☆TRACK V: I WILL TWIST THE KNIFE PT. 1

[interdimanagers]

Who: Everyone that isn't an opt out!
What: Naomi Rivers throws a terrible holiday party.
When: December 7th, 2054
Where: Naomi's ocean side mansion.
Warnings: Violence, poisoning, various murder attempts, mind control, general uncomfortable lack of consent. Also, probably drug use. Maybe sex? Who knows what you'll get up to.

“I will burn for you; Feel pain for you. I will twist the knife and bleed my aching heart, And tear it apart.” ☆I WILL TWIST THE KNIFE The first two hours of the solstice party are surprisingly normal. Members of both labels arrive by private sky shuttle, and are invited into the ballroom for food and drink. It’s even more surprising when both Lesedi Santiago and Edward Blanche arrive as well, and spent most of that first period speaking quietly in a nearby lounge area. Lesedi’s body guards and Juno watch the space around them, keeping anyone of lesser important from interrupting what looks to be quite the serious discussion. After food, the ballroom stage is taken over by a number of increasingly impressive entertainment pieces. It seems to be obligatory for everyone to stay and watch (not that it’s a struggle – the talent involved is unmistakeable), but not long into it Lesedi and Edward can be seen disappearing outside together, and show no immediate signs of returning. And that’s when Naomi Rivers takes the stage. To the Virgo that have heard it before, the song is more viscerally familiar than anything you’ve only heard once should be, and it awakens the ideas that were implanted there the night before. You have a job to do here, tonight. One that is only fair – almost righteous. Lesedi Santiago and her ilk will suffer for her transgressions. The performances end, and everyone is released out to the rest of the grounds, to mingle and celebrate at their leisure. While things may seem civil on the surface, beneath that something dark is brewing. You gradually begin to notice that almost none of the more veteran members of either label are present. ► BALLROOM: The central nexus of the party, the ballroom is the location of the buffet table, the stage, and the dance floor. There will be music available all night, even after the official “performances” have ended. There are tables set up around the edges of the room for eating and relaxing. ► LOUNGE: Where Lesedi and Edward were having their meeting earlier, the lounge is filled with comfortable chairs, classic art, and a large, ornate fireplace. If you figure out who to ask, there are a number of chemical vices available to all guests. ► BALCONIES: There is a generous series of balconies that line the exterior of the upper floor. The ocean can be seen from one side and the gardens can be seen from the other. ► GUEST ROOMS: Down the halls from the ballroom there are a few generous guest bedrooms that have been left open for use. ► GARDENS: Out towards the back there are a wide variety of plants, and a well kept stone path and manmade waterfall. The plant life is on the sedate side due to the winter, but it’s still green. ► OUTDOOR POOL: There’s a pool out front with a shallow and a deep end. The water is clear and artificially warmed. ☆OOC CONSIDERATIONS Please remember that any attempted assassinations are meant to remain covert, and if your character is incapable of being stealthy then you must assume that any attempts you make are happening towards the end of the evening – let’s say around 11PM. The spell compelling people to do this does not want a riot or a bloodbath – what it wants is for people to die before the rest of the group can realize that anything is even going on. Of course, this isn’t exactly going to work out, but if you are finding yourself getting into the realm of intense physical violence you might want to stop and slow down a little. Virgo members that didn’t hear the song the night before are free from any compulsions, and so are all members of Pride. If non-mind controlled characters start clueing in to what’s going on and start trying to evacuate in large numbers, that is where you’ll want to wrap up threads and wait for Part 2 of the log, which will contain the end results and will be triggered by any large amount of chaos. If any characters attempt to escape earlier in the evening, they’ll find that the shuttles have all been grounded, and wandering in the woodland nearby just seems to result in them getting lost and ending up back at the mansion. It’s a real pickle. If you’ve got any question about what’s going on please leave them on the original plot post and they’ll get answered! The opt out event will be posted ASAP. “I will lie for you; Beg and steal for you. I will crawl on hands and knees until you see: You're just like me.”

Comments

[nibelungvalesti]

"This does not have to be complicated," Meril said as she stalked forward, the chair legs wobbling in midair as she bounced the back against the heel of her hands with a quirk jerk of her arms, testing the balance and weight in preparation for one good swing.

[maipokerface]

"Like hell it doesn't!" She's not about to just sit back and take a chair beat down after all. For now she focuses on keeping her distance from Meril, not really keen on the idea of that gap closing too quick.

"So how many of you Virgos are in on this?" The air had been tense earlier but before the guy who pushed her off the balcony, there hadn't been out and out fights happening. Rei had seemed pretty balanced -- unless she was hiding something, of course.

[nibelungvalesti]

"I wouldn't let them soil their hands!" Meril had no idea what anyone else was up to, though she'd spoken of her concerns to one or two others earlier. Concerns... fears... angers. Almost entirely anger, now. Pride had taken away what she valued. Pride had broken her band and hurt her deeply. Pride!

With a grunt that passed for a battle cry, Meril charged recklessly forward, bringing her chair back a moment too slow to really land a clean swing.

[maipokerface]

It may not be a clean one but it does at least clip the violinist before she can hop back too far. She huffs out in annoyance, one hand reaching up to grasp her forearm. Watching her and keeping distance may be good but some kind of weapon of her own would be better. So she starts to strafe, circling around the other woman.

"So was I this filthy to you the last time we talked? Cause you did a pretty good job hiding it then."

[nibelungvalesti]

"If it weren't for you -- " because this was where Meril's thoughts had gone, how she justified this behavior that otherwise she would never tolerate, "--my band would not have broken up!"

She jabbed with the chair, more of a feint to try to provoke Mai into a hasty move than any real attack.

[maipokerface]

It's another jerk of backwards movement more than anything. Outright bolting seems like a bad idea. Scanning the room tells Mai it's more or less chairs or nothing at all. Maybe she can break off a leg or something.

"Oh please. If your band broke up, that's your band's fault."

Time to go for one of those other chairs.

[nibelungvalesti]

"If someone had gotten her own image instead of stealing mine --!"

This was supposed to be more subtle than a duel - though part of Meril had to admit she had probably lost the thread of subtle somewhere around the time she'd gone for a chair. Still, she didn't want Mai fighting back.

So she did the only logical thing, and hurled her chair at the other girl.

God Meril, you utter savage. Heaving chairs at people! I'm loling.

[maipokerface]

And here was Mai, on her way for another chair and not in the least expecting that sort of move from the other woman. It ended up landing pretty well, square into Mai and sent the drenched violinist to the floor. The chair clattered to the side and Mai ended up momentarily dazed.

She started shaking her head, reaching with a pawing motion to try and lay a hand on any of the nearby chairs to help her stand. Her only response could be in an incredulous tone.

"Did you seriously just throw the chair at me?"

It's not a magical energy spear but it's close, righht?

[nibelungvalesti]

"If you would stop retreating I could swing it properly!" For her own part, Meril had to back up to grab the nearest one, granting Mai a few precious moments to recover while she reequipped herself.

[maipokerface]

"Like I'm going to just stand here and let you beat me with a chair?" Even dazed Mai had the gumpton to sound equal part angry and sarcastic. In the interim she did just as hoped, clambering to her feet.

The chair she fell by was now grasped by the slats of it's back, held before her like a shield as she fell into more or less ranting at the other woman attacking her.

"First the evening starts out dull, then I've got a guy flirting with me before he chucks me off of a balcony. Now you're in here heaving chairs around like you've got a vendetta against them! I'm pretty done with the way you Virgos throw a party!"

[nibelungvalesti]

"I am trying to make sure you ARE done! For good!" The keyboardist lunged forward, thrusting her chair's legs at Mai's as if she intended to smash through the other woman's guard by brute force. To be fair, Meril was strong... but not that unreasonably strong. Nor very good at battle banter, clearly.

[maipokerface]

"It definitely seems like it!" Mai's only true greatness at battle banter was battle sarcasm. And even that wasn't working out so well as she tried to dodge Meril's moves.

She did a half-step backwards, trying to use her own chair to knock Meril's out of the way before it hit her. Mai seemed to be more the agile, light type rather than the brute force sort.

[nibelungvalesti]

Wrong belief, Mai: Meril was entirely the brute force sort, completely contrary to her petite size but entirely in-keeping with her surprising strength and fitness. She smashed her chair into Mai's, sending a leg spinning off her weapon but trying to drive the other girl back or down.

[maipokerface]

She really was getting brutal about this. It was all Mai could do to hang onto the chair itself, though now a few of those back slats had flown completely off. Meril seemed to be trying to drive her into a corner and she was going to quickly succeed if Mai didn't start doing more than protecting herself.

It was basically to the point now where the pair of them were sword fighting - with chairs. Chair fighting? Yeah, that was it. Mai reared her own chair back for an attempted heavy blow, grunting with the effort.

[nibelungvalesti]

Really, it was more like maces. Or mauls. Except the weight was all wrong, and Meril couldn't say why she thought of such things at this moment save perhaps to blame the dreams, she would not call them MEMORIES, of a different life. Chair legs splintered as they smashed together, leaving Meri with just a seat and a back and now on the defensive.

[maipokerface]

To put it bluntly -- much like their chairs at this point -- Mai knows little about blunt weaponry. Or any weaponry, so she tells herself. There's dreams and moments of deja vu feelings sure but those don't count, right?

The crack ends up breaking off the other back slats. Meril ends up with the seat and back, Mai ends up with chair legs and a seat. And a whole lot of annoyance.

"You do realize how stupid we look right now, don't you?" Because she can feel her hair drooping out of it's buns, not to mention the damp cling of her dress.

[nibelungvalesti]

"The thought had crossed my mind, and yet." Meril eased a step back. She had lost the advantage completely, and wasn't sure she could trust her chair against Mai's in a clash. This had gone very wrong very quickly, and now she was beginning to panic, quietly and all on the inside. What was her solution here?

[maipokerface]

Mai gave a long sigh. Chair legs and a seat did her little good so in the end she grabbed onto a leg on either side and pulled both outward at the same time until they snapped off from the seat itself.

"I'm going to have at least a couple of bruises here so if you wanted to beat me up, I'd say you've done it. You're sure as hell not going to kill me with that anyhow."

[nibelungvalesti]

Twin impulses still warred within her. On the one hand, the urge to strike, the urge to kill. On the other, the knowledge that all subtlety was lost, and the fundamental desire not to do this -- suppressed, but still present.

She could -- she could --

She could escape and make another attempt later. Yes. That solved both sides of the equation. That satisfied all urges. With a gasp of relief, she hurled her remaining chair parts at Mai (again)), then spun to flee for the door.

[maipokerface]

Mai took a step or so back to avoid the bits of battered chair. Something within her wanted to pursue, insisted that she normally would. She groaned a little and threw the bits of her own chair down as hard as she could.

"Forget this, it's not worth it."

The voices and impulses and ideas could all go to hell. She was done with tonight and if Meril wanted to come back later, she would deal with her then.