☆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

SANS | RESCUED FROM VIRGO | OTA

[exhumerus]

CLOSED TO PEOPLE IN AGENT/UNDERTALE APARTMENTS
Where Papyrus has become inexplicably lethargic and prone to sleeping for hours at a time, Sans has been struggling with the opposite. It's not that he isn't tired. He's tired all the time, in fact, to the degree that he finds it difficult to accomplish much of anything, even if he wanted to. Yet, despite that, sleeping has become a troublesome burden.

It feels like almost any time he drifts off, he soon finds himself waking and filled with stress, confusing flashes of memory and illusion in his head. Sometimes he feels like he can't move even after he's sure he's awake, or like he's blind and deaf to the world again, his thoughts scattered by the foreign energies laying waste to his mind.

Any moment he lets his guard down, he feels like he's being drawn back to that place. It's like he's being pulled by some kind of leash they still have on him, demanding that he return, demanding that he take the punishment for his crimes.

It would be so easy. He knows it would be easy. Any moment, he could decide to bring himself right back to that place and hand himself over. The nagging idea is enough to drive him insane, and it sets him wandering the households with a haunted look in his sockets. He can be found standing silently in weird places and staring at the stars at night, and examining the knives in the kitchen with shaking hands.

He feels like he's going insane all over again. He thought that Stella had helped with that - but sometimes it feels like he's going to turn to dust and blow away figuratively even if not literally.


OPEN TO ANYONE: OUT AND ABOUT FOR HYPE WEEK HYPE
He doesn't do it often, but he's started getting out more with the use of the holo projector he's been given. It's not hard to figure that children are less notable than adults of his particular stature, and so his rig has been programmed to give him the appearance of a child that matches his diminutive height: in particular, he's made himself look almost exactly like Frisk, in a decision that was made mostly for laughs but stuck out of lethargy.

The only difference between the two is that Sans's striped shirt is teal and yellow, and that he tends to wear the hoodie and scarf over top of it anyway, just in case. He's been stalking a number of the "events" going on - particularly Virgo publicity, and stuff for System Crash - always looming in the background and not doing or saying much without provocation. Part of this is that his voice is still a deep Bronx accent regardless of his image.

Part of it is that he can't imagine a more accurate portrayal of Frisk.


WEIRD CRYSTAL RAVING: ONLY WANT A COUPLE THREADS WITH THIS ONE
Him latching onto the crystals end up being purely incidental. He'd never asked about them after being rescued - he never expressed interest in anything the others had stolen, nor did any of his descriptions of events include them. Not, of course, that he's gone into much detail about his time in the labs to anyone since returning in a general sense, either. It's obvious that plenty went down in that time, but he hasn't brought it up when he can avoid it, and it's understandable that other people wouldn't be inclined to provoke him either.

But, one day, he happens across the store of them - wherever they've been stashed by Connie and the others, waiting for an executive decision to be made for their usage. He doesn't even see them, at first. It's a feeling more than anything tangible, like an aura of ill ease that he can feel. His eyes are drawn to their location with no outside direction. His hands start to shake without conscious acknowledgement, and whatever remains of his soul at this point shudders reflexively.

It's in the room here with him. He can feel it. Oh god. Oh god, he's so sorry.

He doesn't actually rant or rave about them, or scream or cry or anything. Instead, he'll be found holding one of them in his hands and staring at it like he's possessed, traces of blue and gold magic wisping from his left socket, the pupil there large and bright. This crystal in particular is shining gold, its colours mingling with his own magic.

It's not clear how long he's been doing this for, when you find him. He's not sure, either.

Out and About

[oceantier]

With the World Tour coming up, Lapis has been especially watchful, nearby whenever she can manage. As Sans is lurking around events for System Crash, he'll find Lapis (as Luna) lurking around as well, keeping an eye on proceedings, hanging back to watch the signings and the interviews.

Occasionally she is accosted by a fan or two of her own; after the Fairy Trial and the fact that she's getting used with good frequency in shows and music videos, she's become far more recognizable. As Sans arrives on scene, she's been surrounded by a small group of barely teenage girls -- giggling and reaching out to touch her and asking her to sign something herself. Visibly uncomfortable and a little alarmed, she's doing her best to fend them off, to turn their attention back towards the bands.

Gratefully, her eyes catch sight of "Frisk," and she tries to communicate a silent plea for help -- as though she expects a ten year old will somehow be more adept at wiggling out of this than she.

[exhumerus]

For a moment, Sans forgets why he's being singled out here. But only for a moment. It's not like he doesn't know who Lapis is by this point - he's been in the apartment, and he's seen her around. She is nice to his brother, which he has found is an instant way to gain his favour recently - it's a strange feeling to have, in regards to a person you didn't have any memory of a couple weeks ago.

He makes an exaggerated gesture at himself, clearly asking 'ME?' as if he is somehow unsure that he is indeed the one Lapis is looking at. He's not sure what he's supposed to do about it either, but he's interested in seeing where this goes.

[oceantier]

It's kind of a strange reaction for Frisk -- to hesitate and hang back when asked for help, even when confronted by a rather disproportionate task. Lapis has only time to blink when, giggling, one of the girls grabs onto her arm. The Gem visibly flinches, yanks back with wide eyes. She doesn't want to scare them off by yelping; it's probably not appropriate for her persona and her position, but . . . she's very distinctly on the verge.

Again, the plea towards the small figure: What do I do? I need out.

Touching . . . no. She can't stand it, and the girls don't show any sign of letting up, especially since now they know it bothers her. It will quickly become a game.

[exhumerus]

Aw, geez. It's honestly sort of just sad to watch at this point, and that lingering good will is most of what gets Sans moving, even if it's at a leisurely pace. He yawns, and then wanders over in their direction.

Now, normally his voice is kind of a problem for blending in as a kid, but in this scenario he just decides to roll with it. Hell, he'll make it worse, just for the extra confusion. Just really let the accent out.

"'Ey, mom, there you are," he says, sounding very much like an adult man. "You ladies done here? I'm hungry and my mom still owes me a hot dog."

[oceantier]

The voice.

That voice.

They all boggle at it, Lapis included, every single one of them freezing and staring at the diminutive child who booms like an adult man. The girls look from "Frisk" to Lapis and back again, trying to determine just how old she is; she doesn't look any more than 20.

And then they kind of dissipate without a word, all arms and legs and awkward glances, edging away.

Some of the nearby crowd waiting for System Crash has caught Sans' commentary and is staring. . . . This might be really hard for Luna to explain later on.

Lapis, for her turn, stares down at "Frisk," her features the complete blankness of having no idea how to react to this new wrinkle in a situation she hadn't anticipated whatsoever. It takes at least 4-5 blinks for her to make any kind of movement whatsoever . . . before her hand jerks down like a robot's, offering it out to him.

This is what parents do with children, right? Hold their hand?

She's hoping to get this not-Frisk off to a less visible location.

[exhumerus]

This is incredible.

He takes her hand. Through the hologram, his fingers feel like nothing but bone. His grin widens, and he winks conspiratorially. Except, in this case, it seems that the Sans conspiracy is also excluding Lapis.

He'll follow her wherever she goes. As far as he's concerned he's done his job. Above and beyond the line of duty.

"I do actually want that hot dog, by the way," he comments as they walk.

Did somebody say WEIRD CRYSTAL RAVING

[eba02]

It's been a long day at work - even longer now that the new music is on the coffee house's playlist - and J just wants to come home and relax.

So, of course, home is a semi-contained disaster, to the tune of Sans having a minor breakdown (or it could be a major breakdown; with Sans' tune as fractured as it is, he can't tell) in the corner of the living room. In his hands, he's clutching one of the crystals that Connie had taken from the torture lab they'd found him in.

Awesome. Wow.

J takes a deep breath to steady himself and grabs a towel from the kitchen before heading over to Sans. Slowly, he kneels next to the skeleton and reaches out, intending to wrap the crystal in the towel and remove it from Sans' grip. Whatever it is, it's messing with Sans something awful, and that's something neither of them need right now. "C'mon, buddy, I think you need a break."

[exhumerus]

Sans doesn't react to someone approaching until the exact moment that J is reaching to take the crystal away from him. He jerks it away from J's grasp reflexively, holding it closer to his chest, his eyes startled and wild as he repulses from the new arrival's presence. He shuffles his legs to take him further away from the man - wincing as it puts pressure on his wounded leg - but otherwise doesn't seem to notice anything besides J, the crystal, and their relative proximities.

"B-Back off," he sputters, his mouth feeling like it's running on auto-pilot. J doesn't understand what this is, or what happened. He needs to stay away.

[eba02]

Okay, that didn't work, and Sans is too skittish for him to try again just yet. This is going to be like trying to catch a cat, isn't it.

J stops and takes a seat on the floor, putting the towel in his lap and holding his hands up placatingly. "Believe me, that thing ain't helpin' you." Probably not the best opening line. "You mind tellin' me what that is?" In the meantime, he's listening hard, both for Sans' answer and to find some part of Sans' tune that's intact enough to work with. It's not exactly easy going, but he's determined.

[exhumerus]

Sans curls his legs in towards himself, as if that question has suddenly knocked something loose in his mind. Something about J's phrasing makes him angry, but not enough to act on it. Instead he just keeps the crystal away from him, his bones rattling slightly with tension.

Does he knows what it is? He's pretty sure he does. The answer still makes him ill.

He stares at J, and then back down at the crystal, the magic in his left eye flickering and wavering. God, he has to get it together, but feeling this thing again has his mind feeling as vulnerable and violated as it did back when it happened. He can't think straight. He's sick and he's scared.

"It's her soul," he says hollowly, closing his eyes for a moment as if in strain. When he opens again they are both empty and black.

[eba02]

That answer comes at about the same time that J realizes that he's having a tough time picking out Sans' tune because it's mingling with another one.

That's coming from the crystal he's holding.

Because the crystal is a person.

Oh.

Oh, God.

He fights to keep steady. Is this- is this what happens to people who disappear around here? The CEOs make them into this?

He forces that train of thought to a stop - that way lies madness, and he has a job to do before he can even think about heading down that rabbit hole. Priority one is Sans. Everything else can wait. "I'm sorry," he says, voice quiet.

[exhumerus]

Sans stands up abruptly, like he is going to go somewhere else very quickly, but then he doesn't. Instead he just freezes there, looking angry and confused, the crystal still clutched tightly in one of his hands. He keeps it with him defensively, as if he's afraid that someone is going to take it.

"Do you even know what monsters can do?" he demands, raising the crystal in way of example. "Why humans like you were afraid of us?"

He hasn't been this worked up since Stella got to him in the warehouse. Right now all of that feels pointless. He's going to lose his mind.

Of course J doesn't know that. Why would he know? Sans isn't even sure where these memories come from at this point.

Weird Crystal Raving

[determinate]

Frisk hadn't known what to do with the crystals. Honestly, they haven't given them a lot of thought at all. Sans was there, hurt badly, and then he and Papyrus had vanished and they lost Greg...there was a lot going on. After it was all resolved as well as it could be, they looked at them with Connie a bit, but it hadn't seemed like there was much they could do. Silver would probably know.

It doesn't occur to them that maybe Sans wouldn't want to see them until they find him staring at one.

Silently, they go to kneel down next to him, looking between his face and the stone. Blue magic's okay; Papyrus has that, so they'd have kinda expected it out of Sans too. It's easy enough to deal with once you know how. They don't know what gold magic is at all. But their soul's still inside, so...

[exhumerus]

Sans doesn't manage to look up for a while, like whatever he's doing or thinking about is beyond the physical plane. There is an inner light to the crystal that seems to shift more often than it has on its own, though, as the skeleton stares into it - as if some degree of faint communication is going on.

Sans doesn't seem to notice Frisk, at first. They are a pretty non-intrusive presence, after all.

[determinate]

Welp, this is weird.

Frisk draws their knees up to their chest and leans their chin against them. For a little while, they just watch, glancing between Sans and the crystals. He doesn't look...well, he's obviously not happy, but it's not like he generally is lately. Maybe he never was? The important part is that the crystal doesn't seem to be hurting him any worse.

Still, it's pretty weird. After a little bit, they speak up. "Sans?"

[exhumerus]

He startles when Frisk speaks, the familiarity of it snapping him part way out of his daze. He looks at Frisk like he's going to panic for a moment, but then somehow pulls it together. He almost drops the crystal in his alarm.

"K-Kid... what?" He looks at Frisk, then down at the stone. "I... I have kind of a..."

He braces a palm against his face, sweating slightly at is from exertion. He feels really ill, and maybe it's just now that he's realizing it.

[determinate]

Okay, skeletal sweating is weirder up close. The last time they were this near to it was when Sans was being tortured. Now he's just...well. What does he have?

Again, they drop their gaze to the crystal. "Are you okay?" Their instinct is to take the thing away entirely, but it's not like they're his mom, and they don't wanna get in a fight with him about it. Maybe he knows what's happening. He probably knows more about this stuff than anybody else.

[exhumerus]

The interplay between his 'aura' and the crystal's slows and gradually stops, which seems to make it easier for him to think, though he's still plainly stressed. He sets it on the floor in front of his crossed legs, and presses his palms over his eye sockets, quelling the bluish gold flickering in his eye.

"Nah," he says, too plainly. "I'm not. How is anyone supposed to be?"

Apartment Angst

[sailorgenerous]

Whatever knife Sans is holding glows blue and daintily removes itself from his fingers, placing itself instead in a drawer that slides open obligingly at its approach.

"Perhaps you should stay out of the kitchen," Rarity says quietly from the kitchen doorway, "unless you're planning on cooking."

Honestly, at this point she doesn't know how to feel. She's spent the past week alternating between creeping paranoia that Virgo will somehow discover her hiding place and outright terror that Blanche himself is going to tear down the door and drag her back to the tower himself to do God knows what with her. What's worse is, intertwined with it all is some awful desire to return anyway. It is the only place she belongs, after all-

She quashes the thought. She's been beating back thoughts like that for days, and it's left her exhausted.

Oh. That's how she feels: tired. At least she has an answer now.

[exhumerus]

Oh. A look of fear flashes in his eyes the moment the knife begins to move - only to flicker and fade into confusion, and then ashamed recognition. He watches the knife go back into the drawer with a kind of finality.

"Eh, cut me some slack," he says, and the joke feels forced. "I know my way around a knife."

He promises that joke is super funny if you know his life.

WHAT STREET IN NOTOKAYVILLE DID YOU FIND *THAT* ON

[sailorgenerous]

Oh for goodness' sake.

"I'm sure you do," she tells him flatly, "and that's the problem. If you're hungry, I'll make you something; otherwise, out." Don't make her shoo you, Sans.

i live to destroy

[exhumerus]

He doesn't leave. Not immediately, anyway. His hands feel too empty now that the knife is gone, and so he puts them down on the counter, where they rattle softly.

"Just kinda...feel like I've got a problem to solve. You know? Like I've got somewhere to be."

It's a loaded descriptor.

[sailorgenerous]

Oh. Oh, no. If he means what she thinks he means- not Sans too-

"You have nowhere to be that isn't in this apartment," she tells him, steel in her voice, "or in our friends' apartment. Just because somepony wants us to take a field trip doesn't mean we need to go." She may be trying to convince herself just as much as she is Sans.

[exhumerus]

Ha ha. 'Somepony.' That's cute, he thinks distantly. It ends up drowned out by everything else flooding his mind. He really shouldn't be surprised that she feels what he's feeling, too. With how much those people were in their minds, they'd have been crazy not to write something like this in.

"Yeah. Heh. That's the problem with being able to go places instantly. You can...be kind of reckless with your travel plans." He grips the edge of the counter. He's been trying not to talk about this, but it's getting to the point where he's terrified that he won't be able to stop himself.

"I don't got a lot holding me together, Rare."