Gravity is Universal: Book 1
Entry 4
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Gravity is Universal
Chapter 3
Rocker's Party
Love God throws his arms around both the Maheswaren parents. He begins to boast about his recent accomplishments in a loud carrying voice. Greg is staring at them from the driver's seat of his van, licking his wounds.
Mr. Maheswaren speaks to the Cherubic rocker. "I can't even believe that I didn't recognize you! We probably watched your vid at least a dozen times at our post." Love God occasionally looks to Greg, making eye contact with him as he brags.
"Yeah, that viral video was the best thing that could have happened to my music career, everyone wants a piece the Elegy (L.G.) lately. It's just been gig after gig. Heck, I was even headlining the LEGENDARY Woodstick festival down in Gravity Falls. I would dare say that my music career now.."
Elegy pauses taking a long look at Greg.
Elegy raises his voice even further. Making sure his former partner in crime can hear every syllable of what he says. "..FLIES LIKE A COMET!"
Greg slams his head against the steering wheel, pouting in the driver seat of his van, trying to nurse battered ego. Finding out one of your former friends is excelling in an area where you once had great aspirations for is always a crushing blow.
Dr. Maheswaren begins taking multiple selfies with Love God. They strike multiple poses with each new photo.
Greg begins muttering to himself, lamenting over his current life situation. However, His little self-pity party comes to a screeching halt when a thought crosses his mind.
Greg swallows his pride; seeing no better option for getting them out of his current situation. He steps out of the van and walks up to the group.
"Hey Elegy! Could you do me a solid, and give us a lift down to Gravity Falls? Two of your….fans…. have shindig they need to get to. "
"Now what's this I hear? The super, amazing, and wonderful Greg Universe needs help from a simple lyricist? Why would the talented, Master of his craft, great and powerful Mr. Universe, need any form of assistance? I mean all of your accomplishments have been by your efforts and your efforts alone, no help or credit need be given to anyone else." The Love God's condescending tone rang in the air.
"So, Tell me why would I, should I, help a dumb hairy nomad like you? Elegy asks.
"Because, you owe me!" Greg said as he stares down the Love God.
Elegy grits his teeth. "…fine, I'll give them a lift. But you're staying here, and after this we are even Universe! Besides, if my fans had asked I would have done it any way!" He turns to the Manheswarens.
"Okay Elegy here will give you a lift." Greg said.
A look of relief washes over Mr. Manheswaren's face. "Really? Thank you, Thank you so much! Love God"
"It's not like we have other option, my hide is saved." He says to himself.
"Connie, we're going to be changing vehicles, get your things." Dr. Manheswaren said to her daughter.
The Manheswarens gather their bags and walk toward the Love God Van. They pass a mural painted along the side of his Van. The words "The Love God" is painted on the driver side door, in neatly written pink spray paint. A picture of Elegy in his current attire is astride a bald eagle soaring above a desert scene, with two pyramids. One of the pyramids has a picture of Elegy's face painted on the side of it. Elegy's arms and small wings are thrown in the air; like he just doesn't care. All beneath a blue crescent Moon in a starry sky.
Elegy smacks the side of Greg's van. "Could you call me a truck?" Greg yells.
"Okay, you're a truck." Love God yells back as he rushes to his van.
He swings open the back door of his van. There are a lot of unkempt pillows lying about, covered in bunched up blankets thrown around the back of the van. Reddish-pink silk drapes each side of the van. There is a lone pull chain lamp hanging from the ceiling above the right corner of the mattress. Everything is resting on top of stained orange shag carpeting. It's pretty dirty.
"Connie, sit in the front seat. No questions. Just do it." Mr. Manheswaren said, not wanting his daughter to investigate this area any further.
"We don't want you catching anything." Dr. Manheswaren said.
Connie shrugs and walks to the front of the van carrying a hard cover copy of Unfamiliar Familiar in her arms. She hops into the passenger's seat.
The Manhewarens board the vehicle as they drive off down the road.
"Alright you folks are in for a treat. Let's rock out! Care to do the honor's little lady?" Elegy pulls out one of his many demo cassettes and places it into a dual tape deck. Connie stares at the archaic format, pushing the play button on the tape deck opposite of the one Elegy's Demo is in.
A small instrumental begins to strum as the voice of a young Greg begins to blare through the speakers:
Everything here is said by someone in the car. OUTSIDE of the song
(read to the melody of Journey's: Don't Stop Believing) www . youtube / watch?v=PBEXSiFzOfU )
..She was just a large, town girl.
Came from a far-off world. Really..
The sound of midnight's clangs, that
Filled her with Sorrow.
Mr. Manheswaren's says. "this song sounds familiar…"
Elegy (L. G.) then joins in
Through this little boy.
He Stood before her, She fill with Joy
He stopped the midnight's clang.
Ending her despair;
Dr. Manheswaren "I know it's so …familiar."
An unknown third man joins in.
I've seen it in a cloudy room.
A prodigy, foreboding doom.
Lay to bear on a bed of ice,
Will we go on and on and on at all…?
"If only we could remeber."
Greg, Elegy and the third man sing together.
Strangers, greetings.
In the middle of a bo-ardwalk;
There are shadows!
Searching for their Miight!
Midnight, Seeking,
To strip themselves of all emotion!
Flying somewhere in the night;
"I think I remember... it was at?" Dr. Manheswaren tries to recall.
It hardly works to impress our peers.
Only to receive nothing but Jeers,
Payin' anything to roll the dice.
Just one more time;
Mr. Manheswaren snaps his fingers "It was during a battle of the bands concert!"
Can we win? Will we lose?
Were we born to face the hues?
Nobody truly knows If we
Can we go on and on at all?
Dr. Manheswaren "That's right, you hid me in a closet, while fighting off that rowdy gang of teenagers."
Strangers are meeting;
in the middle of a bo-ardwalk!
There are shadows
Searching for its Miight,
Midnight is Seeking!
to strip themselves of all emotion,
Flying somewhere in the night;
Mr. Manheswaren voice carries a gentle tone. "That's where we met."
Don't start unbelieving!
Never don't not,
Feel you feelings.
"Where did you find this? We've looked for this song for ages." Mr. Manheswaren asks.
"The closest we've ever found was the song Don't start Unbelieving by the band Vagabondage." The Doctor says.
Elegy shrugs. And rewinds it. "All those jerks did was read my lyrics backwards."
Elegy cringes staring forward at the road , his eyes looking downward. "It's from the one time performance of the 5.6.7's. Live at Ocean town." He says with a grin on his face.
"It just didn't have anywhere close to the same feel. Where did you find it? I've searched everywhere for it." Dr. Manheswaren says.
"No surprise there. This is the only copy of it. It's been stuck in this deck since…I don't know. Had to of been stuck in there sometime during the 80s or 90s. Heh, those last few decades are a blur to me." Elegy begins fumbling in his jacket and pulls out yet another demo tape.
Dr. Manheswaren pulls out her checkbook. "I'll pay you whatever you want for that tape."
Elegy hands his Demo cassette Dr. Manheswaren. "You can offer me whatever you want, but you won't get that tape out. It's jammed in their in such away, if you try to pull it out it'll wreck the ribbon. Leaving a distortion on the song that can never return to its original state. But here why don't you take this FREE Demo tape, from seven himself!"
Dr. Manheswaren takes the tape. She sighs "Could you at least restart the song. So we can record it?"
Connie sits in silence staring at the endless stretch of road and pine trees for about 5 minutes. All the while her parents bicker in the back.
"Soo…Do you have a favorite band? Any Food you like?" Elegy asks her.
Immediately she opens "The Unfamiliar Familiar" and starts to pretend to read it, Trying to avoid eye contact as much as possible. Elegy takes notice of the book.
"No way, you're a Familiarity too? Love God says with excitement as he begins digging underneath his seat. He pulls out a soft cover of "Destiny's End"
"So far I've really been enjoying The Spirit Morph Saga. I just finished up Overneath the Underworld. I'd been stuck on it for ages. It's so sad what had happened Plinkman having to sacrifice himself like that."
"Yeah, but was important for Lisa's development as a character, and was important for separating her from Archimicarus." Connie says as she begins to open up to the chubby rocker.
"Hmmm…" Elegy begins to ponder this simple revelation. The bickering intensifies.
"Yeesh, Do they always fight like that?" The Love God says. Connie nods her head.
"Kinda, but even more so recently." Connie said.
"Open up the glove compartment, and hand me the blue vial inside of it." Elegy asks.
Connie does what she's asked.
He dips a finger into a vile tied to his belt and flicks a blue substance at them. "whapow!" Their bickering stops. The song starts playing again.
"I'm sorry, I've just been so stressed lately, and I've just been taking it out on you." Dr. Manheswaren apologizes to her partner.
"No, I was being a jerk to you. I'm sorry." Mr. Manheswaren says as he apologizes. He puts his arm around his wife and starts to nuzzle her.
"Yeah, let's just close this." Elegy says as he pulls a shower curtain over separating the drivers from the passengers in the back.
"Would you like to listen to some great tunes?" Connie looks behind herself then looks to Elegy with a look of complete bewilderment.
"How did you do that? What is that Stuff?" Connie's tone is a mixture of curiosity and shock.
"Well, from one familiarity to another. The Love God isn't just a stage name." He the little wings on Elegy's backpack flutter.
"Oh my gosh, Are you a cherub?" A look of shock flashes across Connie's face as she realizes.
"Bingo!" Elegy answers as he snaps his fingers.
Connie abstracts. "But instead of arrows, you use potions?"
"Correct again little lady!" Elegy confirms.
"Then where did the bow and arrow motif come from?"
"I save that for the more thick skinned targets." Elegy says. He hand's the Blue bottle over to Connie.
"Here take this and promise me, you'll only use it when your parents bickering gets to obnoxious."
Elegy hands the blue bottle over to Connie. She reads it to herself.
Love of Rock! Capable of making anyone set aside petty squabbles and focus on the most important things. If just for a little while…
"Oh my gosh. Thank you." Connie says in an excited tone.
"I now have my own power!" She said quietly to herself, trying to contain her excitement
"Eeh?" Elegy looks to her.
"I was just wondering how you and Mr. Universe met. I just don't want to pry, if it's a touchy issue." Connie covers her tracks.
"Oh! Well you see a while back I was in a real funk; I had just lost my job to the Internet and was hitting the Chicken wings pretty hard at this dive bar called The Shattered Skull; just completely feeling sorry for myself. When this skinny guy with long brown hair, walked on stage and started strumming this tune. Everyone started booing and throwing bottles at him. I don't know if it was the heat on my lips, or the burn in my heart. I just decided to walk up and join in. I sang this poem, I wrote a long time ago, alongside him. The patrons started to love it. We got asked to performances all around that town. So, we formed a band called "Love is Universal". I got top billing but his name stands out more, so it was fair. We agreed at the start to be equals, but things didn't work out that way."
Elegy quickly wraps up as they approach their destination.
"Long Story short, We started our own rock song review show on Public Access, called Greg's World! Greg was led astray by some grey haired viper named Marty, who he offered to manage him. We got into fight. Mistakes were made. He swore he'd only be a one man band from that point. We didn't meet again until Ocean Town. I knew his Old Lady before he did yada yada yada. Ya know boiler plate rocker stuff. Anyway we're here!"
They arrive outside a sleazy motel. Connie and the Cherub get out of the Van. He slams the side of it with an open hand
"Finish up in there!" Elegy shouts.
A minute later, the parental Manheswarens crawl out of the van. Their clothes and hair are in complete disarray.
Mr. Manheswaren clears his throat. He Pulls some money out of his pocket and hands it to Connie.
"Connie, me and your mother are going to *clears his throat* check in to our Rooms, making sure that everything will be cleaned, IS Clean enough, for you. Could you go to that Diner across the street and grab us something to eat? I have to change and leave in a few hours and we still haven't settled in."
Dr Maneheswaren clears her throat. "Nothing with trans-fat, if you can find any food like that, order it! Search their entire menu. Thoroughly! I don't want to see you back in the room, for at least 30 minutes. Do whatever it takes to not eat Trans-Fats, Remember!"
"Okay." Connie was hungry anyway. She walks toward the Log Shaped building resting on a train car. She looks up at the imposing sign that reads "Greasy's Diner. She walks in.
When Connie was out of ear shot they both say. "I'm going to rock you."
Atbash
Angels and numbers. The stolen song tells a sadder tale. From bottom to top, Left to Right.
Hope you enjoyed it, Message me, review it, I love feedback.
