interstellar5555 | ☆INTERLUDE: YOU WILL BELIEVE IN ME

Who: All the opt outs, and DAFT PUNK.
What: Gold and Silver waste everybody's time.
When: December 7th, 2054
Where: A warehouse in outer Vista City.
Warnings: NPCs being cryptic.

“I will cry for you,
I will cry for you.
I will wash away your 
pain with all my tears,
And drown your fear.”

☆YOU WILL BELIEVE IN ME

You were late, for some reason. It doesn't matter whether it was because of an important photo shoot, a performance that ran late, or just being generally slothful and slow: you're all getting shuffled onto the last shuttle out. Maybe you didn't want to go to he party and were trying to avoid it. There's a weird tension that been leading up to it, especially on Virgo's side, and as you stare out at the cityscape beneath you may find those same misgivings rising up again. No matter your feelings, attendance has been made mandatory. The punishment for not showing is likely not worth the relief of avoiding it, at least if its your fault.

So maybe it's a blessing when your shuttle driver suddenly seems to cease, and then takes your shuttle abruptly off course. It's less obvious at first, but it becomes more and more so as you fly - you're supposed to be heading to the coast, but your flight path is heading down to the south, out to a comparatively barren industrial sector of Vista that you've never actually seen. They are unresponsive to speaking and shouting, and the layer of glass that separates you make it impossible to actually disrupt them.

You're more or less the prisoner of this little detour until it finally begins to land, sailing gracefully through the doors of an otherwise unremarkable warehouse. There are two shuttles arriving within the same few minutes - one marked with Pride colours, and the other with Virgo.

The entry gate closes, and seals itself. A few minutes after that, your pilot moves for the first time in a while and opens the doors for you, leaving themselves sealed within the cab and apparently not being very fussed about it at all. You're released out into the warehouse, and you can see there are...bean bag chairs littered about? And some coolers filled with beer and vodka? What the hell?

One of the walls even has a projector connected to a computer, apparently set up to watch movies. Ultimately, it's not really what you expect out of a sudden hijacking. A few moments later, a pair of masked people who may or may not be familiar come riding out of one of the upper levels on a shared, flying motorcycle, landing and dismounting at a bit of a hectic pace. Gold helmet is at the wheel.

"You made it!" they declare, somewhat awkwardly. They sound a bit rushed. Silver pushes themselves off of the back, tucking some kind of device into their leather jacket.

"Look, guys, let's make this simple. So far as you're concerned, this is a stick up. You're ours for...the next five hours, let's say. Behave yourself and everyone goes home, no problem."

Gold looks over at Silver for a moment, and then addresses you in a bit more friendly manner:

"So...point is, you may as well have some fun and just deal with it! Nobody here wants to fight, right? Let's be chill." There's a pause. "We brought booze?"

☆YOU WILL BELIEVE IN ME

So, you're stuck here for the foreseeable future, it seems. Your captors don't seem to mean any harm - if you stay non-violent, they will too. There could even be an opportunity to gather some information, if you can keep your cool. The pair of them will be cycling in and out over the night, and despite an apparent tension in the air, they also seem...bored? Maybe just restless.

There is something going on that they're not telling you, and it's up to you whether you want answers or not. As it is, they seem happy enough to sit back and watch the movies they have set up on that computer and knock a few back.

No ones phones will be able to get signals, in the meantime. You can only wonder what this means for your friends stuck on the other side.

“See your face every place that I walk in;
Hear your voice every time I am talking.
You will believe in me,
And I will never be ignored.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He wishes that he had his shamisen. He would have liked to play with them again like he has in the past. However, that doesn't explain what's going on here and now. (Though their entrance was very cool.) ]

I'm not worried about you hurting us, but may I ask what's going on? The rest of my band is going to worry about us not meeting up with them at the party.

[ They aren't going to think he's being his usual unnoticeable self for that long. ]

The situation called for a detour. Sometimes avoiding a conflict is easier than dealing with the aftermath.

[Silver speaks up from over at the motorcycle, now tapping away at some kind of...holo computer screen?]

There's only so much we can do at once.

[ Silver was the one Ivan jammed with before, so between the two, Ivan is more at ease with him. He tries to peer over his shoulder to see more of the holo screen. That kind of technology seems familiar. Is he used to it? ]

... Are you talking about the ghosts that seem to come whenever large groups of us gather?

[ He can't deny that his ninja spirit seems more... active whenever he's with a lot off people, attending some music event. They've been coming more frequently too, whenever someone gets that distant look in their eyes like they're looking somewhere else.

And now Ivan believes that the ninja spirit that's been haunting him is passively possessing him, and he can't force it away. What if it decides to be violent like the other ghost that one time in the basement? ]

[Silver pauses, their hands going still. A long moment passes, and then they turn to face Ivan directly.]

It was you, wasn't it? The one they took control of.

I... yes. I was possessed.

[ It's a time Ivan's not sure how much he should talk about it. Juno didn't want him to worry others with it, but he also felt like he had a duty to warn everyone else about the spirits. He's been going back and forth with how much he dares to say with only those closest to him (or just plain stubborn and aggravating like Yan) got a fuller story. Not the whole one though. ]

How did you...?

I have my ways.

[Silver falls silent for another moment, leaning back against the bike.]

Did they speak to you? What did they say?

Wh-who spoke to me? The spirit?

[ Or Juno? ]

The spirit.

[Screw Juno, to be quite honest.]

... "You think you can stop us... man? Well, you can't."

[ Ivan lacks the force and anger the spirit had behind the words, but he repeats them, having thought of the line over and over, believing them to mean Virgo's attempt at repelling the spirits.

It's not working, is it? ]

And then the spirit made me hit a speaker with my shamisen. Or was that before yelling...

[At first it isn't clear what Silver is doing. Their hand moves up to their mask's fake little mouth, almost like they're about to cough - but then...they laugh? It's a strangely digitized little bubble of laughter, that seems to rise up unbidden, yet is restrained by a kind of somber regret all the same.

Like when you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Silver falls silent.]

And then it was like everything... broke somehow. And it was my fault because I was too weak to fight it off.

[ As much as Ivan wants to blame the spirit for everything, he blames himself more. It was his fault he couldn't fight against it and let it control him. Just like right now ]

[Silver is quiet for a few more moments, until:]

Don't be sorry.

Why shouldn't I be? What if I gave the spirits the opening they needed to break in and... and...

[ Ivan grips his arms and remembers Luce's collapse, how sick Doctor and Pao-Lin got, how crazy everyone started to act after that voice inside his head asked for his power. ]

... They hurt my family.

[Another few moments of silence. The hesitation in the action is heavy.]

No they didn't. Not really.

I know they seem better now, but... what if Luce collapses and doesn't wake up? What if Doctor and Pao-Lin's fevers don't go away, and they forget all about us? What if Rei starts coming down with something?

[ The loyalty streak is strong with this one, and he probably misunderstands what Silver is talking about. ]

They may be my fellow bandmates, but they are also my family. It's not an act.

That's fine.

[The answer is somewhat curt, but it's honest. They obviously believe him.]

The point is, they didn't hurt you. They wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't deserve it.

They didn't...

[ Does that mean they could do much worse if they wanted? Ivan guesses that it's a relief that it didn't become worse. It could always be worse, and his family and others don't deserve to be suffering. ]

But what about the one that's constantly showing me violent things and making me feel weird whenever I touch something... everything?

[If robots could blink, Silver would be doing that at you, Ivan.]

Didn't I do a duet with you, Ivan? I told you things would change.

[ Ivan looks at his hand, stunned. ]

I didn't think that... This... is your doing?

☆INTERLUDE: YOU WILL BELIEVE IN ME

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