interstellar5555 | ☆TRACK VII: IN REACHING OUT PT. 1

Who: Everyone in Pride and Virgo HQ.
What: Ghosts need your help.
When: The evening of January 30th, 2055
Where: Pride and Virgo HQ.
Warnings: Phantasmal violence, possibly some real violence.

“Hold your colours against the wall,
When they take everything away,
Hold your colours against the wall,
With me (soaking through)”

☆IN REACHING OUT

Starting around the 20th of January, the heavy lockdown and supervision of the musicians of both labels will begin to fade. While they still require escorts to be out and about, the guards that have been routinely stalking them around their own homes and HQs will be gradually phased out, until it is just the regular managers and security remaining. Sweet deal, right? Over a month after the hysteria of the ill-fated solstice party, things seem to be finally letting up a little. Whether because you've played nice for long enough, or whether their attentions are being directed elsewhere, it isn't clear.

Either way, this is the also the start of some increasingly familiar paranormal activity. All the way back to the first tour of this generation of musicians, members of both Pride and Virgo have found themselves haunted by strange and inexplicable happenings. Starting on the 23rd, these happenings begin to flare up again - lights switching on and off, TVs starting on their own, and even things falling off of shelves unprovoked. (These minor happenings can be made up by you and don't need to be mod designated - however, they should not be anything that would be threatening or dangerous to the characters.) For some people this will be completely new, and for others it may even be faintly nostalgic.

This will continue until the night of the 30th, when things finally seem to come into swing. The hauntings will become more pointed and explicit. The details are specific to each HQ, and there and you can make yourself open to an NPC haunting down below.

☆PRIDE RECORDS

About halfway through the evening on the 30th, Predator will begin prowling the halls of Pride HQ. At first it won't be clear for what, but after catching a few snippets of conversation (this can be handwaved) characters will have a change to realize that they are looking for the ghosts that have been causing a fuss recently. How crazy this will sound to you will probably depend on how new you are. They will actively shake down random musicians they meet for information about what they've seen the last couple days. As usual, Jenny is leading the pack, with Cass and Donny (nsfw) providing back up muscle.

Provided you lie well or tell them the truth, they will move along fairly quickly. If you start shit with them, they will probably rough you up a little. Any major confrontations with them will be handled on the companion OOC post, and a few top levels may appear over here that can be tagged into in limited amounts.

Beyond those activities, Pride members will feel various effects based on their EMOTIONAL ALIGNMENTS:

► ALL: Their connection and desire to create music will be especially heightened. They will find themselves subconsciously beginning to tap out rhythms, hum, peck at instruments, or straight up sing things even when it would otherwise be totally inappropriate. Strong emotions will cause them to want to sing and play to each other. They may also feel very strongly that they want to dance, to a particularly addictive beat that seems to emanate from the air. It may shift and change as the night goes on, but at any given moment everyone will hear the same rhythm. It sounds like particularly great percussion.

► LOVE & DUTY: They will have no extra special effects, but they will feel this urge to create music even more strongly than the rest, as it seems to be focused on them as they are not being directly targeted by any other sensations. When Hope and Passion musicians hear music made by these characters, they will feel stronger, like energy is being gifted to them.

► HOPE: Characters of this alignment will feel increasingly like they are being drawn somewhere, or like someone is calling for them, but they can't quite make out the direction it's coming from. The aspect of hope will be empowered within them, and they will find themselves unusually trusting towards the other characters, as if they only have the most optimistic outcomes in mind. Beyond this, they may feel dazed or confused by the sensations they are feeling. They may also experience strange visions, or the sensation of being another person they are not (and not just their true self this time, someone else completely).

► PASSION: Characters of passion will be targeted by the 'hauntings' much more directly than the others. More than random acts, the hauntings around them seem like someone is actively trying to communicate with them. Sometimes it will even feel like someone is trying to speak in their heads, though they won't quite be able to make it out. Passion characters who request haunting instances will get the most major effects.

☆VIRGO ENTERTAINMENT

Soon after things start to get extra weird on the 30th, Juno and a couple Virgo veterans (Anansi and a man you recognize as a popular folk artist named Brett Hogan) will start wandering the halls. They will pull individuals aside for questioning in private rooms, asking about the strange occurrences. They will not attempt to rough anyone up, but excessively resistance or attempts at violence towards them may result in characters being locked in their rooms for the rest of the night.

All three of them seem particularly hard to lie to for some reason, tonight. It's possible, but while you make the effort to do so, the words seem to be on the verge of falling out of your mouth. Juno seems to have something very particular in mind as she searches the HQ, like she can see something you can't. There will also be top levels for these guys appearing.

Beyond those activities, Pride members will feel various effects based on their EMOTIONAL ALIGNMENTS:

► ALL: Their connection and desire to create music will be especially heightened. They will find themselves subconsciously beginning to tap out rhythms, hum, peck at instruments, or straight up sing things even when it would otherwise be totally inappropriate. Strong emotions will cause them to want to sing and play to each other. They may also feel very strongly that they want to dance, to a particularly addictive tune that seems to emanate from the air. It may shift and change as the night goes on, but at any given moment everyone will hear the same song. It sounds like someone riffing expertly on a guitar.

► HOPE & PASSION: They will have no extra special effects, but they will feel this urge to create music even more strongly than the rest, as it seems to be focused on them as they are not being directly targeted by any other sensations. When Love and Duty musicians hear music made by these characters, they will feel stronger, like energy is being gifted to them.

► LOVE: Characters of this alignment will feel increasingly like they are being drawn somewhere, or like someone is calling for them, but they can't quite make out the direction it's coming from. The aspect of love will be empowered within them, and they will find themselves unusually loving, connected, and emotionally open to others, even if this would usually be out of character. (This can also mean they are more inclined to get physically intimate, if you want to.) Beyond this, they may feel dazed or confused by the sensations they are feeling. They may also experience strange visions, or the sensation of being another person they are not (and not just their true self this time, someone else completely).

► DUTY: Characters of duty will be targeted by the 'hauntings' much more directly than the others. More than random acts, the hauntings around them seem like someone is actively trying to communicate with them. Sometimes it will even feel like someone is trying to speak in their heads, though they won't quite be able to make it out. Duty characters who request haunting instances will get the most major effects.

☆PLOT NOTE

This will be a two part event, and the second part will be posted in a few days and will only include those that choose to help the spirits. This can be discussed OOC. Any alignment can assist, though the Passions from Pride and the Duties from Virgo will be the most directly pursued because they will be the easiest for the spirits to communicate with. Realize that participating is serious business, though: there are good odds the characters will be caught eventually, and there will be consequences. Do not volunteer your characters for this plot if you don't want them to suffer potential physical or mental trauma.

“Fading gently, soaking through,
And starting not to show at all.
In reaching out and into you, 
nothing else could touch me.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ It's hard to miss how out of sorts Finnick looks. Doctor hasn't gotten much sleep the past few nights but aside from the bags under his eyes he feels fine. Just how much sleep had this poor fellow gotten? ]

Hello. Sorry, I couldn't help noticing you looked worn out. Are you feeling ill? Can I help?

[ It doesn't hurt to ask in case someone needs help getting down the hall or fetching some food or medicine. ]

[Finnick looks around at him like he's been caught off guard, but he hides most of his shock rather successfully.]

No, I'm just...

[Looking for... what, exactly? Finnick can't answer that question, so he decides not to open that particular can of worms. He offers a hesitant smile in place of finishing the sentence.]

I'm so tired I must have hit the wrong button in the elevator.

Ah. [ Doctor gives him an encouraging smile. ] Happens to us all sometimes. The way electronics have been acting around here I'm not sure we can trust the elevator to always bring us to the correct floor any way. It might be time to break out the candles and torches. All this flickering is reminding me of the strange things that happened during tour.

[Finnick frowns at that. Doctor's breakout tour was a couple months before Hue & Cry got their footing, and he knows a few people from bands that had toured that season but none of them have mentioned anything like that.]

What strange things?

Oh right. You weren't a part of that tour.

Basically all the Virgo buses and most likely the Pride ones as were rumored to be haunted. You'd expect the chance that the electricity might fail or something would get knocked over while the bus is moving. But the tour buses would get parked in place and hooked up with a power generator and objects would still mysteriously vanish or move when you turned your back. The lights would flicker- and I don't mean the turn signal. Basically, the same sort of things that have been happening here at headquarters a lot lately.

[Finnick can't help but look suspiciously and fearfully at the walls around him.]

Do you think something bad is going to happen? Is it really haunted?

I'm still making my mind up about that. I've never believed in ghosts before but I do believe that the universe is a lot bigger and mysterious than we small people understand. I think we've only touched the tip of the iceberg. There's some sort of force at work here with all that consistency and nobody ever seeing an actual person they could blame.

Haunted sounds a bit mean for what this is. All these harmless little tricks and things tipping over. How about "there's someone or something else visiting us?"

[Usually Finnick would roll his eyes at the eccentricity pouring out of Doctor's mouth, but he doesn't just to be nice. He doesn't like the idea of being visited one way or the other.]

But why? Don't ghosts usually show up where someone's died? You don't think anyone's died in this building, do you?

[ Doctor's expression changes quickly from excited chatter to solemn silence. He lowers his voice to a near whisper and steps closer to Finnick. ]

It's very possible. There are people here capable of very bad things.

Did anyone tell you what happened at Naomi River's party?

I was there.

[Finnick snaps at him suddenly, shackles metaphorically raised at the mention of the party. He looks Doctor up and down, taking a step back. He speaks in an angry, suspicious hiss.]

I thought that kind of violence was reserved for people outside the label.

You don't think Blanche or Lesedi would do that same thing to their own artists if they tried rebelling against them one too many times? There's a reason Edward Blanche is constantly compared to some sort of secretive mafia boss. I'd imagine you've seen movies about gangs or the mafia. What happens when one of their own makes the boss very angry?

[He narrows his eyes at Doctor, looking him up and down. The man seems harmless enough, but Finnick can't trust anyone anymore. Especially not someone he barely knows, who's been with Virgo longer than he has.]

That sounds like a threat.

It's a warning from someone who has seen a bit more than you have. Please look after yourself and your bandmates. Sometimes that's all we have. If you hear more rumors about ghosts, consider listening to them.

[Finnick's already been trying to reach out to his bandmates, trying to get them to listen and be careful. He doesn't want to be alone here, doesn't want Virgo to make him feel isolated and scared like he feels whenever he has one of those visions. But he's certainly not going to say that much to Doctor.]

We're done here.

[Frowning, still suspicious, Finnick turns away.]

[ Poor fellow is taking it hard, clearly. Doctor doesn't follow him but he does call out. ]

If you see anything strange or decide you'd like to talk about it, come find me! I know it's difficult to wrap your head around but sharing it has helped in my experience.

I'm sure it has.

[He says it flippantly as he walks away. There's no way in hell he's talking to someone who he doesn't know for sure isn't in on this whole conspiracy. Doctor, unfortunately, does not count among those people.]

☆TRACK VII: IN REACHING OUT PT. 1

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