VISIONS I HAD BURIED UNDERGROUND / RETURNING TO ABUSE US

[pecsonpecs]

open krieg rp post.

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deusexmechina

[pecsonpecs]

[It's a nice place. The best money can buy.

It'd look like a hotel if there weren't little indications to the contrary scattered here and there. The sign at the entrance, for one. Upped security around the perimeter. The presence of nurses, the occasional doctor. The illusion is pretty much shattered in Krieg's room, where the medical equipment makes enough of the furnishings to make it look like a really homely hospital room. Residents wave to Gaige as she passes by; now they know better than to pester her with their fanboying, even if the temptation is still there.

The television is on, but muted, while Krieg rests in his bed. It's not clear if he's asleep or not, but he does have Gaige's music player clutched in his hand, buds nested into his ears. A gift she had tucked into his hand back when he was effectively unresponsive, and while it was technically contraband...well, they let it slide on the premise that it would stay in his room. Not like the cord of earbuds was going to fit around his thick neck enough times to do any real damage.

The little gift helps more than she might've realized. Keeps the voices down, keeps the invasive thoughts away. In the music...he remembers the high he used to get. The one that didn't come from a needle, a pill, a bottle. The real one, made by his body in moments of eustress--in response to the beat, the harmony, the roaring crowd. His body's too racked to do it now, but maybe...one day...once all of this is over, he'll get to know the rewarding joy of hard work once again.

Krieg stirs when he--for the first time in weeks--actually feels the presence of another person in his midst. Gaige. He gives her a smile, and even though it's tired, it's genuine, and he's actually there instead of responding to drug-addled stimuli. He pauses the music and nudges the buds out.]

Hey.

[deusexmechina]

[ gaige is grateful that the greetings she receives now are subdued. it'd be a lie if she said she didn't enjoy some of the attention that her fame brings her, but here, of all places, it feels inappropriate. here, she's not DJ Deathtrap or any other stage name she's used, she's just gaige, plain and simple, here to visit one of her closest friends.

she can't help but feel a twinge of anxiety when she nudges open his door. is he going to be out of it again? unconscious, or awake but unrecognizing? it'd been hard to see him like that the first few times she'd come to visit, which feels almost selfish to admit. she's glad he's even alive, all things considered, with the sort of stuff he was pumping into himself. it's been a messy flurry of emotions she's been struggling to navigate, but she forgets it all for a moment when she steps in and sees krieg smile.

she grins, too, eager and excited as she swiftly makes her way to the chair by his bedside, settles into it and leans in close. ]

Hey, sucker.

[ shitty fake-taunting pet names are her way of showing affection. krieg should be used to it. her eyes flick to the music player, tiny in his massive hand, and her smile softens with sentiment. ]

Been getting good use outta that?

[pecsonpecs]

[With a self-deprecatory guy like Krieg, anything any flowerier would've felt disingenuous. He lets out a rougher exhale through his nose, something that would have been a laugh if he felt better.]

Yeah. Lost count of how many times I've had to recharge it.

[Which, given his cognitive abilities right now, is probably any number greater than or equal to five. To be fair, that's a lot of recharges considering the thing's ridiculous battery life.]

Appreciate you coming by. [There he goes with all that sap again.] I noticed...even when I was lost in la-la land. How've you been holding up?

[deusexmechina]

'Course. What kinda jerk would I be if I didn't?

...Kinda crappy, if we're being real about it. Because --

[ she leans in closer, half-considering just climbing into krieg's bed and laying her head on his big pec'd out chest. she could use the comfort right now. she breathes out slowly; there's no use in dancing around the subject, because she knows krieg would be at least some degree of upset if she withheld the information based on thinking he couldn't handle it. ]

Band's done for. Showed themselves to be a bunch of dicks.

[pecsonpecs]

[He doesn't lean away from her coming closer, but he does angle his head so he can get a better look at her face in its entirety. Try to read her expression.

"Band's done for"?

It takes a moment for it to really sink in.]

Ooooohkay. What...happened? [...he asks, as if he isn't aware that during the entire time he was laid up here, she's been his only visitor. But what's going on in his mind is we've been through so much worse, how is a sick drummer the stick that broke the horse's back?]

[deusexmechina]

[ gaige huffs out a frustrated sigh -- not at krieg, but at the situation. she leans back in her chair again, pulling her knees up against her chest and resting her head on them, glancing away. ]

They started looking for a new drummer. Said not to bother, like you were just someone we could switch out.

I fought 'em about it. Hard. And I mean literally. I broke Francis' nose.

[pecsonpecs]

[Oh. That stings something fierce. And yet...he's not surprised.

With an even exhale:] Can't blame them. I put all of us in a lot of danger...multiple times. [And not the "broken nose" tier of danger, either. He pauses for a moment.]

Might be for the best for all of us. Lots of my connections were through them, so...just less temptation out there for when I'm out of here, I guess. What about you? Gonna go solo again?

[deusexmechina]

[ gaige goes from zero to one-hundred in the few seconds it takes krieg to answer. her eyes prickle with tears -- it's her first reaction to anger, as much as she dislikes it. she curls her fingers into a fist (not raising it), nails biting into her palm, trying to ground herself; she's surprised that krieg would even -- ]

No, you idiot. You're stuck with me. You really think I would've been that pissed if I just wanted to bail on you, too?

[pecsonpecs]

Woah, woah.

[Ah, shit, he didn't mean it like that. No, he kind of did. With her talents, she could synthesize anything he could do; how would keeping him around benefit her? A figuratively sick mixer with a literally sick drummer, it's--well, it's not exactly impossible, but it'd be a weird combination anyway.

He turns over and reaches out to her with a bulky, discolored arm with bulging veins to comfort her. He'd like to use his other, better-looking arm, but that's the one that's healthy enough to put an IV in.]

I didn't mean to upset you. C'mere.

[deusexmechina]

[ gaige lifts a sleeve of her baggy sweater to wipe away the tears brimming at her eyes, calming down just as quickly as she'd started up. without any question or hesitation, she moves from her seat and crawls into the minimal space left in krieg's hospital bed, tucking herself under his arm. ]

They might suck. I don't. Or at least I try not to. You can replace a bandmate, but you can't just do that with a friend.

[pecsonpecs]

Watch the tube.

[If his lethargy wasn't telling enough, even the way his body feels attests to how awful he feels. He's normally so warm, a walking furnace to become Gaige's personal heater whenever she wanted, but his extremities are cold and clammy. At least the part of him that's under the covers is warm.

So maybe cuddling him doesn't feel exactly the way it's supposed to, but the motions are all the same. He tucks her head under his chin, draping his free, disfigured arm over her shoulders.]

Gaige...

[He says it quietly, weakly, maybe a little more sappier than either of them are used to. But that's okay. Every passing second with her, even though he feels like he's been run over with a train, gives him that much more motivation for the fight.]

Think your dad's got the lawyer connections for the royalties battle?

[deusexmechina]

Right.

[ gaige breathes slowly, barely bothered by the chill of krieg's body aside from the worry for him it stirs. maybe, as warm as she is in her sweater and cozy sweatpants, he can absorb some warmth from her. she's usually the one that leeches it off him anyway. she's quiet for one long stretch before she answers his question, taking in the calming effect of their proximity. ]

Yeah. I think so.

[ she nuzzles up against under his chin, blowing an errant strand of hair out of her own face. ]

We're gonna get through this.

[ said both to him, and to herself. ]

[pecsonpecs]

Yeah. We are.

[And in the following weeks, Gaige--for the first time--gets to know Sober Krieg. At first it seems like his lethargy isn't really wearing off, but it turns out that Krieg is just...really, really chill. Which might be a startling revelation to anyone who is only familiar with his rockstar persona. In other words, anyone who isn't staff at the rehab center.

A few weeks later, he's still attached to his IV, but the color's come back to his face and he started exercising again. It's not the stuff he usually did before shit hit the fan, but at least he doesn't feel like he's slacking anymore. With the newfound energy, he's up and about a lot more.

One day, he shoots a text Gaige's way.]

hey, wanna go out with me to grab some dinner? getting tired of the cafeteria rotation

[gunslingerqueen]

[She's effectively charmed most of the hospital staff by now so they don't look at her twice even if her bag is suspiciously large and happens to smell like onion rings. It does, of course, because for the entirety of Krieg's hospital stay she's pretty much insisted he do as the doctors say: Eat the pasty, weird looking food. It's too damn bland to possibly upset the parts of him that were harmed due to a certain asshole manager that's no longer employed at Starchild records. A lot of bullshit's gone down in the last few weeks and she's kept it to herself - he needed to get better, and that meant avoiding stress.

As such she's kept a lot of the exciting happenings to herself, because she's pretty sure they took his phone when he was admitted here, so he might not have any way of knowing about the literal shit storm that's managed to go down. But this is the second to last day of the Hospital Incarceration, he can probably handle a little excitement - if nothing else she can't handle sitting on the information anymore. She's hoping that Krieg'll be happy about it all, but ... In retrospect some of her actions were a little excited.

But the burger she's got is from one of the best burger joints in their city, a hole in the wall that could barely seat thirteen. Even if he's upset with her that'll earn her some points back! It has to.]

Krieg! [It's late afternoon, so she's hoping that Krieg is up! But if not then, well, hopefully she didn't wake the poor guy.]

[pecsonpecs]

[The truth is, he barely hears her. He's got headphones on, laying on his side and facing away from the door. But the cocktail party effect is still alive and well, so when he gets the inkling that someone's called out his name, he pulls an ear off to the side and looks over his shoulder.]

Oh, hey, 'Iko.

[He turns over and sits up to address her.]

Got bored enough to give me a visit?

[gunslingerqueen]

What are you talking about? I'd probably camp out in the visitor's area if they'd let me!

[But for all of her flirting the idea hadn't gone over very well, which is how she finds herself sitting on the end of his bed, dragging her purse over so she can get all the food out.] I don't know if there's any way you could have heard it before, but I wanted to say it to you first.

[Are you excited, Krieg?]

Guess who left her band?

[pecsonpecs]

Are you kidding me? You deserve a better bed than a couple of lined-up lobby chairs.

[Oh, now he's really sitting up at the introduction to human food. So many carbs in that bun, but...hell, his diet's been lost ever since he was checked in here.

But the food is quickly forgotten when she drops that little bombshell of news.]

What's going on out there? No one's telling me anything and the tabloids are just...

[He gestures vaguely at the television.]

...you know. Tabloids.

[gunslingerqueen]

It's a mess. There was a party, some people got hurt, a lot more people were fired [She reaches back into the magical purse for her order of fries.] and in the middle of it I just decided it wasn't worth it anymore. It's less about the music and more about the weird pissing match going on.

[Where's the ketchup ... Right, at the bottom, she has to dig it out a bit.]

It wasn't very easy and I sort of don't have a place to live right now - which makes those lobby chairs look awesome, by the way - but I've never been happier. I'm not sure why I thought working under a label would pan out well.

[pecsonpecs]

[As she explains the situation, he starts to dig into the food she's brought him. Krieg gets only one big bite into his burger before he stares at her, wide-eyed, as she details him on specifically what happened to her.

Thankfully, he waits until he pulls off his bite, finishes chewing it, and swallows.]

And I thought I was bad at planning. You can't just do that without a backup plan, Iko. What are you gonna do, huh? Live on the streets? Jesus.

[gunslingerqueen]

They like me at the Four Seasons, I can stay there while I figure out what to do about the whole living situation.

[She's so nonplussed about it that it makes his concern utterly valid.] A way more important question is what are you going to do when you get out of here? [She's much gentler with this topic.] I mean, your band's kind of ...

[Decimated. Gaige meant a lot to him, so she couldn't help wondering if he could really just go right back to it.]

[pecsonpecs]

[Krieg takes a few minutes to make sweet love to this juicy, sinful burger, which gives him a few minutes to mull things over into something coherent instead of angry babbling.

He swallows fully, wiping the corner of his mouth with his thumb.]

I've been thinking about it. I'm...not in this business for politics. I just want to make art. So I've been thinking I'll go solo. Indie. Publish online.

I dunno if I'll make it, but shit. I've got a trailer--bought it for cooking but I never had the wits to do it.

[Another bite. It's slower, thoughtful, and by the time he swallows, he's looking up at her.]

You wanna come?

[gunslingerqueen]

[She's making her way through the fries as he eats and speaks, she's surprisingly relaxed, for Nariko all of the hard parts are over with. So even if she was a little nervous about what she wanted to bring up, what she wanted to ask -

Well, he gets to it before her anyway.]

Hell, I thought I'd have to beg you to let me come along!

[So that's a definite 'yes'.]

But, I mean, should I be right in there with you or [She holds up a finger.] should I manage you?

[It's an idea she's been toying around with, because she does love music but it's been difficult to come out from under her mother's shadow, and her brief stint with her label has yielded a lot of helpful contacts. Krieg couldn't be in better hands.

The idea of doing both hasn't occurred to her, of course.] You could pay me in food and hugs!

[pecsonpecs]

You know how to manage?

[He doesn't think she's lying, she just hasn't talked about her aptitude before. Mostly because they had better, cooler things to talk about, and he knows jack shit about anything, like "having connections."

But what he does know is how she can belt one out.]

Give me your vocals and we'll go 50/50.

[gunslingerqueen]

[Oh, she has no idea how to do it, per se! There's no experience to speak of, no track record but she knows people and she's always been good at making things happen with a combination of charm and determination. Besides, they can't just expect to gain momentum by putting it out there and letting it sit. She just has to know how to arrange deals with clubs and get them a comfortable amount of exposure!

It's all workable.]

I'll thrown in guitar and dancing, too. [She offers him a fry rather than a hand.]

Deal?

[pecsonpecs]

You're making it a steal.

[Maybe not, though. Krieg's real talent is in composing, even when he thinks all he can put out is a far cry from his best work.

To put it lightly.

He takes the fry and pops it into his mouth. Man, he really misses out on things like this with his diet...]

What've you got for savings?