Band

Author Note:
For the intended experience, you should wear headphones and listen to every piece of audio as they appear! You will not get the intended story without the audio. Additionally, do not read ahead while listening to the audio, but it's fine if your eyes wander.

author goodies

Characters:
Front man/bassist/singer: Brooke (they/them)
Want: to be able to forget about the Backrooms and go back to their old life.
Need: to express themselves fully and healthily cope with stress.
Ending: they learn to express themselves but they still just want escape.
Drummer: Chea (she/her)
Want: to master the craft of drumming, despite what's in her way.
Need: gain confidence in herself, to know that she's good enough.
Ending: successfully, she gains confidence in herself.
Guitarist: Arden (he/him)
Want: to be widely recognized, to have fame within the Backrooms.
Need: true, honest, and personal connections; deep friendships.
Ending: he ends even more narcissistic than he began.

Plot:

• Brooke and Chea meet in Level 4 (this will later become where the band mainly practices, after they fix the acoustics). Chea leaves her drum set there, saying that it's never been stolen before.
• Brooke, who is actually a researcher for the M.E.G., brings Chea to Base Alpha. This should make it clear to Chea that Brooke is themself is passionate about music. They've been working on the side to make a bass and amp (since they primarily focus on electronic research).
• Brooke asks if Chea would like to jam out once they finish fixing up their amp. Chea agrees. Arden hears this but doesn't interject or ask to join (MAKE SURE TO FORESHADOWN ARDEN JOINING AND THE FACT THAT HES NOT GOING TO BE A GOOD ADDITION TO THE BAND)
• Meeting back up in Level 4, Brooke lugs around their bass and amp. Brooke leads the start of the jam, and slowly Chea starts joining in too. During this, Arden walks up to them and watches. Once this ends, Arden tells them that he's a guitarist but he doesn't have a guitar, and would like to join them (under the assumption that they're a band).
• For the sake of brevity, we time skip to after Brooke makes Arden a guitar. It's not good but it'll have to do. This is then when they start talking and figuring out how they're gonna be a band, and what kind of genre they want. Arden also complains about acoustics. Brooke wants to go mainly for vocals (even though they're not the best) and simple bass, Chea wants to have super complex drum lines, and Arden wants flashy guitar riffs. (MAKE SURE TO SHOW HOW THIS CLASHES BECAUSE OF THEIR CONFLICTING MOTIVATIONS).
• (THIS IS THE PART WHERE WE START TALKING ABOUT THE INDUSTRY) Coworkers and other people start to begin to talk to Brooke about their band. Everyone is super positive about it, especially Brooke's closer colleagues, as they know how much Brooke has been putting into it. People begin to offer to help "fund" the band so that they can really perform. (FORESHADOW TO HOW BAD THIS DEMAND WILL GET)
• First real practice/songwriting session! Arden brings in some foam blocks and it helps with the acoustics, not that it suddenly becomes studio quality, but much better. In the practice, Arden takes the lead with overly flashy lines, Brooke lays down a simple foundation (no vocals), and Chea starts off with a simple straight 2-4 groove. As we progress, Brooke begins mumbling some melodies and Chea begins playing more complex grooves. (SHOW HOW ARDEN GETS FRUSTRATED THAT HE'S NOT THE CENTER OF THE JAM AND BEGINS PLAYING ANGRILY AND MORE FLASHY STUFF).
• Brooke tries to tell Arden how they weren't happy with how he was playing in the jam, but Arden ignores Brooke and just talks about how they should all think about performing. Chea takes a back seat to the conversation and just lets it unfold, yet as the conversation turns into an argument, Chea suggests for Arden to just have a flashy extended guitar solo on the clause that he chills out for the rest of the song. Arden begrudgingly agrees. Brooke suggests for Chea to have a drum solo but she turns down the offer.
• For the sake of brevity, we fast forward through Brooke and Arden advertising their band and performance. (MAKE SURE TO SIGNPOST THE GROWING HYPE, FORESHADOW THAT IT MIGHT BE TOO MUCH). Slow down to a conversation between Brooke and Chea, where Chea confesses that she doesn't think she's good enough. She's scared about performing in front of others. Eventually, Chea agrees to at least keep practicing.
• The band got booked in Base Alpha! The MEG is sponsoring them, and they even got a small stage (with acoustic panels) set up. This is the last practice/writing session before the performance. This time, Chea starts off with a drum fill, and everything seems to go smoothly. Brooke doesn't have lyrics written, but they have a melody for vocals. The bass line they play is simple but syncopated. Arden plays simple chords and riffs, but he gets his flashy solo and goes wild (to the point where he's even missing some notes). Planned earlier by Brooke and Arden, after his solo, they stop playing abruptly, and let Chea have her solo. She slows down and loses energy, but then Brooke and Arden jump back in. After the song ends Chea complains. (MAKE SURE TO FORESHADOW THAT CHEA WILL ABSOLUTELY CRUSH IT IN THE PERFORMANCE)
• Lead up to the performance! Arden checks in with Brooke to complement the lyrics, and Chea just steadily gets her drum set ready. They talk to some people standing around, as they wait until the performance is soon to start. (MAKE SURE TO COVER THE HIGH EXPECTATIONS). One last nervous band huddle before the performance, everyone is ready.
• The performance! Everyone crushes it! This is the midpoint, the last time everything goes the band's way. From here, it's only downhill.

---

stowy!

"Uhm… Hi?" The drummer says, voice wobbling and eyes wide. She sits on a bucket turned upside down, surrounded by her makeshift drum set. The still air makes the moment linger on, gloomy rays from the windows of Level 4 cascade down onto her. "Can I… uh, help you?" I approach her.

"Your playing was beautiful," I say, in a straightforward manner. Then the silence grips hold awkwardly. "How'd you get those to sound so good?" I ask, gesturing at her set of equipment.

"Oh! Uh, thanks. Yeah, I…" she starts, giving me an awkward smile but avoiding eye contact, "I just brought all this stuff here. Uh, yeah." She pauses as I study her drums. It's made of not-so-hastily put-together buckets, wood, and scrap metal. It's not something professional, but you can tell it was made with care. The many drill holes that show she tried many times to tune it to sound exactly how she wanted. The slight dents in the drumhead; the way each drum was meticulously arranged. Even though she probably didn't know what she was doing, the unfiltered musicianship feels so raw and filled with love. "So, what did you want?"

I look at her, snapped out of my focus. "Sorry, I was just," I pause, rethinking what I was going to say. "I've never seen another musician in the Backrooms before."

"Another?" She looks me in the eyes for the first time, tilting her head slightly as she questions.

"Yeah! This is probably a good time to introduce myself," I say enthusiastically, "I'm Brooke, nice to meet you." I smile, a big grin to make sure my eyes do too. I put my hand out for her to shake, and she accepts the offer, glancing away.

Gripping my hand firmly, almost uncomfortably so, she mumbles, "My name is Chea. Nice to, uh, meet you."

I clasp Chea's hands tightly as she tries to let go, and I lean in closer; everything fades away. "You don't realize how long I've been wanting to find someone like you."

Our footsteps echo through Level 1, reverberating with colorful tones softly ringing and humming through the air. A bright transient, then the slow dissipation of it. The soft, warbling lights harmonize with the space. "I mean, you've been here before, right?" I continue, my voice bleeding out into the halls. "I work at Base Alpha; I crunch down on numbers and tinker with circuits, and they feed me and let me do what I want. It's a fine deal, really."

"So, you're a researcher." Chea responds flatly, trailing a few paces behind me.

"To put it simply, yeah." I stop, and listen. "We're close, you can hear them in the distance." Voices, human voices, blend together in long trails of sound, glowing like a beacon of life.

As we continue to walk, the voices get louder and a bit more coherent. We reach the gate, and Thomas is on watch duty. "Eyyyyy, what's good Brooke?"

I grab Thomas's hand with a loud clap and pull him in. "Not much whaddabout you?" We aggressively pat each other on our backs.

"Mighty fine!" He says, with a loud, enthusiastic voice despite the bags under his eyes. He nods over to Chea, "And who might that be?"

"She's Chea, a drummer. I'm showing her what I've been up to."

Thomas elbows me in the gut, "Finally got a girl, eh?" He snarks.

"Ha! Who do you think I am?" I chuckle, and walk into the base, "See ya round, Thomas." Chea follows behind slowly, glancing around, fidgeting with her hair.

Passing by a few conversations and heading into the building, we make our way to the workspace. My workbench, covered in a few too many loose resistors and capacitors I can't care enough to sort out, junk and projects I've been tinkering with, and loose documents and schematics, also holds my prized possession. My bass.

"Woah," Chea lets out, in awe or maybe just confusion as to how I even did this in the first place. "You made that?"

I pick it up by the neck, brandishing it like a newly forged sword. "Yep, I've been working on it for months." I smile, just the thought of playing it makes warm, fuzzy feelings flow through my body. "I can't explain how much I love it. All the work I've been putting into it, augh!" I gasp, shivering. Words can't describe how I feel.

"You wanna hear it?"

"Uh… sure?"

"It's- it's uh, pretty cool!" Chea says, not-so-enthusiastically. "Wow, I didn't think that you could make something this… uh, something of this quality."

"Ha! Thanks, yeah my workbench isn't a mess for no reason." I reply, making pathetic excuses and laughing off the mess. I unplug my bass and carefully set it on the stand, gently to make sure nothing collapses.

Someone knocks on the door to the workspace; both me and Chea whip our heads over to see who it is. My shoulders tense and I sigh once I see Arden's face. He laughs, "Hey, I see you got a girl to come see your bass."

"Shut up, Arden." I walk over to him, and look him straight in the eyes, "What do you want?"

"Nothin'" He raises his hands and backs off, "Nothin', just heard your bass and I just had to come check it out." He smirks, "You know, everyone's always talking behind your back. Don't you have more work to do with, what was it?" Mockingly, Arden scratches his chin and his voice grows sharp, "Oh right, maybe figuring out why people's radios have suddenly been cutting out all the time."

I look away, I can't let him see that I'm quivering. It's hard to breathe. "So you've come to make fun of me again, I see." Chea is just watching it unfold; she hasn't said a word.

"Don't shoot the messenger, now, Brooke." Arden scoffs, "You know I'm on your side." He turns around, and just before he closes the door, he adds, "I'm always gonna help you in a pickle."

"That-" I grumble, that fucker. I look towards Chea. She's fiddling with her hair, twirling it around her finger. Her eyes are distant, and her face is solemn. I sigh, "That was Arden."

Chea looks at me but doesn't say a word.

"Welcome to Base Alpha, the first safe haven most are lucky enough to have gotten to."

"That room in Level 4 is safe, I mean it's where I spend most of my time, and like I'm still alive," Chea says flatly. We sit at a table across from each other in the dining hall. It was getting a bit stuffy in the workspace.

"Don't you know all the-" I sigh, "whatever. Anyways, wanna try jamming out once I finish making my amp?"

Chea replies chopily, "Uhm, I mean, sure? I guess?"

"Give me a week or so, then you can help me lug everything over to your drum set."

"What's wrong with your amp, though?"

"It doesn't exactly have a 'plug', perse," I start, "It's quite literally wired directly into the walls."

"Why?"

"Easier."

"Huh, okay. I'm not the Meggie, I'll just-"

"Don't," I look her in the eyes as I interrupt, "call me that. Please."

"O-oh. Okay?"

"So, meet me here in a week?"

"Yeah, uhm, sure." She answers, not sounding so convinced, just a flat monotone voice with no sparkles in her eyes. I can only hope she's the same kind of musician as me.

Carrying my bass on my back and an assortment of cables in my hands, Chea trails behind lugging my amp. "Thanks for helping out, by the way." I say, "It's hard enough to get through the Backrooms, I wouldn't be able to carry all my stuff in one trip."

"Yeah," she puffs, "No problem." Once we reach the room she keeps her drums, I toss the cables down on the carpet and Chea sets down my amp with a thud.

"Now the fun part," I start, holding my latest experiment, a simple overdrive pedal. I set it down carefully, and begin separating the cables, "let's jam!" As I continue to plug everything in, Chea walks over to sit behind the drum set.

I throw my bass' strap over my head, and smile.

For the first time, I see Chea's smile. Not an ingenuine nervous grin, but an actual grin that only comes from passion shared. It's been, what, years since I've played with people? The middle-muddle of first getting here is all blurry. It's not something I like to remember.

For once, it feels like I'm back home. I can feel my eyes get hot as they start to water, "Wow, that was fun. Really damn fun."

"I agree!" Chea chimes, with real inflections in her voice.

An applause, oh fuck me. "Pretty nice, I must say." Arden chuckles. I take one glance at Chea, at least I'm not the only one that hates his presence.

"Why the h-" I stop myself and breathe, "So why are you here, Arden?"

"I wanted to hear y'all play," he sneers, and walks up closer to us. In a sinister voice, he adds, "Wondering if maybe I could play too."

"You play an instrument?" Chea asks, jumping immediately into the conversation.

"Guitar." Arden states, "I was the lead guitarist to a band like any other in Orange County. That is, before I came here," he says, gesturing to the room.

"So…?" I question.

"Make me a fuckin' guitar Brooke. I'll play in this little band of yours."

My face starts feeling hot, and I instinctively puff up my chest. "The hell did you just say to me?"

"You heard me. With all that time we give you, you better put it to good use."

Chea stands up, her voice hot and sharp, "Why should we even play with you?"

"Because you don't have a band without no guitar."

I set down my hot soldering iron, and lean on my workbench to sigh. We weren't even a band we were just having fun jamming, but Chea and I buckled down to Arden's demand. That bitch is getting his guitar, so he better appreciate it.

"Hey Brooke, how's it goin?" I look up and Thomas is there.

"Hey Tommy. Not good."

Thomas frowns, "awh that's a shame." I see his mouth open to say something, but he doesn't.

"Y'know, there are better days. Y'all let me work on my shenanigans…" I trail off.

"We know it's your escape."

"But, augh!" I yell, shaking. My body wants to escape; existing is unbearably painful, I just want to move. "It's just been so goddamn frustrating lately."

Thomas pats me on the back, "I know how ya feel, Brooke." He looks around then leans in to my ear and whispers, "If ya ever need a break from y'know who I can cover."