Description: Gabriel's been making a habit of playing her violin near Gedo High. Really loud, and really badly. Nobody's been able to stop her, but Acacia figures that's because they haven't tried hard enough. Clearly, this means war...
~In our dreams, we've seen people there, exchanging words of love and care~
It's singing, choir like, only there is just one voice and almost as soon as it cuts out a violin cuts in. The violin seems to be the whole point of the song as it plays and plays and plays. Yes this is Gedo street, probably a place you wouldn't expect to hear a violin, except occasionally, much to the annoyance of the delinquents, its eerie sound can be heard from a roof top, much like today. The building, a private studio shaded behind trees and on top one might be able to make out the figure, three stories up, practicing as if she were the only person in the world.
Over in the main Gedo building, in one of the classrooms, Acacia scowls. It's a Sunday, but little things like weekends don't exactly make a huge difference to the Gedo crowd. School's still open, even if class, such as it is, isn't in session. There's a few remedial lessons going on, the usual club meetings, and students beating each other up. So Acacia's in one of the classrooms, parked in the back, feet propped up on the desk in front of her. She's vaguely trying to concentrate on the study group, but that's getting increasingly difficult with the screeching wail of the violin and voice filtering through the window. By some quirk of fate, this particular classroom's directly across the street from the studio. She's not the only one on edge, the irritation's running high. And finally it reaches critical mass. The guy at the front of the room, the one scribbling a math problem on the chalkboard, suddenly swears, breaking the stick of chalk between his fingers. Growling, he whirls round to the room, and yells, "Alright, I'm SICK of that freakin' violin!"
A chorus of angry agreement answers the proclamation, a sudden murmur of hostility. Then Acacia's voice cuts in from the back of the room, deceptively calm. "Good," she says, "'m not the only one. Been thinkin'. Kurokawa, you're fire safety rep, yeah?"
Kurokawa, a boy in a Gedo tracksuit, blinks and turns round. "Yup, got stuck wit' it, why?"
Acacia grins, explains her plan in a few terse sentences, and then starts opening the windows, as the students split up.
In the past, students from that school have tried to make the violin stop. Some have succeeded, namely with extremely aggressive attempts, usually consisting of a great deal of property damage to be later reported to the police. One such time a more clever method included a specific Gedo teacher complaining, Gabriel would never forget that. But students yelling, or complaining, even if they reached her ears, would be ignored. The studio was a private building and locked. Furthermore she just didn't particularly care about other people. Sure she wanted to save their souls and that was good and well, but if they couldn't appreciate good classical violin playing, they were clearly little more than ruffians, cretins and rogues. So why listen to them?
Gabriel plays on, yes it is like nails on chalk boards at times, but other times, it's more like knives against a chalk board. The violin wasn't to blame, it was actually quite expensive. It was the fault of a Justice High student who practices fighting and studies heavily her fanatical religion and occasionally goes out on quests to acquire souls - or save them.. anyway. Therefore, any attempts to politely - or crudely convince her to stop, have thus failed. One might wonder why she opts to practice here instead of the superior controlled sound studios Justice High surely offers to its high society students. The answer? Gabriel was embarrassed to let her class mates hear her, especially other members of the Darkside Student Congress.
Though you'd think the Darksiders would appreciate music like this. After all, it virtually qualifies as a weapon in itself. Certainly psychological warfare. Yurika, eat your heart out.
Meanwhile, in the Gedo classroom, Acacia's managed to get a window open, with a rusty squeak of hinges. The sound would probably grate on her nerves under regular circumstances, but she can't really -hear- it right now, what with the much louder cacaphony drowning it out.
At the door, Kurokawa sticks his head back in, reporting they're almost ready, once they get the utility closet at the end of the hall working. Another student yells back that she's gotten the keys of the janitor, along with some extra duct tape. Acacia nods, and waits a few moments. Several minutes later, once things are all complete, she leans out the window, narrowing her eyes.
"HEY, KAI," she yells, to the distant figure, "ONLY CATS SCREECH ON ROOFS!"
It was more shouting, the fact that her name was in use well, it didn't really even matter. Despite the voice belonging to someone Gabriel had encountered in the past. Despite them using her name, despite all of these things, it is almost as though Gabriel simply didn't hear her. She doesn't pause, hesitate, look, or make any indication she was just addressed and the band played on. At this point in time a spider sense would of really come in handy. Those Gedo kids were full of mischief and she knew from past experience they've done some attempts to get her to stop from long range. Water balloon launchers, rocks, glass bottles and small rodents are just some of the ammunition they've used in the past. Still this has never stopped Gabriel before, perhaps even encouraged her.
But that's because they've always thought small. Acacia's heard about those attempts, of course. She and her schoolmates know that bombardment tactics have historically failed against the phantom violinist what flaps in the afternoon. The water balloon launcher was a step in the right direction, though, just...not taken far enough.
When the music doesn't stop, Acacia snorts, then yells again, "RIGHT! KNOW WHAT WE DO TO CATS?"
She steps away from the window, turning to the other gathered Gedo kids, and waves an arm, the ready signal. Working together, they haul the fire hose to the window, sticking the nozzle out. The bigger, heftier fighters - and Acacia - aim and stabilise the firing element while the other students make sure the hose is connected up. The long black tube snakes out the classroom door, multiple hoses linked together by hastily-rigged connectors and duct-tape. In the doorway, one of the Gedo girls yells down the corridor, shouting for the water to be turned on, a message relayed all the way down the stairs to the basement. Because, really, just a regular fire hose isn't gonna have the range or saturation to smack that rooftop across the street. But there's a lot of things one can do if you've got assess to the building's plumbing, in the way of insane water pressure...
"FIRE!"
*FFWWWWWWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*
To reach Gabriel.. Certainly. However this is across the street and how much effective pushing power can you expect at such a range when the plumping was tampered with, but the hose was not designed for this kind of attack? Not enough to knock over someone like Gabriel, whom can withstand attacks which could normally shatter concrete. Instead, she'll get hit by water, get wet, yes, like rain, a gentle rain. More like a gentle thunder storm - without the thunder. However does this mean that Gabriel is going to simply let these rogues, these cretins win? No. How could Gabriel make Acacia even more angry than she already is.. How can Gabriel make this attack backfire. What does Acacia historically hate. Gabriel considers a moment while pausing only briefly to enjoy the water. Considering her preferred method of dealing with someone, cleansing them, purifying them, is water, a drenching to her might just be considered a baptism.
However that can not be said for the violin. A real violin is expensive, they can easily range in the thousands, tens of thousands of dollars. Not to mention Gabriel is known for wearing silk, high class silk, what does this all add up to? A terribly great deal of damage. How is this Acacia's problem? Well .. if she hates stuck up people, she'll surely hate that Gabriel won't care and shows it with indifference, allowing the water to do it's great damage. Will the violin stop working instantly? No, but likely it will need to be replaced after today, unless by a miracle the water doesn't soak the wood through. Still Gabriel allows the drenching almost as if it was a welcomed shower. Never mind the damage, the expense. She's going to show Acacia here and now the power of a stuck up rich girl. Seethe.
Half of this is communicated in a brief split second smug look Acacia is shot by Gabriel before she goes back to her stoic expression of utter indifference.
Truth be known, while Gabriel had inherited a lot, it was mostly thanks to a very thorough insurance policy that she were able to wear silk to fights all the time. She had to pay premiums, but never for the actual materials.
Acacia looks out the window. Well, she's still playing. Granted, the violin's probably gonna be pretty damned messed up after a while, but Gabriel seems intent on keeping up her whole Vanessa Mae thing. Not entirely unexpected, of course.
Behind Acacia, the girl who was at the door mutters a curse. "Bitch's still playing."
Acacia blinks back, shrugs vaguely. "Enh." Next to her, Kurokawa shakes his head. "Relax, still phase two. Rick back from the cafeteria yet?"
"Hn, hold on," the girl says, checking her cell phone. After a moment, she nods.
Acacia smirks.
A little while later, the hose shuts off, and the artificial rainfall around Gabriel's rooftop ceases.
Then it resumes again, a couple minutes later. Except this time, the water being spewed from the fourth-storey window, the high-pressure arc blasting across the street, saturating Gabriel's rooftop...appears to be red. And sticky.
Smelling faintly of jello mix, really.
This was creativity beyond what Gabriel had expected. Initially her plan was to move behind the door to the roof, obscuring her to a direct blast, but an arc'd blast was un-anticipated. Needless to say, Gabriel couldn't just ignore it this time. She had to do something. Her head tilts back, though she was playing and trying to keep the air of indifference to the world around her.. She would be lying if she said she had no concerns over being plastered by something worse. The fact was her attention was gotten.
A moment of shock and surprise results in Gabriel staring at the incoming attack. It's not exactly a blast of energy flung from a fighter, certainly weaker than what Acacia herself has thrown her way, but it was more than enough to ruin her practicing. This violin was lucky. It was going to get serviced sooner than Gabriel expected. She turns and runs for the door. The violin is saved, she gets a little jello'd but the violin is brought in, religious fanatic girl and all. Somewhere a music tutor who services violins is crying.
Gabriel vanishes for about ten, fifteen minutes. When she does re-immerge, likely everyone from Gedo had had their celebration, expected they'd won and gone back to studying. Maybe they'll notice the rich cars pull up with spoiled brat children getting out. Five of them, carrying various things. These were delinquents too, of Gabriel's caliber. The Justice High engineering club emerged on the roof a moment later. A few quiet orders which likely wouldn't carry to Gedo, had a few of them spraying the remaining jello off the roof with a hose before setting up their rig. A high powered nematic potato gun, complete with a couple umbrellas. When all was said and done, Gabriel standing back gave orders to return fire. If Gedo didn't notice sooner, they would notice when the first shot, a raw, hard, potato came pelting at their windows.
A muffled storm of cursing comes from the Gedo building, as root vegetables rattle the walls and windows, some flying in through openings - or outright smashing the glass, as one particular high-velocity tuber manages to.
Peering out from under desks and improvised cover, the Gedo students in Acacia's artillery-emplacement classroom turn to her, their de-facto leader, for orders. Crouched against a wall, wincing as a potato crashes over her head, Acacia frowns.
"This means war.
This time it was Gabriel's people whom thought it time to gloat. The first attacks were a wild success. The Justice High students congratulating themselves, all but the solo female student, Kai Gabriel. She had her own way of doing her cheering, besides a disgraceful display of no self control. Kai Gabriel went down the stairs, retrieved her back up violin, this one a much cheaper student issue model and brings it out. The Justice High students didn't know what hit them, which charging up the air pressure in the staging tube of the potato gun, the cat was once again let out of the bag. Under the shelter of the umbrella, Kai Gabriel played and while the engineering club hated the sound, they enjoyed pelting Gedo with fresh produce, after all, they were a rival school.
Over in Gedo:
"So."
"So."
"Frontal assault?"
"Frontal assault."
"Nah," Acacia cuts in, "better idea. Follow me."
The Gedo-side water bombardment stops shortly thereafter. Ranged attacks are boring, anyway.
A while later, after the quick gathering of renforcements, a small posse of Gedo students heads out from one of the campus back entrances, down the dry riverbed round the rear of the school. Avoiding line-of-sight visibility from the Justice-occupied rooftop, they snake round up to street level, cross a couple alleys, before emerging round the back of the studio building, by the dumpsters and trash cans. At the head of the group, Task Force Gedo, Acacia knocks on the door. A studio employee opens it, and peers nervously out. Acacia looks back, levelly, her gang glowering behind her.
From over her shoulder, Kurokawa and another girl in a Gedo uniform (admittedly, a boy's uniform), say in unison, "Hi, we'd like to speak with your clients..."
Naturally this place was not going to let them just march in, they were going to uphold their standards! Lets get a rundown of Gedo high students. They're all punks! We'll just take any portrait of Acacia, with her knappy, badly cut hair, baggy torn pants, untucked shirt, band aid perpetually on her face? Need I say more?
It's just too bad the employee of the studio isn't a muscular bouncer. Actually it's just too bad he isn't Zangief, because it would likely take something of that magnitude to actually stop this group.
"Ahh, I'm sorry," the employee says, trying to sound dignified, "But this is private property and I'm going to have to request that you leave."
- Meanwhile -
Puzzlement spreads on the rooftop while the Justice High group continue or rather renew their pelting without nearly as much angry shouting back at them.
"Actually," one of the Gedo students in back murmurs, "we've got a legitimate complaint. There's city zoning ordanances about the amount of noise and disruption a business is allowed to make in a residential area, or around schools and other academic locales. Code 38B, I think, tho' could be D."
The other Gedo students blink and turn to stare at the guy, a tall tanned punk in a tank-top, shredded jeans, a mohawk and piercings. He blinks back. "...what?"
"Uh...nothing." "Yeah, 's cool." "Right." "So, er." "You heard 'im." "Yup." "Official complaint, that's right."
"I'm terribly sorry, but the limit of which any residence or business is allowed to make between the hours of eight AM and ten Pm are well beyond that of which a single unamplified violin could ever possibly hope to make, however you're welcomed to go to the police with your complaints, as is the standard protocol in such a situation." replies the man in a rather practiced speech. Clearly he's done this before. Furthermore the faint smugness he seems willing to show beneath his demeanor of haughtiness is one of not believing the police would listen to a group of Gedo students. Little known is that this man wishes he could also get Gabriel to play quieter. She really wasn't the most pleasant to listen to.
Acacia sighs, watching the exchange. She can sense the undercurrent of annoyance beneath the Gedo crowd's thin layer of civility. Plan A didn't work, simply asking to be let in. Plan C, busting in the hard way, would be somewhat more problematic. She didn't really want to go with Plan B, but given the third and final option wouldn't be...ideal, it looks like she's got little choice. A couple of other students are already looking her way, since Acacia was meant to be point on this operation. Not that she's happy about it, since THIS bit of the scheme wasn't HER idea. But...
Breathing another sigh, Acacia takes a step forward, reaching into her pocket. She fishes out not a wallet, but a collection of yen bills held with a rubber band. A rather large amount of money. Being a top-tier fighter actually pays pretty well, and given she never actually spends it on anything...
"Right," Acacia says, "then how much for a booking?"
Kurokawa gestures to Acacia, continuing as she unfolds the bills, demonstrating it is a considerable sum, "'s short notice, I know," he says, "but our, er, band leader's willin' to pay extra...compensation for your troubles and all, yeah." As he speaks, he reaches into his tracksuit pocket and pulls out a set of hand bells. The girl beside him produces a triangle, and a ripple of motion runs through the Gedo crowd as students pull out tamborines, harmonicas, and other instruments from the music room. The punk who earlier cited the city's legal code appears to be assembling a gleaming jazz saxaphone, a book of sheet music under his arm.
It is a business after all and it isn't as though Gabriel gave any instructions not to let clients in, furthermore, there was no way that the business would not let other clients in simply because Gabriel said. She didn't pay more than was expected, she just paid her dues. After all, in her mind you get what you pay for, therefore why pay extra? Why tip?
Amazing how the look on the face of the man at the door changes from one of contempt instantly to one of welcome.
"Of course, I'd been hoping that some of the students of Gedo might come and join our studio. We have very nice facilities and I would be glad to give you the tour." The man begins, stepping aside at once.
"Excellent," the saxaphone player grins, flashing a mouth of gleaming teeth. Including one gold one. Wandering past the group, he begins quizzing the studio guy about their soundproofing, acoustics, and recording equipment, delving into nebulous technical details like how many PZ mikes they have, and whether they've gotten round the problem of how to wire one to a piano.
As a few of the other Gedo students file through the door, Kurokawa turns to Acacia, whispering, sotto voce, "What's up with Leiji?"
Acacia shrugs. "Heard rumours about the transfer student from Justice?"
"Yeah."
"Ain't rumours."
"LEIJ? He freakin' put Rick through a freakin' WALL for staring at 'im in the toilet!"
"Yeah," Acacia replies, as the group enters the building, "he wants to be a lawyer."
*/\Meanwhile/\*
"I think we've won," one of the students state, and the others murmur their bored agreement at the lack of response Gedo high is giving now. Sure there would be angry teachers and some students, but not nearly as interesting as when Acacia and her motivated posse was giving. Therefore the group starts to pack, that is all except Gabriel, who seems to be ignoring them and continuing to play on her violin. This continues for until they are filing down the stairs and Gabriel is left alone. She wanders to the edge of the roof and decides to watch the sun on it's downward path toward dusk. A beautiful sight, she seems to think, with her violin on one knee.
Inside, the Justice students probably won't notice the Gedo students, not often being a part of the rival school battles, their generally only get involved in the various club activities that battle the other schools, and thus, are perfectly happy to just leave.
"They've stopped. She's stopped," one of the Gedo students reports, entering the practice room on the third floor, after watching the Justice students leave. Hidden on the stairwell.
Kurokawa nods, while dragging a chair across the floor. "The bitch still up there, though?"
"Yeah, she's on the roof. Don't think she saw me."
"Cool," another of the gang replies, the girl in the oversized boy's uniform, "boss, all yours."
She hands a conductor's baton to Acacia, and peers at her expectantly. Acacia blinks, looks betrayed, then sighs and plucks the baton from the other girl's grasp. "Fine, fine," she grumbles, eying the assembled Gedo posse, crammed into the studio room. "Ready?"
"Just a sec," Leiji speaks up, from his spot perched on the windowsill, adjusting his sax, "what are we playing?"
Acacia stares at him. "Does...it matter? Don't need a TUNE."
Leiji nods, knowingly. "Ahh, Heavy Metal. Alright."
Acacia rolls her eyes, and waves the baton.
And there was music, of a sort.
Elsewhere.. It took Gabriel a few moments to realize what she was hearing. All she knew is where there was once harmony, in silence, there was now a great deal of noise and ugliness. Gripping the edge of the roof is all she can do to avoid from falling off, to bash her head into the ground and make the noise stop. Instead she tries closing the door. Apparently a window is opened somewhere. She opens the door, reaches into her instrument case and pulls out a pair of ear plugs daintily. They wouldn't make the noise go away, just dampen it a bit.
Marching down the stairs, she comes some ways to the door and simply watches the band within, a faintly curious expression. No anger, not even indifferent, she's actually looking curious. How the managed to fix a saxophone into such noise. Gabriel herself seemed to think think, well, that takes a certain degree of skill.
Finally, Acacia gives the baton a swipe, and by some silent concensus, the cacophony stops. Well, not all at once, it kinda peters off in a gradual layered shriek, as each individual 'musician' catches on, belatedly. Then there's silence, mostly, aside from a few laughs and muttered comments. Well, and Leiji, in the background, still jamming away on the saxaphone, apparently playing the Simpsons theme.
Acacia smiles thinly at Gabriel. "Hi."
The Justice High fanatic gives a polite bow, never forgetting her manners and straightens, every part of it formal, with the swish of her head and hair and everything. She then replies,
"Good evening." and pauses to glance across the group once again and then back at Acacia, still looking relatively curious, all the while starting to pack her things up. She seems to consider the schedule on the wall, the considers the band again, doesn't actually say anything to them, but goes over to a board with various postings. One of which has Gabriel's practice times clearly marked. She makes another marking, apparently that she is done for the day. It's almost as if to her right now, the Gedo students belonged here and she didn't particularly care.
("Cold bitch," a Gedo student mumbles.)
("Nah, lukewarm.")
("Dunno, she's hot. Still a bitch though.")
("Bitch.")
"Hope we aren't interrupting...anything," Acacia continues, speaking to Gabriel as she gestures with the conductor's baton, prompting a discordant blast of harmonicas and crazily ringing cow bells.
It takes a moment for Gabriel to stop what she's doing and turn to Acacia, but even then it's only a partial turn, just enough for her to blink as if she wasn't sure what Acacia was asking and then finally gives a mild shake of her head,
"Thank you for your concern, you may continue."
Sarcastically pretend as if you care, Gabriel takes you on your words, she even gives a indifferent flick of her wrist to indicate the band can continue. She continues to pack her things up, seemingly done here for the most part and possibly working on leaving. She still has those ear plugs in too.
A fact that doesn't go unnoticed by the more sharp-eyed individuals of the Gedo gang. One points to Gabriel, while her back's turned, grins at his compatriots, then cocks his head and taps his ear. The others catch on, and there's a small ripple of satisfied laughter. Up front, Acacia remains solemn, her face unreadable, but there's a small glint her eye. She replies to Gabriel...her voice drowned out entirely by the chaos, but at least her mouth moves, forming the words: "Welcome, thanks."
Seemingly content, Gabriel heads to and out the door. The one thing an observant person would notice, her schedule was marked off before leaving. She seemed to think, this band might be here during her scheduled days if she left herself posted at any time. Not showing even a little bit of concern over this, Gabriel opens the door and heads out onto the street, closing it behind her.
Shortly after Gabriel leaves the building, the Gedo-spawned racket dies down, and the gathered students break up into laughter. A couple express disappointment that the stunt didn't get more of a reaction from the Justice girl, but the rest are too busy laughing to care.
"Cool," Kurokawa says, "can we get out of 'ere now?"
Leiji blinks. "But we just started! Can we do Nirvana next or somethin'?"
The others just stare.
Log created on 15:59:04 06/11/2006 by Acacia, and last modified on 07:33:21 06/12/2006.