An empty studio and a battlefield... {Rikku}

[conrad]

Con looked around at the nearly empty Glee Club Studio. At the moment he was currently standing at the door staring into the room, all it had in it was a piano and a few chairs. That wasn't nearly enough equipment for them to work with. Sighing he slowly walked into the room and took his coat off, throwing it onto a chair Con glanced at his reflection in the mirror, he seemed fairly presentable. Today he had decided to take it easy and kept things simple, all he had on was his black trousers and a shirt, simple as. Besides no one would see him, well except the Co-Director of Glee Club, who ever that may be. They should be down in a couple of minutes though, plenty of time...

Smiling the teacher casually walked over to the piano and flipped open the lid. It had been ages since he had played the piano, almost half his life in fact, but he still knew how to play it and besides there were some music sheets there as well. Grabbing one of the sheets Conrad took a look at the song before placing it on the stand. He stretched his arms slightly before pressing one of the keys, he smiled again and then began playing the music to the song that was on the sheet.

Con wasn't the best at singing, or at least he thought he wasn't quite a few people had said before that he should make a career out of it. He couldn't do that, he enjoyed teaching too much. Glee was the way to do both things at once and he had to teach these students quite a lot of things, which was why he was rehearsing now, even if he was singing a song that he didn't really care much for,"Don't try to explain your mind; I know what's happening here; One minute it's love; And suddenly it's like a battlefield..."

[Rikaeyu Osomage]

There was a song in her heart. Literally. The name of the song? Imaginary by Evenescence. She hummed it as Rikku walked around the campus towards the Glee Studio. Two of her three pets were following her. One was her wolf, Elizabeth, and the other her cat, Selene. Both had wanted to come with her this day, just to get out of the dorm. It was no crime that they were committing, but it would still be a load of fun.

Rikku was a little dressed up, since she was going to meet the director of the club and she was the co-director. She had on a long, black ruffled skirt, red and black striped belly top with long sleeves, and her favorite pair of leather gloves. There was a thin black zip-up hoodie tied around her waist. 'Momma, why are you all dressed up?' Selene asked. Rikku shrugged. "Why not? I am meeting someone that i probably never met before. Though maybe the top is a little less than professional." 'Maybe a little. But it is very pretty, Yuyu.' Elizabeth added.

Rikku sighed as they got to the studio. She told them to stay outside. Both of the animals rub up against her leg momentarily and said their good lucks before she went inside.

Don't try to explain your mind; I know what's happening here; One minute it's love; And suddenly it's like a battlefield..."

The words came towards her as she opened the door. She had the urge to sing along, but bit down on her tongue. She knocked lightly and walked in. "Hello. Are you the director of the Glee Club?" she asked, letting her thick Greek accent come through.

[conrad]

"Hello. Are you the director of the Glee Club?"

Con heard someone speak and instantly knew who it was, the accent sort of gave it away. Why did it have to be her? He hoped that she wasn't the Co-Director. Not turning around Conrad spoke, "I am." He sighed before contnuing, "Glee hasn't started yet so the studio is closed at the moment, please can you close the door on your way out?" Con closed the lid of the piano and leaned his arms on the top of it, his hands covered his face.

Sighing and making sure that he didn't see the girl Con carfully walked oer to the stack of chairs and began taking them down and arranging them into a line, the students did have to have somewhere to sit when they weren't singing or dancing afterall and until the couches arrived then these will have to do. Rubbing his eyes he tried not to think about the last time he had seen this girl and the events that had happened. He had just got over that and now she was back to stir it up again. It wasn't fair. But it came with the whole shifting thing. He just had to find a way to control it.

[Rikaeyu Osomage]

She sighed and took a couple of steps forwards. Hearing the voice made her gasp. Conrad? He was the director? Rikku shook her head and tried to not think about that. Next thought. Did he not know that she was his co-director? She would have to tell him that.

"I would, Co- err... Mister Gallagher but i am to be meeting with the director. You see, I am your Co-director." Her voice sounded a little uncertain, but that didn't matter.

She walked towards the piano, opened it, and began to play it. She played a little bit of the song Lithium and sang the first verse just so that she could prove that she was at least in it. It was up to him to believe that she was the assistant.

"Lithium, don't wanna lock me up inside
Lithium, don't wanna forget how it feels without
Lithium, I wanna stay in love with my sorrow
Oh, but God I wanna let it go."

Rikku moved her hands and put them in her lap and looked over in the same direction as Conrad. She had always been told that she had a beautiful voice. 'I hope that he likes my voice too.'[/i] She thought, then she spoke to him out loud. "Please believe me."

[conrad]

"I would, Co- err... Mister Gallagher but i am to be meeting with the director. You see, I am your Co-director."

He knew that this was why she was here but he didn't want to believe it, now she had just confirmed it. Con knew that he just had to move on and get on with life, afterall his job mattered more than some relationship with another shifter.

"Lithium, don't wanna lock me up inside
Lithium, don't wanna forget how it feels without
Lithium, I wanna stay in love with my sorrow
Oh, but God I wanna let it go."

Conrad turned around and stared at the girl, she had a wonderful voice, she was essential to Glee and might even be able to actually make this work. He smiled at her, "I believe you. Welcome to Glee Club." His smile turned into a open mouthed grin as he held out his hand, "it's time to make a fresh start, forget the past and move on.

[Rikaeyu Osomage]

Lithium had always been her favorite song by Evenescence,which was why she had chosen it. And it did kind of fit the situation... to an extent. The girl blinked her eyes a couple of times to let them become purple and tried t resist the urge to change her hair color as well.

A smile fluttered softly onto Rikku's lips. She looked over at his hand and then down at hers. Lightly adjusting the gloves to prevent and skin on skin contact, she took his hand. "Thank you Mister Gallagher. Thank you very much." She paused for a moment. "I agree, a fresh start may be the best for us." 'No matter if I like you or not,' she added to herself in her head.

She took a quick glance around the room before letting her now purple eyes rest on him. "So... Mister, where shall we start?"

[conrad]

"So... Mister, where shall we start?"

"We need seats, that's the first thing... The members need somewhere to sit afterall..." Con sighed before kicking the side of the piano in anger. He was so pissed off with this, he had asked for the Glee Club Studio to be fully furnished and set up before he got down there. It should've been done weeks ago. Looking at Rikku, the teacher put his hand to his forehead, "i'm sorry, i'm just really pissed off right about now..."

One good thing though was that there was plenty of room, it was ideal for the things they would be doing. Sighing Con pulled out his keys and walked over to the store room, there had to be something in there, right? Unlocking the door and pushing it open he stared into the room, the light was already on for some reason, it was lucky really because it illuminated the room. It was quite full, the only problem was that it was full of useless things: masks, canes and candles, etc. The only thing that could be used was a guitar which Con took out and carried over to one of the chairs.

Sitting down he rested the guitar on his lap and adjusted the strings before beginning to play, "it's been a while since i've played a guitar, last time was when I was a teen and I played the one that Rose's mother owned... He chuckled slightly, "I used to play all the time, it drove her mad..." Con continued playing random music for a few seconds before finally breaking into an actual song,
"She said to me, 'Go steady on me.
Won't you tell me what the Wise Men said?
When they came down from Heaven,
Smoked nine 'til seven,
On the stuff that they could find,'
But they couldn't escape from you,
Couldn't be freed of you,
And now they know there's no way out,
And they're really sorry now for what they've done,
They were three Wise Men just trying to have some fun."

[Rikaeyu Osomage]

Riyu stretched her arms and yawned. She jumped, a little shocked at his sudden change in mood.

"i'm sorry, i'm just really pissed off right about now..."

She stood up and had the urge to hug him, or maybe just touch his arm. Anything that might calm him down, but he might take it the wrong way. She couldn't kiss his cheek, even if she wanted to, for fear of seeing some memory of his. "Just calm down. Take a few deep breathes, that always works for me when i am mad and when i'm..." she trailed off, not wanting to reveal too much about her secret life.

The girl looked around, wondering where the chairs might be. She walked around for a moment, looking, when she heard Conrad speak. Curiously, she turned to look at him. He had a guitar. Rikku walked towards him slowly and kneeled beside him to listen to him.

"You have a wonderous voice, Conrad," she said, looking down at her lap. And then she asked: "Is Rose your daughter?"

[conrad]

Conrad glanced at the female before standing up and walking away, as he did so he continued to play the guitar but had stopped singing. It wasn't that he was being ignorant, he just didn't want to talk about his daughter or any of his history right now, especially not to a student. He stopped and placed the guitar on the floor before glancing around the room, "once you've set up the chairs can you find the microphones for those stands, please?" Pointing to the area where the mic stands were he looked over at the female, "if you can't find any chairs or the microphones around here then run up to my office and get some, the door is open..."

He turned away and walked over to the piano, resting a piece of paper on the top of it Con pulled out a pen and some keys from his pocket and began scribbling something on the paper, "my keys and a hall pass is there, take them with you just in case..." He said keys but there was only three of them, one for his office, one for the Glee Club Studio and one for his small house, for what good any of them did it was a wonder. Getting another piece of paper and resting it on the piano again Con once again began writing something, this time though this piece of paper only concerned him for now, it was just a letter to someone he had long since lost contact with.

[Rikaeyu Osomage]

Riyu sighed as he stood up. He was definitely ignoring the question, but that didn’t matter. She could actually understand why he wouldn’t want to talk about it. She just nodded and began to look around the room, trying to find the chairs. She had the urge to turn into a cat, or something with a good nose to sniff them out, but she couldn’t do that, not now.

After a few moments, she decided to just go up to his office, so she took the keys and hall pass, telling him thank you as she did . At least she knew that the things she needed were in there. Rikku didn’t exactly know where his office was, so she walked around for a good seven minutes looking for an open room. She checked every door, but that didn’t really help.

Finally, she found a door that had the name Conrad Gallagher on it. It wasn’t unlocked and the door was closed, so she had to use the keys that she was given. It didn’t take her long after that to find a small stack of chairs and a couple of mics and she was out of the room only a few moments after she had entered it.

When she got back, she set up the chairs neatly and placed the microphones on their stands. Yawning softly, she stretched out her arms, not noticing the absence of the gloves that were there earlier. The girl placed the keys back on the piano, next to the teacher and her hand accidentally brushed his. She froze, not able to move or speak, sucked in to his mind and memories like a tornado. She didn’t like what she saw, not that it was horrible, just a father, a teen, giving up his baby for adoption. That image quickly faded, replaced with his thoughts and a few more memories of his life. It took all of her mental strength to pull away, but she did.

The young shapeshifter took a few weary steps backwards, breathing in and out slowly to calm herself. Her eyes were a little wide from what she had seen.

Finally, she began to look frantically around. ”My gloves… Where are they? Did they fall over here… or maybe it was over there?” Rikaeyu was in a semi-panic. They had to have fallen off in the room, right? Or maybe they were in his office?

She couldn’t find them anywhere in the Glee Studio. Her legs gave out on her and she fell silently to the ground, defeated. What was she going to do without her gloves? They were a necessity to make it though her days, and she just couldn’t leave! She whispered the word help as softly as she could.