☆TRACK X: PLAY ALONG

[interdimanagers]

Who: Everyone!
What: Vista City amps up for Pride and Virgo's WORLD TOUR with HYPE WEEK.
When: May 1st - May 5th 2055
Where: Various places in Vista City
Warnings: Could be anything.

“Try to make it look like it's all somehow getting better, 'Cause I know how to play it pretty good against the measure. Everyone started out a little insane, But we learn pretty quick how to fake it for the game.” ☆PLAY ALONG Hype Week is less an official label event, and more something that the media has created in response to a particularly odd situation. Pride and Virgo appear to be functioning in unison - launching separate world tours on practically the same date, launching vast quantities of new material and media events, and making a point of never mentioning or acknowledging the actions of the other. Could this be some kind of collaborative event? A viral marketing campaign? No one is really sure, but the local economy is happy to capitalize on it in order to make it as big of a city-wide ordeal as possible. For musicians, this means all kinds of event that they have to attend and cooperate with - everything from photo shoots, to signing, to music video premiers. For rescuers, this means one last opportunity to track down those still trapped before they are whisked away on a world spanning journey. Events that will be happening: ► NEW SINGLES: Hot new singles are getting released by bands all over the place. While actual concerts and performances are not actually happening much during the hype period, each band is probably releasing at least one new single and hyping it all to hell with one song performances here and there on TV and the like. You can have fun defining that single for your band, or leave it ambiguous! Up to you. ► PANELS AND INTERVIEWS: Musicians will get carted all over to various talk shows and public question panel events - a lot of questions will be asked about the World Tour and its specifics, of which the musicians themselves seem to know very little. This goes for the veterans as much as it does the fledglings. ► MUSIC VIDEO PREMIERS: In which a bunch of fancy music people go to fancy theaters and watch all the new music videos for the new singles, and then write articles about this. This is also something you are welcome to create specifics for. ► SIGNINGS AND PUBLIC APPEARANCES: While many of the veterans and doing things like autobiographical books signings and what not, the newer musicians are more likely to just be signing millions of World Tour specific posters and CD releases. Its quite likely that they are going to be totally run down after all these appearances and preparations - try to stay awake at the table! ► WORLD TOUR PREMIER: This will be covered in a second log a few days from now. For now, the musicians are just being prepped for a music festival to end all music festivals, that will start May 5th and cover the entire weekend. They've been practicing rigorously all month - they'll have to hope they have the stamina to make it to the actual performance. All the while, Gold and Silver have been mysteriously absent. Silver has been here and there, handing out supplies and necessary tech, but guidance for rescuers has been minimal. Gold hasn't been seen at all. Part way into the week, at least, Shep will return with a new batch of rescuers, just in time for the premier! New musicians and band combinations will slowly be announced over this week as well, with some of them being saved for the premier festival itself. That is, any OOC changes made to bands and last minute new members are going to get announced like they are big exciting unveilings, because spin doctoring is what the labels do! ☆SINGULARITY Everyone hearing the new singles will be able to tell that they seem especially ear wormy - extra hip, extra catchy, like the best examples of each bands radio popularity. Rescuers in particular, though, will notice something sort of strange about them. It's more than just song being catchy. People who are not musicians themselves will find themselves being unnaturally charmed by them, as if each time they hear these singles they are being slowly brainwashed into becoming more and more fixated on the artists performing. Of course, this can be stopped by just not listening to them for a few days, but it's hard to avoid when pretty much every public location has been playing these singles non stop. Along with this effect, there are some particulars: ► PREDATOR DREAMS: The Pride band Predator is the same as the others, in that it has a particularly intrusive single that's just been introduced. There is one difference. It may take a while to notice, but it can be noted that one starts to feel somewhat tired and dazed after listening to it repeatedly, like they are somehow drained. The single is called The Spaces In Between and it is somewhat unusual that Cass, the member who usually primarily focuses on instrumentals and back up singing, is now performing lead. If your character hears this song several times, they may suffer some weird DREAMS - especially if they received a dose of Gold's magic powder in the Better To Pretend event. If you'd like to receive a dream, please write "DREAM PLEASE" in your subject line, along with a written section describing an instance of your character having regular dreams that I can manipulate. Anywhere else and I might miss it. ► ESCAPED MUSICIANS: Musicians that have escaped and are now in hiding will find themselves particularly mentally manipulated by the singles released by their home label. They will find their minds unusually filled with thoughts of returning to their labels, as well as increased paranoia about being caught. Any remaining programming will be particularly triggered and brought to the surface. They'll be able to push it down with self control and assistance from other characters, but the thoughts will become more invasive the more they listen to it. “'Cause everybody's so scared, We don't wanna go there. We don't wanna make a move, We got all our lives to lose. Screaming in the dark while we just play our part out. I play along, Like I don't know what's going on.”

Comments

Aw.

[oceantier]

Still bent over him, Lapis' eyebrows rise just a little, puzzled as ever by him -- especially when he seems to be so puzzled about himself. "I think . . . you were asleep?"

Offered as though this helps: "You were snoring."

[spaghettimonster]

"Asleep?!?" Dismayed, and so relieved it was Lapis who discovered him like that. The indignity of it!

Papyrus sits up, glancing around quickly to make sure there's no sign of Sans or Frisk watching. When he sees the coast is clear, he rubs at his face, hiding it.

"I can't believe it! Sans has hardly been back a week, and already... his sedentary habits are rubbing off on me??? How could I fall asleep in the middle of exercising..."

[oceantier]

She backs up a step or two to give him room. He seems so . . . dismayed by it. Is there something bad about being caught asleep?

Maybe it's the snoring? Some of those noises could be pretty shameful.

"Is that normal?" She doesn't know; she's never slept, let alone while exercising. It does seem odd.

[spaghettimonster]

"Not at all!" Papyrus wails, shaking his head behind his hands. "It is the very opposite of normal! Precisely the kind of thing my brother would do, but not me."

He pushes himself to his feet and sighs. "Normally I'm too busy to sleep. Not more than an hour or two..."

Could it be catching up to him? Now, of all times? Surely not! He's sustained that sleeping habit for years, even through the heart of training with Undyne.

...Could it be the emotional exhaustion of worrying about Sans that finally pushed his body to the edge of demanding more rest?

[oceantier]

Very distressed. Maybe there is something really wrong here.

"Did something happen before? What's the last thing you remember?"

[spaghettimonster]

A mix of distress... and dramatics. Papyrus doesn't express emotions quietly or half-heartedly.

"Hmmm," he considers, pacing a little. "Nothing terribly unusual. I ate a quick lunch... one of those microwave meals. They are not as good as home cooking, but I was not in the mood to cook."

Which was, itself, slightly strange. But it wasn't like he had no appetite, it was just cooking that seemed unappealing. Too much effort, somehow.

"I read releases about the World Tour... Then started doing yoga? Going jogging, like this," he explains, gesturing at his skeletal face, "is a little hard here."

[oceantier]

On Lapis' end, it's hard to tell. Reading emotions and their priority levels in other people, especially when she's not as familiar with their owners, can get a little tricky. He seems particularly agitated, though, so maybe she should be too.

All of what he lists sounds very benign, and her head tips skeptically. "There wasn't anything else?"

"And . . . you couldn't go jogging with the projector?"

[spaghettimonster]

Best she not join him in agitation and distress, they could create a feedback loop of intensifying emotions that produce nothing but loud, awful sounds.

"Of course there was more. I just listed the highlights! Sans has the projector right now. I think." He scowls at her a moment before continuing pacing and recounting the increasingly minute details. "I drank two glasses of milk to go with lunch... for healthy bones! Plus I've been housecleaning. With Sans back, there's more messes. Normally that's annoying, and I don't clean up after him... But listening to music makes it a lot easier to not be annoyed with him!"

That was a delightful discovery, especially since his sticky notes didn't make the trip to Vista City. Getting worked up every time Sans didn't deal with his messes was a waste of perfectly good time and energy.