Our Whole Lives Tonight (Open)

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

Outwardly, Matt was the picture of calm as he sat on a bench in the city, tuning up his guitar. He was able to channel his frustration into the soothing waves of music, and he continued to strum, adjusting the sound of his guitar carefully.

Finally, he strummed the guitar and began to make a quick few notes before picking up in song, the rapid pace of his fingers strumming as he hummed a wordless tone. He hummed as he envisioned his band behind him, following along in the tone and tried to get lost in the joy of making music once again.

Somehow, it was helping, even with his fingers pouring off smoke and darkness with each strum, pushing waves forward like ripples in the water.

Comments

[expendable-mind.livejournal.com]

Splicer was walking through the city, calm and nonchalant. He'd taken everything in stride, it was just the way he worked. He had retrieved his clothing and left his combat suit in his room along with his rifle. He donned his black leather jacket and 'STR 18 / oo' shirt, and some black jeans.

Hands in his pockets, unlit cigarette in his mouth and his usual shades on, he strode at a steady pace before picking up the sounds. Curious, he headed in the direction to spot the youth and raising an eyebrow.

Once he was finished, he moved closer. "Not bad, take it you needed some thinkin' time huh?"

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

Nokosi had been listening to the mellow tunes floating up into the tree that he was currently sitting on and had just began hopping his way down when he saw a semi-familiar face speaking to the man he was on his way to bother talk to.

He strolled up behind the bench and stood there silently as if he'd been there all along.

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

Amidst doing some exploring to get familiar with the city, Chase picks up on the music - one of the things he's been looking for. That definitely has to be checked out, even if its just some humming and one guitar.

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

Smiling at the group, Matt nodded as he continued to play melodies on his guitar. "Definitely. It's been kind of up and down lately."

He nodded to Nokosi and Chase, and says, "I'm Matt Olsen. Ship's Council Head. Any requests by the way?"

[expendable-mind.livejournal.com]

He nodded, "Yeah? Must suck then, specially if you're the council head. These poor saps who are already depressed are screwed if yer down as well. But really what can ya do right?"

He eyed the others, recognizing the curious 'elf' he gifted a pair of his shades to, and the large dude over from the pod caverns. He gave them a curt nod before turning to Matt. "Don' think you'd know any from my world, but I'll listen if it's all as good as that last one."

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

Well Agent was right, this Matt fellow probably wouldn't know any songs from his own world. There weren't that many groups he could recall using guitars anyways, except folk singers and bards. But just in case...

He clasped his hands together, a child-like, hopeful look in his face. "If you somehow know how to play 'Power of the Horde' you would be my favorite person on the ship!"

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

"Most of my request list is a bit heavier, I'm just damned glad to hear something like real music. Driving me batshit not having a stereo."

He glances at Nokosi. "Power of the Horde? I like the sound of that already."

And back to Matt. "Adam Chase, just go by Chase. One of the FNGs."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

A book is glaring at you, Matt.

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

His glare burns with the power of a thousand suns or at least freshly minted ink. Matt looks up, and waves. "Hey. Come to berate me again?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Well, clearly you haven't gotten the whole darkness thing subdued, but hey, whatever works," Zetta said. "I'm just making sure the news isn't making you all wonked-out."

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"Taking a moment to play music to be honest," replied Matt. "It always clears my head better than actually meditating and stuff. And yeah, Aqua and I are looking into it."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Zetta paused, then said, "Wait, what news are you thinking about?"

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

Matt paused, backed up for a moment and said, "Uh... new podpop? Darkness going nuts? Katara not being Katara but Kaya? Pushy space elves?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Uh, the third one," Zetta said, who didn't consider the first two much to worry about at the moment and the fourth was news to him.

[crazypsychic]

Now that the excitement and worry had run its course, Sabrina had located her Pokeball containing Kadabra and decided to explore some areas of the ship. This area led to her feeling drak emotions somewhere in the city. Spying the young man, she had a concerned look about her.

"Greetings. I'm Sabrina." She looked like she might say more, but stopped abruptly.

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

Matt looked up and waved, those fingers boiling darkness as he strummed once more to shake it off. "Hi there. Matt Olsen, Ship's Council Head. I take it you're one of the new people on board?"

He smiled at her, his worries relieved for the moment.

[crazypsychic]

She briefly nods. "Um, yes. I just arrived."

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"Ah. Well if there's anything I can do, please feel free to ask." said Matt. "There's a lot of things I know, and a lot of people I can contact to help others out as they come along."

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

New people emerging from the pods meant more people for Ren to make his way past and try to avoid. And wondering which ones were going to be a problem. He'd already heard something about some self-proclaimed "Emperor of Evil," which could end up anywhere on his sliding scale of threats from "all talk" to "Kanzaki and Odin."

So his guard was up as he made his way through the City, and he kept his deck and the mirror with Darkwing on him. It was Darkwing's screeching that alerted him to the darkness coming off of Matt as he played his guitar, and Ren made sure he had his hand on his deck as he walked over.

"I didn't know playing the guitar made you give off smoke," he said pointedly.

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"Ah, yeah, it's a bit of a problem right now." said Matt, noticing Ren coming up to meet him. It wasn't like he hadn't met him before at least, considering how many times Ben and him foisted the kidlets off on him and Phillip.

Holding up his hand, the black smoke poured off his fingertips. "Its weird but I can't stop it now. So I at least channel this energy into music."

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Ren hadn't quite forgiven him for all those babysitting jobs. Especially the one that resulted in Phillip's Driver stolen and an unconscious kid left under the sink at Atori, all in the middle of a virus-infected kid's rampage in the City. To be honest, Ren had hoped that would have ended his run as a last-minute babysitter.

But seeing that the darkness wasn't an immediate threat, he put his deck back in his pocket and made his way over to Matt's side.

"What's your plan beyond that?" he asked. "Fight it? Use it?"

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"I honestly don't know," admitted Matt as he twisted the smoke into a little spiral. "I haven't actually used darkness before."

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

"And there's nobody with similar powers here?" Ren asked in disbelief.

Maybe it was because he was a cynic, but he already saw this going badly. "So you have new powers that you have no idea how to use. I'm guessing you don't know what they're doing to you?"

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"Not a single clue," admitted Matt. "Only that it gets worse when I get mad."

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

"That complicates things," Ren admitted.

Unknown powers with some kind of emotional component. It brought back bad memories of what Yui had discovered, the clues that led them to the truth of her existence, and then to her death.

"Something similar happened to someone I knew," he revealed hesitantly. "Not darkness, but a power she couldn't understand or control. It had been with her all her life, and it made her realize something she would have been better off not knowing."