Design everlasting

Forever collapsing

You're the calm before the storm

Encapsulate

Suffocate

Lay me down with my sins

Buried in this endless apathy

Covered in this seamless agony

Why get up? Just give in

This surrender is sinking in

--From the song Kill The Silence

Lyrics By: Orion Bauwens

"Are you okay?"

"I've never been on an airplane before," Orion admits.

"First time for everything," Ben tells him with a grin.

"Y-yeah," he replies, adjusting his glasses nervously.

We have a late flight out of Detroit Metro Airport. At Orion's insistence, Gloria is going separately on a different flight. Likewise, she had insisted we take a late departure in an attempt to avoid large crowds.

I personally wasn't worried, and I could tell Ben wasn't, either. We had a security detail. Our flight was at three in the morning. What could go wrong?

Coordinating our first tour outside of the country was a surreal experience. We had most of our belongings flown separately with the band's gear. This flight was just our respective personal effects, so we were delegated to just a backpack each and a small suitcase. We all planned to sleep on the flight out to Japan, so we carried pillows.

Orion was dressed normally. He didn't want to deal with his contacts, which was why he was wearing his glasses. Ben was dressed in some nicer sweatpants and a shirt. I, however, could care less, and wore full on blue plaid pajama bottoms, a faded shirt and my jacket. My feet were covered in socks and black flip-flops. I was comfy as fuck and loving it.

"You brought gum, right?" Ben asks Orion as we enter through the sliding doors, flanked at either side and behind us by our security.

"Yeah," Orion replies.

"Okay good. Your ears are probably going to bother you. It helps, kinda."

Orion takes a swig from his water bottle, turning to our detail. "What terminal are we at again?"

"Three," a guy named Chuck replies.

"Three," Orion says, swiveling his head around. He points to a sign. "It says three is this way."

Even in the wee hours of the morning, going through security takes a while. We're relieved when we pass through. That relief doesn't last long.

"Oh my God, guys, I think it's Saturn Mutants."

The three of us look off to the side. There's a girl on her cellphone, holding it out, obviously recording. She flips it around a second to film us. She then flips it back and continues to record herself. "Guys--it's them!"

Our security people move to intercept her, but Orion stops them. He smiles at the girl and we all walk over.

"Hi," he says to her. "Are you recording?"

"Oh my God," she squeals, "Orion Bauwens is talking to me, guys!"

Orion laughs. She looks at him. "Yes, oh my God, I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

I peek over the late-teen's shoulder, waving at her phone, and make a silly face.

"What's your name?"

"Natalie."

"Nice to meet you Natalie," Orion says.

I start to notice more people starting to pull out their cameras.

"Ben," Natalie says.

Ben looks around, and then puts a hand to his chest. "Me?"

We all laugh. More people start to come over.

"I just wanted to say hi," Natalie gushes to Ben, "you're my favorite, and I only hope to play the drums as wickedly as you do one day."

"Holy shit, no one ever pays attention to me," Ben answers with a laugh.

"Are you guys heading to Asia?"

"Yup," Ben replies, still beaming. "First stop Japan."

Everything was fine, and then suddenly it wasn't. I have no idea how else to describe it. It's like the airport that seemed pretty vacant moments ago suddenly was swarming with people, and they all wanted to see us.

We quickly signed a few autographs, and then were attempted to be whisked away by our security. However, not everyone was fine with the fact we signed some people's autographs and not others. They swarmed us.

"You prick!" a supposed fan shouted at Orion.

"We're just trying to make our flight," Orion rebutted.

"Asshole--if you weren't going to sign everyone's stuff then you shouldn't have signed anyone's!"

The four man security detail is doing their best to keep everyone away. Even so, most of the walk to terminal three was made in a small gathering, not all of which was nice.

"Look, we're sorry," Ben said at one point, trying to be diplomatic, "we just wanted to talk to the first few fans--"

Suddenly my suitcase is yanked out of my hands. It admittedly stung a bit, the force at which it was ripped away from me. I spin around, pissed.

"Hey!"

I can see a few people running off. I try to go after them instinctively, but Jeff, another one of our security team, holds me back.

"Bitch just stole my stuff!" I shout angrily.

Our security is calling over the airport's security (I'm thankful we've finally located some). It makes the crowd disperse. Most of them, anyway. There are still a few stragglers, phones out, recording us.

"This is fucking unbelievable," I say, rubber necking around as Jeff continues to guide me forward.

"Are you guys okay?" a fan asks us, walking besides us a few minutes later. We're, thankfully, almost at the terminal.

Ben and I look over. She looks innocent, frizzy brown hair and glasses cover a wide, doe-eyed face.

"We'll be fine," Ben tells her gruffly.

"Orion, are you okay?" the girl asks.

I look over. Oh fuck, he's crying. We all stop, and I put my hand on his shoulder. Ben comes over, and the security team makes a formation around us.

"Yeah," Orion responds with a quick sniff, rubbing his eye quickly. Blinking profusely, he looks at the girl and forces a smile. "Yeah, I'm okay."

We continue walking.

"Are you sure?" she asks, and I can tell she's genuinely worried.

"Yeah," he says again, voice cracking. He sniffs and beams at her.

We've finally reached the terminal. The girl hangs back. She had been nice enough to not outright record us with her phone, but she had, in fact, been recording as she walked next to us. I know this because as she walks away, I hear her say quietly,

"Guys. I'm at Detroit Airport, and a bunch of assholes just made poor Orion cry. This is unbelievable, you'll never believe what I just witnessed, poor Orion..."

We all but run onto the plane. I'm happy that we booked first class, and we have the area largely to ourselves. As we get settled into our seats, I'm still angry. I only half-listen as I'm told that a report will be filed with the airport over my stolen luggage.

"That doesn't help me now," I snap, salty. "I'm in my fucking pj's! My clothes for tomorrow were in my bag!"

"I'll lend you some of mine," Orion mumbles.

I look at him. He's sitting in the middle, Ben with the window seat, me in the aisle. I put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he grumbles, pulling out his MP3 player and headphones.

"Hey," I say quietly, looking at him concerned. He's not crying, but his eyes are red-rimmed. "If you wanna talk--"

"I don't," he tells me, slipping in his earbuds.

"If you're upset, you shouldn't hold that crap in--"

He shoots me a glare, so I drop it. He gets nestled in, leans his head back against the seat, and shuts his eyes. "I just wanna go to sleep."

His music is so loud I can hear it, so I don't even bother to respond.

My music was in my bag.

Fuck.

Sighing, I lean my head back and close my eyes, too, silently waiting for the plane to take off.

~

"Guys," Orion says.

We arrived in Japan yesterday. The crowd that greeted us at the airport was...overwhelming. But there weren't any issues. There were metal gates set up, the fans behind them. We even were able to go down the line and sign autographs. It was genuinely nice.

Stepping foot in a new country was absolutely wild. It's one of those images that will be forever seared into my mind, an experience I'll never forget. The sights, the sounds, the smell. It was a bit of a culture shock. It seemed like just another airport, and yet everything was different. Signs were in both Japanese and English. The voices around us were prominently Japanese. 

As we exited that airport, I hesitated in the doorway. I shut my eyes, allowing myself a moment. As everything soaked deeply into my senses, I felt myself getting verklempt. I couldn't believe we were here. I couldn't believe we had made it.

We made it.

"Jake?"

That was Ben. I open my eyes, blinking profusely. Orion is half in the van that's our shuttle to the hotel already, while Ben is standing just a few feet ahead of me. If I feel like this, I can only imagine how Orion feels.

"You coming buddy?" Orion asks me with a chuckle.

I grin and them. "Yup!"

~

Our first concert was in a few hours; we had to make soundcheck in three hours. To kill the time, Orion has decided to log into his Twitch account and play with his fans. He's sitting on the ground, head craned up to the TV as he plays. He's wearing bulky headphones, one side off his ear so he can still hear me should I say something.

"How do I--OH MAN, HEADSHOT! Nice, AimeeMutant, nice. Okay guys--how do I say 'thanks for being here tonight' in Japanese?"

Orion's not talking to me, he's asking his fans. I'm glad that he got on board with doing this with his fans. It's a really neat way for him to interact with them, and I love watching him play with them. It's pretty funny a lot of the time. I think it's great that he has the opportunity to hang out with them.

Orion laughs. "Oh fuck--what was that? That's a mouthful. I d'no if I'll be able to say all that. Say it again?"

He pauses and then laughs. "Nice Justine, you just killed me. Congrats. Yo guys, wait for me to respawn."

I watch as his character reappears, and he immediately runs into a hut, grabbing some ammo.

"So how do I say it? Ko yaka--no, huh? Ni ite arigato did you say?"

Now I laugh.

"Guys, Jake is laughing at me," Orion says. He then hams it up a bit, repeating what he just said as a dramatic whine.

"Alright, I'm never going to remember that. Can someone just type it in the chat and I'll try to memorize it for tonight? OH SHIT GUYS--THAT BUILDING IS ON FIRE."

I laugh again as I watch Orion and his team racing to what looks like a burning warehouse on screen. Orion pauses a second, looking at the sidebar. "Thank you, Ito, for putting that. I'll try to say that tonight, okay? I'm happy I'm playing with my Japanese peeps and you guys understand me..."

"Huh? A video?" Orion says, as I watch the chat scroll off to the side. "What video?" a pause as someone must reply. "From last night? Oh, the airport?"

His look sours. I frown.

"Yeah, there was an incident at the airport. Jake got his luggage stolen. Yeah, we got mobbed. No, I don't want to fucking watch the videos online..." Orion gives his nervous laugh. "I was there guys, remember?" Another pause. "Yes, I was crying. No, I wasn't hurt Yui--I appreciate your concern. You're the best." Another pause. "Why was I crying, Ito? Because it was scary, that's why." Orion laughs and it's his nervous laugh. "Yeah, I am a little bit of a cry baby, I'll fess up to that. No shame."

Someone says something and it makes him laugh. Even so, his eyes have gone dead. "Aw, thanks Yui for saying I'm cute with my glasses, I appreciate it." Pause. "No, I wear contacts. My eyes are all kinds of fucked up..."

For a while Orion doesn't say anything. Finally he sighs. "I hate to cut this short but I have to go. Thanks for playing, everyone. I hope to see you guys tonight at the concert!"

Orion logs off and scowls. I raise my eyebrow, my eyes following him as he gets up and stretches.

"I hate that there's a video out there of what happened..." he tells me quietly. "Well, videos."

"Fame, ammIrite?" I say with a grin, trying to lighten the mood.

But it does nothing. Instead Orion just quietly excuses himself, slipping away into the bathroom. The audible sound of the door locking hits my ears.

Sighing, I let myself out and head back to my own hotel room, not bothering Orion with a goodbye.