You laugh until you cry; you cry until you laugh

[sailorgenerous]

Who: Virgo musicians - Ghost Quest people and their friends
What: When eight musicians go missing, what happens to those left behind? What happens when those eight come back far worse for the wear?
When: Feb 1st-3rd and after
Where: Virgo HQ
Warnings: Talk of torture, violence, brainwashing, etc. It's ugly in here, folks.

The past three days have not been kind. The hauntings were odd, yes, but when your friends went missing without warning or a trace - well.

How have you been coping? Have you been coping?

And then they came back just as suddenly, and...it looks like your worries were not unfounded.

This isn't good, is it.

Comments

[i_am_not_cute]

[Pao-Lin is curled up in her seat, feet on the cushion of the chair and arms hugging her knees to her chest. She wonders, vaguely, if she and Ivan are from Terra, and from Vista City in particular. Is that why she's been getting those waves of deja vu here? ...no. No, that doesn't feel right.]

That seems like a lot to go through just to find a bunch of musicians. What would they need to do all that for? ...are they covering something up?

[For some reason, that feels like a very, very familiar scenario to her.]

[faithfulflame]

[Sitting, Rei pushes the plate out in front of everyone, taking a cracker and nibbling. Pointedly, she looks at Pao-Lin, and then the plate. Eat, dear. You'll look suspicious if you don't.]

You mean like...aliens? That...I mean, that almost seems outlandish. Pao-Lin's right. That's extreme.

[sponsorigami]

... I'm... I don't think I'm from here. I've remembered the name Stern Bild City, which is like Vista City but also... not.

And I don't know why they'd want me. I mean, I keep having the feeling like I'm at the bottom rank of something, and I've ruined Edward's life, so it's not like I'm anyone important.

[ It feels like such a stretch and waste of energy and time to kidnap him. What could he do that would be so important to Blanche?

And why would they not want him to keep his shapeshifting? Couldn't he do a fancy on-stage change for ratings? ]

[i_am_not_cute]

[It's a bad situation when Pao-Lin has to be reminded to eat. She reaches for a cracker and a slice of cheese and munches on it.]

Yeah, I don't think I was that important, either... [The memory of the fancy ceremony and the rankings pops up in her memory then, but she still hasn't been able to make sense of it.] What could Mr. Blanche and Ms. Santiago have wanted from us and everyone else they've taken? We all seem like we come from different places. Well, except for me and Ivan, I mean. But even that's weird, isn't it? Shouldn't they have put us in different bands so that we wouldn't remember each other...?

[Brainwashing explains some of the oddities that've been happening the past few months, but it introduces others. This is bewildering to Pao-Lin.]

[trustme]

[Doctor thinks of speaking again to the suggestion of different planets or aliens. A pang of worry hits him and he speaks first of something else.]

We can't forget another important question in this scenario- one that has been up in the air for a while now. Why is Virgo- or Pride- a music company to begin with?

Blanche and Santiago have super powers, the basement here is filled with what I'd assume is the best brainwashing tech available. If they want power they could easily brainwash an army of people as their soldiers and use those fancy sparkly powers they have to toss aside the authorities. Even if they needed to establish companies to hide their secret plan until it's completed, they could have chosen a less expensive, less difficult cover for it.

Why choose the music industry?

[It occurs to him as he puzzles over it in the back of his mind that this reminds him of previous conversations with Gregory Universe. Naomi's music and now Greg's strange abilities... He'll have to talk to Greg again and soon.]

About the aliens... What if I could confirm that they exist?

[faithfulflame]

No, I mean. Aliens implies that, y'know...we're not human? I think we are. I mean, even with these powers we might be mutants or something...but that's just quibbling. We are who we are, and...

[She trails off mentally, speaking out loud just to keep up the illusion.]

Good crackers. I'll have to make sure we get more.

But Doctor, you raise an excellent point. Why Music of all things? We could be so much more...I don't know...and if none of us were musicians why even pick us? This doesn't even make sense. At all.

[And...]

How can you confirm it?

[sponsorigami]

[ Nothing comes to his mind when they ask why music and motives. He can't possibly guess or understand the labels' reasoning. But the questions of confirming whether aliens exist and the possibility of coming from other worlds? That, Ivan has something to say about. ]

Aliens like... this...?

[ Ivan sips his tea, then closes his eyes. He thinks back to when the deep base shook him in the vents. He ran to the vent opening to see Arpegius and Stella there: fully visible, fully blue and naked.

There is also a lot of crossdressers in the basement. However, they may not be able to see everyone involved because of his viewpoint. ]

[trustme]

[ Doctor sips his tea again to hide his surprised expression as the image of Ivan's memory crosses through his mind. ]

Were those the ghosts you freed? They certainly look non-human.

[i_am_not_cute]

[Pao-Lin nearly chokes on her tea in surprise when the images of the blue naked ghosts flashes across her mind. That had not been what she'd been expecting either. She speaks aloud:]

A-ah...something went down wrong...

[Which is technically true.]

Were they the first brainwashed band here...?

[faithfulflame]

[Rei blinks, surprised even in her own head. Holy hell...that's just weird. And why show that to Pao-Lin?!]

Those...are definitely proof enough that aliens are real...

[sponsorigami]

[ Look! He doesn't know how to censor memories. He's not a brainwashing NEXT! Not that he knows the word NEXT yet. Or the power. Or how to exclude people from Doctor's mind link thingy. ]

Those are the ghosts, though I don't know if they were the first band or just a band. Their names are Arpegius and Stella.

[trustme]

[Doctor is a bit too caught up in this revelation to worry about censoring alien ghosts' bodies.]

Amazing. Did they tell you anything helpful? Is Blanche the one responsible for their deaths?

[sponsorigami]

I don't know if it was Blanche or Santiago... I didn't ask who specifically did it. I guess, it was implied that it was them.

[ Ivan thinks he has said everything he was told. What else can he add? ]

Um, the ghosts seemed to have powers of their own. Stella did this bass shockwave thing. At least, I think it was her. Arpegius possessed Meril, and she was able to do some amazing things because of it. I'm not really sure what happened.

[trustme]

A bass shockwave- bass as in the instrument? Did Arpegius use an instrument to do fancy things?

[ Doctor's eyes dart around at the others. ]

We already suspected Naomi had some sort of... musical magic power. And Gregory Universe has shown signs of that same power while he plays. Some of the super powers at work here seem to be related to music. Perhaps not ours but it seems like there are a number of parties who have it.

[sponsorigami]

No. No instruments were there, and Arpegius didn't do anything like that. However, he could open doors and disrupt cameras. A kind of interference maybe.

[ Instruments were not instrumental to their rescue plan and left in the penthouses. ]

[faithfulflame]

Musical sorcery...that's certainly something.

[And if she hadn't seen Naomi with her own eyes, well...]

What's our plan of action then? Aside from waiting until Luce is returned.

[trustme]

[ No instruments. Strange. Perhaps he's been wrong thinking there was a connection between all these different displays of power? He'll have to keep working alongside Greg to figure it out. ]

Virgo will be watching us closely after what happened tonight, and we don't yet know... How Luce is feeling. She'll come first. I'm sure there will be more opportunities to put our special discovered abilities to use. Keep testing what you can do in private.

As for what we've learned tonight, I think we should reach out to at least one of the women that you suspect to be connected to your other life, Rei. If you don't feel comfortable, I'll talk to them for you. We should also keep an eye out for that Reborn fellow.

[sponsorigami]

[ Ivan nods weakly. Despite the tea (that he has only sipped really), his fatigue is catching up with him. It has been a long day, and he does have his own injuries to nurse. Hopefully that nod looks more like him nodding off to sleep rather than responding to something unheard. ]

[faithfulflame]

I'm not sure about Di. But...Serena and Alex both clearly know me. As for Reborn, I have no idea how to even approach that.

But I have Alex's card, and we know where the other girls work. If...I can muster myself, what should we even tell them?

[trustme]

If they are from your other life, then try to find out if they can do anything to help us. And in return, tell them that we have information from inside Virgo. If we meet with them and let them into the telepathic loop, we can share information freely. Just a little of what we've learned or they know could make a large difference.

[ Doctor sees Ivan's posture sinking. ]

Maybe you should go lie down for a while Ivan. I'll bring a plate of tea and snacks to your room in a moment. [ And medicine perhaps? Let Doctor be your doctor. ]

[sponsorigami]

Thanks. I hope I'm not coming down with something again...

[ As he says that, he's hit with a pang of worry. That excuse was Luce's idea when he was practicing his powers. Ivan stands up with a wince. ]

[trustme]

[ When Ivan winces Doctor jumps to his feet to help him. He nearly touches him, waving his hands within inches when he remembers Ivan's sensitivity. ]

Ah. Can you take my arm?

[sponsorigami]

I can.

[ Honestly, he's in too much pain to worry about the additional stuff he feels whenever he touches something. What's one more thing at this point? ]

[trustme]

[ Doctor offers Ivan his arm and slowly leads him down the hall. He drops his voice lower and to ask ]

Did they hurt you?

[sponsorigami]

... I got kicked while I was the fox.

[ So yes, but his small form at the time escalated the injury. ]