in front of him. It's chocolate-y but might be a little too sweet if one liked milder things.]

I'm upset about it all, but I guess I've been focused on other stuff.

[She picks her phone back up.] Thank you for listening to it, though. I don't usually come up with that kind of thing so I was really worried about it.

[He takes a sip, and immediately pulls it away from his mouth. It was hot, and he hadn't remembered that little tidbit about hot chocolate. He blows on it a little, to try to cool it down.]

Hey, anytime! But...what kind of stuff have you been focused on instead? Didn't you guys already have your new album come out?

Yes. [... Right, their album. In all this commotion she'd completely forgotten about that, even though one of the interviews that'd been canceled was specifically to promote it. She's just full of weird surprises tonight.]

It's not anything important [Important enough that she didn't care so much about Predator now that it was over and she was safe at home.] just something ridiculous that happened.

[That vision, those bells, and the overwhelming sense of being in love. How strong it made her. That was why the song itself was so emotional, she'd put all of the confusion into it. Nothing else had really made her feel better.]

What, you have band drama too?

[That's something ridiculous that could easily happen, but he really wants to ask her if she's been having some of the same problems that it seemed like some other people he's talked to have had. The visions, all of that- but he hasn't worked up the courage or steered the conversation in a direction where he feels he can bring it up.]

[A snort.]

Aside from Bird Lord being Bird Lord? No.

[And the only drama there is that she knows he isn't taking care of himself, and there's nothing she can do about it. In the end Koumei is older and far more hardheaded than she can really manage.]

Yeah, Monsieur Bird Lord.

[That gets a small laugh out of him. He can't forget to make fun of Koumei for that later, maybe when this mess gets sorted out.]

Hey, Nariko...can I ask you something?

[Oh, how did she forget about that part! So amazing. And it's nice to have something to laugh about, too.

But then! Ahh, a question? Not that fun ones ever start with asking to ask a question but she'll try to roll with it.]

Sure. [It can't be that bad.]

By, ridiculous crap, did you mean... [He's been called out on it already. Talked with bandmates. Even if he promised Koumei to keep it quiet, he needs to know, to be sure.]

Like, has anything strange been happening to you lately?

[His voice is cautious, not quite fulling asking what he wants to know but hoping she'll pick up on it. Wondering if she'd even tell him the truth.]

[The shift in her expression might be enough of an answer. No one shuts down in that particular way unless there's something that they're scared to talk about, something inherently strange. But does she trust him enough to say anything? Just because he's asking doesn't mean he won't laugh at her if she explains the whole thing.]

What would you mean by 'strange'?

[She's kind of stalling to try and decide how to deal with this.]

[He can read the expression on her face, but that doesn't stop him from getting a little awkward about it.]

Oh, you know, nothing too big...just remembering weird stuff all of a sudden. Or just having weird dreams and stuff.

[He hopes that sounded like something he could later blow off as stress or something normal...even though nothing about what's happening was normal and he was finally starting to get it.]

[She's ... Quiet. There's no immediate danger in telling him, really, but it feels scary. But also? Nariko's kind of emotionally worn out and the energy it takes to stress about this one little decision might wear her back down into exhaustion again.]

I'm not sure you'd call them dreams so much as visions.

[But, yeah, she's having them.]

I see.

[Count yet another on his tally of people who have been having the strange visions, just like half of the other people he's talked to. His bandmates, some of his friends in Pride, people he knows in Virgo.]

It's cool, it's not like you're the only one here...I just wanted to ask to make sure I wasn't going crazy.

You aren't. Everything's a mess and I don't think any of us know how to fix it.

[And in the meantime it's scary, and weirdly isolating. After all, if it'd been anything else she wouldn't have hesitated to tell Yosuke it was just ... It felt like something they weren't supposed to ever talk about.]

I'm sorry, it's not that I don't trust you it all just makes me uncomfortable, y'know? It's like my skin isn't mine anymore.

Yeah, I know what you mean...I understand.

[He hadn't tried to think of it in those terms. But once she says it, he shudders a little.]

That's creeping me out, don't put it like that!

Sorry. [But it's also true so she doesn't sound as apologetic as she should, maybe.]

But that means you've been seeing stuff too, right?

[And she's already gone ahead and admitted it, so fair is fair! He should obviously tell her about what he's experienced.]

...Yeah.

[He admits, quietly, rubbing a hand behind his head.]

It's like...freaky stuff that's never happened to me before. Like the kind of stuff straight out of a feverish nightmare or something.

What, with monsters or something?

[She doesn't want to push him just for the sake of it, but the doors are open now and she's curious. At least this way she'd be far more likely to divulge if he lead the way in that respect.]

It's sorta fragmented, but I got the feeling that there might of been monsters.

[How else would someone die in there. He remembers feeling scared, like he'd almost died.]

Like they tried to kill me. Or something did, at least.

[Okay, she hadn't thought that she would be right! Man, now she can't help feeling a little bad, especially since she had more than enough experience with that impending sense of death. That hers had been a setup from the beginning is moderately irrelevant.]

That's horrifying. [And she's the most eloquent girl in the world.]

It's not real, though. It can't be. When would you have ever been in that kind of danger?

That's what I thought too...but it keeps happening. Like a recurring nightmare or something, except it's furthering the story.

[He wants to believe so much that it isn't real. But it nags at him, eats away at his brain.]

Isn't it weird that it's not just one person though?

That's probably the most discerning part. If it was just or two people, or even just one or two bands then there could be tons of explanations.

[Exhaustion, some weird food, a mostly benign illness that fucked with perception and memory, etc.] It just started out of nowhere and we have no way of stopping it.

[So were they just going to lose their minds here before they ever got out? ... Even thinking about it in passing makes her shiver.]

Yeah... I guess we should wait and see what else happens. Maybe that'll tell us more. Or maybe it'll stop.

[Maybe it's just a bad dream. He's still finding it hard to believe that it's real and that there might be something wrong.]

Locked in a Room

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you wanna end this one here?