Welcome to the EchoPlex. From the entranceway there at the street, it looks like your average, everyday library. A place where they keep old-school books and junk, maybe some other paperwork ancientware that *old* people can't cope with digitizing. The building has a strange sort of "hush" about it that speaks volumes, the only real noise nearby coming from the street, the sky. But the strangely overcast evening doesn't dampen your spirits, because you know...
You open the front door, go through the ancient-book-lined vestibule, and head through the set of blurry-plastic doors at the other end of the room. As the doors slide out of your way to allow you entrance, an almost palpable wall of sound - heavy bass with electronic overtones - washes over you, and you feel almost a need to lean into it to continue through. You've arrived: the best-kept secret in NYC: The EchoPlex!
This is a fairly (or unfairly) complicated place; you are aware about The Echo - the lounge located directly beneath the transparent dance floor of The Plex, and you've heard rumors of a magic-oriented dance club on the roof (?) called the PsychoPlex, but nobody seems to know more than a name. You're (kind of) here on business, so you take a trip down the cramped-looking (actually, it's quite roomy) staircase down to The Echo and start looking around. Usually you're on the upstairs end of things, dancing, being irresponsible and having a good time. But tonight...
...other than the flashy lights that filter down from the dance floor above, the place is cloaked in moving shadows, nice, hushed darkness. Here and there are tables, apparently placed at random (they seem to change locations randomly between visits) and the walls are festooned at regular intervals with closet-sized booths, tables that seem to be 2 meters long with what looks like plenty of legroom, a single dim spotlight illuminating their centers from some hidden place above. Cozy.
You head for the far wall, sixth booth from the left. At least that's what you *thought* you were told - it seems about right, yeah. Sixth from the left, far wall. At least it's already empty, so if you're looking for a positive sign, that might be it... |
