[Kyoto] Cough Syrup for Ningyo Heiki 1

[I'm Only Dancing]

[A JP by Seki Tanaka and Orion Moony]
Lain leaned back against the ragged leather armchair, casting his leg over one armrest, letting his head fall back delicately. What a universe this was, where everyone except one particular woman could suck so completely and utterly. He cried out, then, in a high lilting voice, "Reis! Where have you gone to, love? Won't you steal away my terror, and give plush comforts to my mind?"

After a moment, "Or is it just a computer up there? Never really did figure that one out..."

Reis leaned over the back of the armchair, gazing down misty-eyed at the feckless creature beneath her. "I'm all kinda certain we actually has brains, loverboy. Jes' so long as m'not STed, m'fine wit the res of it." She extended a hand to him. "...we's got a way ta go, though, yea? NH-1 needs soup an' crumpets ta make it all better."

Lain raised a brow, taking her hand, and rising with a flourish. He finished by drawin gher close against him, lips trailing to just above her ear, "...NH-1 needs soup and crumpets. To make what all better?"

"That we's been replaced wit computers, mos'ly. Obselete lifeforms, an' we gots no place in dis 'verse fulla supermen an' army fucktoys." Reis grinned lightly, pushed Lain away with a churlish giggle. "We's got ta get ta the studio, Lain, an' we can make it all better." The slightly slurred accent was heavier than usual, suggesting that Reis had probably had a few too many shots today.

"...studio? We've got no music and no lyrics. Nothing planned. Just some scrap notes and a few months of solitude after the damned Surrender tour." Lain set a palm through his hair, tried his best to be supportive. He was in a good mood right now, and she was drunk, and there really was nothing they had to record... "That, and recording studios usually aren't open when its darker than a rathole out..."

"Ya's jes' antsattapiccanick, Lain. Antsattapiccanick." Reis stumbled back against him. "Told ya what tha album be 'bout. Makin' it all better for NH-1, so's we don' all die of anotha plague that we can blame on whoseva mos' convenient polit'calital.." Reis blinked, attempted to untie her tongue. "Politically. Make it all better for NH-1!"

"...with soup and crumpets." Lain smiled slightly at the concept. It was certainly not a bad idea... though the 'soup and crumpets' part could use some editing.

"Yesh! Exacticallish..." Reis paused. "Ya still love me Lain even when I's drunk an talk like a prairie 'arpie from shm..." The next few words were lost in an indistinguishable jumble of syllables.

"Always, Reis. Always love you." A kiss to her forehead, and Lain glanced towards the ceiling in thought. "...cough syrup."

"Cough sheerup?"

"Cough Syrup for Ningyo Heiki 1." Lain grinned. "You're a bloody genius, Reis. I ever tell you that?"

"Only jes now..." Reis pushed him away again, and staggered off towards the stand where she kept her pretty Sachikoe accoustic guitar. She nearly fell halfway there, and spent a moment to recover her balance. "Write somesort for us Lain, chords an words and prettiness!"

"...howabout we get you to sleep, Reis, and work on this in the morning? You're... a bit too drunk for this." Lain smiled slightly. "And you'll break your guitar if you fall with it, which would be an absolute tragedy."

[I'm Only Dancing]

[A JP by Seki Tanaka and Orion Moony. Also a public service announcement, with guitars! KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! THESE ARE YOUR RIGHTS! ...okay, I'm done Clashing.]

Reis had been up since well before sunrise, a refreshed mind swiftly whirling through serpentine pages, scribbling notes and ideas, and sketches, and occasionally lifting the lovely guitar to her lap and attempting to write out a fresh chord progression. It wasn't a lack of trying on her part. Her mind just didn't have quite the capacity for composition that Lain's did. A dreamer, and an artist who made those dreams flower into splendorous reality. If only the city boy would wake up already...

"Laaaiiiiiin! Whassahellistakinyasolong?" Yes, her vocals were slurred even when she was perfectly alert and sober. Just... slightly less so.

Lain rubbed his eyes lightly, then pushed himself out of bed. Why was it so damnably cold on Yamatai? Murmuring softly to himself, he stumbled down the stairs. "...m'here, Reis. Let me wake up natural next time, not a trouble, right?" He lurched towards the sink, splashed a few handfulls of icy water into his face, cast his head back. "....moderately better now. What was it you're needing me for?"

Reis pouted. "...needyou sos you ken write us musics ta play fer NH-1, sos we ken make et all better..." Had he already forgotten? That charlatan whore! He wasn't getting sex for a month! Or... a day, at least... if Reis could live that long... she found herself already forgiving him. "An Im nogoodat writing chords an such but I have some lyricsforyoutoreadonnatablethere..." She pointed to the one page she had not crumpled to badly, then fell back into her writing.

"...right, cough syrup... of course." Lain picked up the sheet she indicated with a smile, set himself opposite the table from her. A moment was spent to read, then he looked up. "...broken doll, hm. Guitar, Reis. D minor, C, G seventh, A minor seventh..." He tapped a slow tempo on the table for her, glancing about for his harmonica. Reis had given them something new to work on tirelessly, and that, Lain was immensely thankful for.

Glancing up as he began tapping, Reis scrabbled for her guitar, and set to strumming the chords he suggested, stuttering a few seconds before falling into a rhythm she liked, a pair of downstrokes and an upstroke. She watched in mild curiosity as Lain sought out his harmonica, but grinned at the progression. It worked wonderfully for her theme...

Locating his harmonica, Lain set it to his leaps, offering a rough-edged melody weaving between her chords. A few seconds later, he pulled the instrument from his lips, and offered those first tenuous vocal notes. "...the fingers are shattered, the eyes can't see, the heart is beating weak as straw..." Then he trailed off, nodding assentively. "...we've something to record, then, Reis. Any more gems to impart to us?"

Ruefully, Reis shook her head. "...nothingmorebutyoucanwrite yes? Since you es so good at it... an never writes anything what isnt brilliant an'..."

Lain laughed. "...I wish that were so, but I'll work at it. We need musicians. Send it over the networks, I guess... give a few people a chance to be on our record. Shouldn't be too hard to find some wonderful talent..."