Day 60: Music Room (Fourth Shift)

[stray_shinigami]

It wasn't often that Renji felt less like punching people in general as his day wore on. This was a new experience for him. A not unwelcome one, if he was being honest. And the fact that he felt less like punching Fai? Kind of mind-blowing. The sort of thing Zen masters would probably use as a kouan to reach an all-new level of non-punching

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[lovecrafty]

It was a shame there were no violins among the instrument pile. Rose was a master of many talents and student of many subjects. The violin was merely one amongst her interests, but it was also the only relevant one. The headphones were no more tempting; they were basic, outdated things, and there was no way to upgrade them.

Instead, she contemplated one of the portraits on the wall. Anything could be a clue, even the most mundane of displays. Or it could merely be the decorations of an unimaginative mind, handed the description Music Room and a meager budget. They weren't very good portraits, after all.

[Alle]

[tender_cruelty]

Well, that had been an interesting meeting. Badou's partner was certainly... Badou's partner. It kind of suited him, he supposed. And made him feel awkward at the same time because Badou had people here, sort-of-family, and maybe he should have been with them last night, not with Allelujah while he got them both torn up by giant monstrous birds.

Ah, what was the point in thinking about it? He wasn't anyone's keeper.

He wasn't sure why the nurse hustled him into the music room (perhaps she feared more glittery shenanigans), encouraging him to try something despite his never having touched an instrument in his life.

He did spot a familiar face though, and headed over.

"I don't think they'll come alive if you stare at them for longer," he said with a small smile.

[OOC: Allelujah has his hair pushed back so you can see both eyes now - one's gold, the other grey-blue]

[lovecrafty]

"Oh, good. I was dreading the inevitable onslaught of vengeful undead composers, bent on revenge for every mistaken keysignature by a beginning flautist."

She shrugged. "It's not like there's much else around here to look at."

Allelujah wasn't bad, though. Much better than dusty bearded men with batons. Really, it had reminded her far too much of home for comfort. Something looked different about him, though, and it took her a moment to realize what. That is so cool, she thought, and then squelched such a simple, juvenile reaction with the leaden fist of irony.

"Do you play?"

[tender_cruelty]

"No, that was two weeks ago," Allelujah said blandly, his expression impassive. "Except it was a vengeful zombie barkeeper and I don't think he appreciated us trying to steal his stock." It had been an interesting night, if by interesting you meant the zombie apocalypse. He supposed that it was interesting, just not the same kind of interesting as, say, discovering a new species of mosquito. One you wanted to kill and the other was part of an army of the undead.

He nodded though, offering Rose a small smile, glancing around the room for a moment, because old habits died hard. "There usually isn't. And no, I don't play," he admitted. "Never really had the opportunity to learn anything particularly artistic."

[lovecrafty]

"A pity." She meant it, too. Everyone she knew had at least some talent, although John's drawing abilities were meager at best, and his confectionary-related trauma kept his natural potential out of the kitchen. "If they had a violin, I could show you the basics."

There was something much more interesting than music lessons afoot, though. She'd only been here a few days, while he'd been here much longer. "Was there really a zombie barkeeper?" She narrowed her eyes a bit -- if he was trying to steal the stock, he had certain qualities that she did not especially value, but they did seem to be common among adults. Namely, alcoholic beverages; specifically, the admiration thereof.

[tender_cruelty]

"I appreciate the offer," he said genuinely. It would be nice to be able to indulge even if he was quite certain that playing music didn't mesh well with his life back on the Ptolemaios. He would rather someone like Feldt got the opportunity really. She was bound to all of them and it wasn't really her choice, was it? She was thrust into all of this like, well, like he had been, but at least he had been made for it.

He nodded seriously when she asked, moving onto a topic he could speak more knowledgeable about. "Yes, there was. The whole town turned into zombies once night fell, from what I saw. It was an interesting night." And that was rather an understatement.

[lovecrafty]

That was an understatement, and Rose understood exactly what he meant. Zombies. This place really had taken on an open-source sort of feeling. A sphinx. Zombies. Modern-day psychological horror. Force fields. Military takeovers.

Next thing they knew, there was going to be a hangar full of mecha in the basement and a dragon in the woods.

"I can imagine. Was this an unauthorized expedition, or is there a way to get down there at night?" It would be a long, cold walk with no easy method of transportation, but not impossible. A hoard of rampaging zombies might get in the way, though. Also, it wasn't much of a town, though being from Rainbow Falls left one little leeway in that regard.

[tender_cruelty]

Oh, how Allelujah wished that there was a hangar full of mecha. It would make things so much easier, even if Kyrios wasn't amongst them. At least mecha made sense.

"It was at the end of one of the trips," Allelujah explained. "It just got later and later, darker and darker, and the nurses never took everyone back to the buses. Once night fell... you've seen what happens to the place. Whatever it is extends that far it seems." Which was a little disturbing. The townspeople didn't seem to know what really happened but were caught up in it anyway. "I think you could get to the town," he said thoughtfully. "I made it to the mountains one night, although I was alone then and I move quickly."

[lovecrafty]

That sounded unpleasant, at the very least. "I'll take that under advisement next time." She wanted to know if that failure was laid at the foot of the current management or the prior, but Allelujah was still talking, and had said something more interesting than being a small, blonde, expendable extra in a completely shitty movie.

"Was there anything in the mountains?" Were they even looking for a gate, here? Rose doubted it. But if they weren't supposed to be finding a gate, and the puzzles in the basement turned out to be mere window dressing, what was the point of this whole set-up?

Or was it co-incidence that no one knew more that the bare minimum about the basement challenges? The idea had merit. Still, she could pursue this line of questioning, first.

[tender_cruelty]

"It wasn't the most fun I've had," Allelujah replied with a faint grin. He'd had worse days though. At least he hadn't been stuck in his Gundam in the middle of a desert in a sandstorm.

"There's a lake up there," he began to explain. "And I saw a cabin there too although I was attacked by some dog-snake monster before I could get to it." And night had ended before he could kill it and continue. "It was cold enough that there was ice on the water. And..." he paused for a moment, remembering what he'd seen on the way up there. "There was a corpse near the stream on the way up. No, a skeleton really. It looked like it had been there for a long time." Which didn't bode well for them really.

[lovecrafty]

"A dogsnake?" That was a new element. "Are we talking furry and sinuous, or scaled and tailwagging?" Or trapped in a nursery rhyme about gender stereotypes?

Rose hopped up on one of the bookshelves and swung her feet in the air. Even if they hadn't found much, swapping notes beat...swapping notes any day.

"All I've managed to find was a Sphinx and a bunch of ogres." And a pair of silvergilt trinkets. "Was there a reward for making it that far?"

[tender_cruelty]

"It was rather scaly as I remember. I was a little preoccupied with not getting eaten." He hadn't made notes about it. "It wasn't particularly friendly." Or friendly at all. Maybe if he'd tried throwing a corpse it would have played fetch, but he had been sadly deficient in the corpse department.

He leaned back against the wall, a better place to watch her from as she hopped up there to sit. "A sphinx? I haven't seen that one," he said with a small smile. "And no, no reward. I burned my hands on the acid. Maybe in the cabin, but night ended before I could get there."

[lovecrafty]

The dogsnake sounded kind of cute, if one liked temperamental and/or scaly things. Rose certainly had an affinity for the former, and while she counted herself more of a cat person, the irritating thing about dogs was their crushing interdependence; a scaly vicious dogsnake would make a great familiar to a High Wizard.

"It was down in the basement. Riddle and everything." She hoped the allusion was familiar; he hadn't balked at Sphinx, so perhaps it was.

"I guess only some areas have prizes. I'd like to see this cabin sometime, though. Even if it's a dead end." For the skeleton, literally. For them, hopefully not.