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

Same here. I've been cooped up going crazy trying to write out a song or something but the fever wasn't helping at all for thinking.

[A few more plucked notes and then a soft sigh.] Has there been any weirdness going on over there? Like stuff moving around or things banging at night when no one's around?

Yes. And I'm hearing things-- I just... it's got to be me going stir crazy, that's all.

[She really doesn't want to talk about her hearing voices and feeling like something is watching her almost all the time.]

Play me what you have so far-- I want to hear.

Yeah.. it's just too many high stress people stuck in one place for too long, that's all.

[He's trying to push it aside, to explain it, but he doesn't believe it too much. After all, a hallucination wouldn't have a desire, now would it?]

Ah, sure. Give me a second so the phone can catch it.

[He props it up against a water bottle and starts to play this number. Without the other band members, Ankh falls into a more jazzy sound it would seem like.]

[She doesn't either, to be fair. Luci just can't explain it and doesn't want to sound completely insane.]

[She listens to Ankh play, seriously impressed by his skills and finding herself enraptured by listening to him and just him play. Listening to his band is one thing, but he definitely has chops on his own.]

[Luci finds herself listening and murmuring some words to sing with him. She's felt the need to make music too, like a pressure building up in her head until she lets it out screaming lyrics in the shower or to an empty recording booth.]

[He was the one who wrote a lot of their arrangements. Yeah, he wasn't as keen for the pop formula, but it paid and it made the manager happy, and that was what he wanted to keep doing. But alone? He always did the slap guitar style. Something about picking the strings with his nails was so much more fun then simply strumming them.]

I've got a few side songs that I work on just to relax with. Like I actually finished one here...

[He adjusts the sound, knowing that Luce liked the beginnings of this when he let her listen.]

Sometimes when space gets kind of empty
Sound of their breath fades with the light
I think about the loveless fascination
Under the Milky Way tonight

Lower the curtain down on Vista
Lower the curtain down all night
I got no time for private consultation
Under the Milky Way tonight

Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find
Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find

[By the end of it, Luci can at least sing the chorus with him, feeling the music wash over her and invigorate her weary and paranoid body. She wishes Ankh was there so she could snuggle up to him and be close to someone for a moment.]

Wish I knew what I was looking for,
Might have known what I would find...

Damn Ankh. That's great, you should record that.

[Oh that sounded good, though it wasn't the right song for a collaboration. Maybe they can come up with something else together instead.]

I'm thinking of doing a little side project if the manager lets me and things cool off. Maybe see about working with a few others too.

Fuck your manager, just do it. [Luci flops down on her back and curls up.] You're making art, don't ask anybody's permission to feel something.

[Of course, she's afraid, but she's going to leave that out for the moment.]

Ugh, like I would touch him with a cattle prod.

[Yeah, talk is cheap and all but he really was starting to not being around the guy. It was one thing to get thrown into a crowd of people wanting things, quite another to be stuck with someone who seems lacking.]

I think the only reason why they tossed me into this pop band was because I look pretty, you know?

Well obviously that's not true if you can write and sing and play like that, darling. [She crosses her legs, getting comfortable. So it's a phone-gossip session, is it?] Believe me, this business has its fair share of vacant eyecandy, you are not it.

I guess so.

[Yeah, it was a little like that. He was feeling the pressure from whatever was going around and his senses itched in trying to find a way to free that desire. It was maddening.]

Some days I have to wonder though, you know?

Wonder what? [Luci's lost the thread of what he's referring to, but she frowns nonetheless. What insecurity is plaguing her little songbird?]

Given my history, any label that would pick me up would either have known something or wanted to make sure that no one else can lay claim on harboring my talent.

[Though... that history. There were times that he felt it was off somehow. That he maybe made it up in his head. But that's not right, right? He had to have been something that crashed like he did given just how some things were just odd to him. Why he found the drinking and the drugs so wrong.

Right?]

Thinking about this shit gives me a headache.

I think you're thinking too much darling. [She rolls onto her back and holds the phone against her ear with her shoulder.] Don't give yourself too much of a headache. You're signed, you have fans, people love you.

[Though even Luci admits that sometimes it seems a lot more complex than that.]

I guess so. I need a new drama. I got done with The Great Doctor and there's nothing exciting to watch unless I decide to re-watch Marry Me, Mary!.

[He's not going to touch that whole thing about having fans and being signed. Some days it feels too surreal as if he was making it up in his head or something. Maybe that's why his solo pieces were coming out all angry or deep.]

If I do make a solo EP, would you want a copy?

Nah.

I want a signed copy. [She says with a grin.] For my Virgo shrine.

A signed one? And what would you want it to say? "To Luci, thanks for all the kisses?

Sounds perfect to me~ [She laughs.] I think I should give you more to make 'all the kisses' sound better than just two.

Considering that is all the kisses I have, but if you want. I mean, I wouldn't say no. I think I like them.

☆TRACK VII: IN REACHING OUT PT. 1

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