☆TRACK VII: IN REACHING OUT PT. 1

[interdimanagers]

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.”

Comments

A

[stylistic_disloyalty]

Luci's nerves are pretty much shot from hearing things too, so when the radio goes against the wall, she bursts out of her room and looks wildly around the penthouse before spotting Xanxus and the radio. After a moment she sighs and runs her hand through her hair.

"Scared the shit out of me, what happened?"

[variaboss]

Xanxus looks at her. He looks at her and there's this look on his face. He didn't even look like this when Predator fucked him up. He didn't even look this broken when he had been dying before her eyes. Right now, there's just this shattered scared look etched in the corner of his eyes. He knows his hands are clutching so tightly they're shaking.

"...I'm going insane." He mutters, looking at the radio, broken and sparking against the wall. "I'm hearing voices. Voices from inside the static. So I made them stop."

He looks back to her and laughs a little. "Don't tell the manager. I don't want to get put in an asylum..."

[stylistic_disloyalty]

"...I won't tell if you won't."

Luci also looks like she's losing her grip on life a little bit. Her eyes dart around the room when she thinks she hears something. She's almost afraid that one time she's going to turn around and something is going to be there.

"Here, let's clean this up before Camilla sees it and starts asking dumb questions."

[variaboss]

That means a lot to him. He even almost smiles, though he knows it's probably the smile of a man who thinks he really has lost his damn mind. The way she keeps looking around helps none. It just makes him paranoid on top of delusional.

"Never. Your secrets are always safe with me." He really means that. "And you're right. Don't need the chimney all up in my grill." He stiffly heads towards the broken radio. When he gets close enough to it, it actually sparks to life again briefly. Regardless of how broken it is, it still manages to hiss out another cryptic unintelligible demand.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

Luci's moving towards it too when it gurgles out another barely intelligible sentence, and she recoils like it's sprouted teeth.

"...I want to say 'what the fuck is going on here', but then I'd be furious with myself for not saying that shit sooner."

She chucks the bulk of the thing into a wastebin-- tiny parts can come later-- and starts walking it out to the hallway. Housekeeping can get this... crazy radio.

[variaboss]

Xanxus doesn't just recoil a little. He's pretty much on the other side of the room. On the other side of the room and chucking something at it. What? Whatever he can get his hands on. So that ends up in the trash too.

But yeah. No way in hell he's going anywhere near that thing again. But he does look a little relieved, though there's still that deeply haunted look. A look that says, 'oh god damn it, not this. Not now'.

"Lucifer...you're real right? All of this is real... I'm not actually still trapped in the ice and slowly going insane." Because right now, this is actually a very real concern.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

Luci just barely manages to duck before the dead potted plant hits the wall. "Fuck! Xanxus!!"

They're all a little high strung, and Luci isn't totally ready to deal with this kind of meltdown when she's hearing voices as well. But she has to be, because almost nothing gets to Xanxus and he looks like he's on the edge.

"You honestly think you could create somebody as crazy as I am in your head? I'm almost insulted." And into the garbage the potted plant goes. "You're not trapped in ice, you're here with me." She stands up and brushes her hands off while walking to him. Once she gets there, she puts her hands on either side of his neck. They're warm.

"You're here with me, and as sane as the day I met you."

[variaboss]

He puts his hands over hers. They're shaking. He's shaking more than he had when he was nearly dying from being locked wet in a freezer. The light in his eyes is haunted. Crazed. Scared. "Are you sure? Luci are you certain? I don't know. I don't know anymore. It's hereditary right? Being insane?" He wants to believe he's fine. That this is real. That he's not still trapped in some twisted fantasy his painfried mind came up with to cope with the ice.

"My mom was crazy, you know. She was in an asylum." He leans forward towards her and presses their foreheads together. "Promise me. Promise me I'm not losing my mind, Luci."

[stylistic_disloyalty]

"Am I certain if I exist?" Luci pulls her forehead away from Xanxus' and headbutts him with some force. "Fuck you, don't just wipe me out of existence to explain the radio talking to us! I'm freaking out too!"

...but that was something pretty heavy to share about his mother. Luci's taking that in as well, but first things first-- reassure Xanxus that she's experiencing the same things.

[variaboss]

The headbutt is hard and it does what it's supposed to. Something about physical violence reminds him he's here. He's fine. She's real. Nothing fake feels like that. "All right. You're real. You're totally real... And fuck you, your head is hard."

He rubs at his forehead and takes slow deep breaths to get himself back under control. "I saw messages too. In the bathroom. I was going to take a shower and my cologne broke and messages were being written in it." He sort of left as soon as he could. He didn't pay attention to what was being said after 'not crazy'.

"But it's not just me. If it's you too, then I'm not losing my mind..." He really really is scared of that. It's the one single thing he's most afraid of. Even more than death.

[stylistic_disloyalty]

"You're just realizing this now?" Luci smirks in triumph as Xanxus rubs his head. Yeah, violence was the Carnie way when it came to solving problems, and it had apparently served her well this time too.

"What kind of messages?" Luci pauses. "...Fuck was it that cologne I like?"

Priorities.

[variaboss]

"I'm a slow learner." He mutters back before frowning. "It was. It was the really good shit." That really smokey manly scent that just seems to scream Xanxus. "It's going to be a bitch to get a new bottle. But that shit just...flew off the counter and then words were being written in it."

He sort of holds his head, trying not to freak out all over again. "Sorry. Need help. Not crazy." That's what they said. That's when I left the bathroom. Probably still there if it didn't go down the drain. But I was sure I was going crazy. That shit isn't normal Luci..."

[stylistic_disloyalty]

Luci groans in disappointment. That made him smell amazing, almost like burnt cedar wood or something delicious. She'll have to get him a new bottle.

"Sorry, huh? Polite... spirit, I guess. Things don't just fly off of sinks except in... ghost stories."

Luci gets a strange look on her face. "...weird shit's been happening since we went on tour. The strange things that happened in the bus? The gala? Remember all that?"

[variaboss]

He would appreciate it. That stuff isn't cheap at all. He frowns at her and nods. "Yeah. I don't know what they wanted and I was sure it was just me. Just me seeing shit. But I remember. I remember all of that. The words on the glass telling us to "remember". All that other shit. If it's so goddamn important, they should just spit it out! Not make people think they're going insane." He growls a little and looks up at her.

"You think it has something to do with all that shit that keeps coming back. Like me being mafia and you being...awesome? Not that you aren't always awesome, but more so?"