WHO Luna WHEN Tuesday night WHERE Brooklyn WHAT It starts outside of an egg. WARNINGS panic attack mentions
"Deep breaths," came a voice, low and feminine, cutting through all the other noise of the club. "Slowly in, and slowly out." Somehow the voice seemed louder than everything else. Louder than the music, than the singing people, than the laughter and chatter and shoes against floors.
Luna- who had slid down the wall and was trying to push the panic away, fingers gripping tightly to the edges of her shorts- forced her gaze upward and to the woman there, trying to bring her into focus: unearthly pale and stunningly beautiful, dark makeup absolutely perfect, hair raven and loose beside her cheeks. "Breathe in, for me. 1... 2... 3... 4..." She'd put her hand on Luna's arm and Luna found it steadying, stabilizing her somewhat. "Breathe out: 1... 2... 3... 4..."
The woman continued speaking like that and slowly Luna calmed down. Eventually the woman said, "Are you alright?"
Luna nodded heavily, pushing against the wall and get up. The woman took Luna's elbow and helped. "Come on," she said, calm but firm. "Come sit down." Over her shoulder, Luna heard her say something to a man. She didn't catch the details, but it didn't seem important.
Luna was led by the woman past red velvet curtains and into a dimly lit room, candles - or LED candles - flicked in silver candelabras, and there was a red velvet en cabriolet couch and three bergères in the same rich velvet. The woman sat Luna down on the couch. "Take a minute to get yourself together. I asked Ezio to bring you some water."
"I'm okay," Luna said, dropping her face between her knees and take a deep breath. Somehow it was so much quieter in this room, even though all that separated them from the corridor was a heavy curtain. A man appeared now through those curtains and she recognised him from behind the bar. Ezio- she had to assume- nodded to Luna and handed her a bottle of cold water. She nodded back in thanks, cracking it open and taking a log swig. And then when she looked up again Ezio was gone and it was just Luna and the beautiful woman.
"This is your club?" she asked her.
The woman nodded, the slightest upturn of her full lips. "It is, and I like the hands on approach. So when someone's having a panic attack outside the toilets, I like the make sure that's not something Illunis caused."
With a shake of her head, Luna said, "it wasn't a panic attack."
"Not quite," the woman agreed, pouring herself a glass of red wine from an open decanter. Once that was done she came and sat down on one of the chairs, watching Luna. Her layers of skirt spread out around her legs. "But it was certainly on its way." When Luna didn't say anything else, instead sipping her water slowly, the woman continued: "you're not the first person who has fallen apart here, but it's okay. Illunis draws in lost souls. Are you lost?"
Luna looked up, about to say something sarcastic, something to brush such a personal seeming question aside. But then she locked eyes with the woman and nodded, just a small movement. 'Lost' was probably the best and most dignified way to describe what Luna was right now, kicked out of her old world and unsure of what her new one was going to be. A woman who knew about the world of the gods but was no longer really a part of it.
And on top of that, Michele continued to haunt her.
That's who she thought she'd seen early. That's who the smiling man on the dancefloor had looked so much like that Luna had done an actual double take, her heart clutching itself so hard she thought it had torn itself loose.
It took way too long - in the loudness of the club, in the unnatural twisting light of the club - for Luna to realise it wasn't actually him at all, but by then it was too late and she was pushing through the other dances to get out, to get away, to get loose.
Luna's throat felt tight as she took a deep drink from the water bottle.
The woman took a far more delicate sip of her wine and said, "My name is Solanine."
And because she'd gone and introduced herself, Luna couldn't not introduce herself. "Luna."
Solanine smiled. "Is that your real name?" she asked with amusement.
"Actually, yeah," Luna nodded, turning the bottle around in her hands. "Very moonlit."
"Do you know Illunis means 'moonless'?"
"I realised it was probably something to do with the moon," She smiled slowly at Solanine. "Goths do love the moon."
"We truly do," Solanine agreed, a small smile of her own, as she swirled her glass. A beat passed and Solanine asked, "is there someone out there who hurt you?"
Luna shook her head, her tight smile more of a grimace. "No," she said, "just someone who looked like him."
"I like to think of Illunis as a safe place." Solanine set her wine down on the arm of her chair, turning the stem slowly between thumb and forefinger. "When those lost souls show up, I want them to find what they need. Whether that's safety, or human connection, or just some sublime cocktails."
Before Luna made her exit from that velvety room, Solanine told her one last thing and gave her that slow smile again. She disappeared back behind the curtain and Luna decided what she wanted now, more than anything, was a really long shower.
(What she actually wanted was a long bath, but the hotel room couldn't provide that. Luna missed her bath!)
So she wandered back home, the air far colder than when she'd headed out that evening. She wasn't far though, and she could endure a little cold.
In the shower, head tilted back under the flow, eyes closed, Luna thought about what Solanine had said before she'd let her leave, a perfectly manicured hand resting on Luna's forearm.
"We are strong, each in our purpose, and we are all more strong together."
It was perhaps to be the new curse of Luna's life that every time she met someone strange and slightly different, she would have to ask herself are you a god or just an intense human weirdo?