☆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

[sailorgenerous]

So much for nopony here is going to hurt you. Rarity cries out in surprise as the water grabs Sans and pins him to the wall, but her grip on his blaster stays consistent. The situation is bad- it's terrible- but they cannot afford for it to get worse-

Which is when Sans screams and another blaster shows up and honestly, sometimes Discord is easier to handle. She grabs the new blaster and presses it to the floor next to its companion. "That is enough-"

She gets cut off and nearly jumps a mile when the whistle blows. Oddly enough, a time-out sounds like a good idea right now. She crosses the room slowly, laying one tentative hand on Sans' shoulder. "I think that's a lovely idea. Papyrus, dear, can you help me get Sans into one of the rooms, please?"

[exhumerus]

The blasters snarl from their places on the floor, their jaws still clamped shut, emitting an aimless exhaust of magical energy from between their fangs. Even as their aggression is somewhat tied to Sans's mental state, though, they also carry a note of his apparent resignation. Sans isn't fighting anymore. After a few more moments have passed, the blasters disappear.

It had been his last ditch effort and defending himself, and he'd failed. He barely even recognizes Rarity's approach after the fact - he just lets himself hang from his bonds, shaking all over, his sockets empty as if unseeing. He's not even really in the room anymore. In all the ways that matter, his mind is somewhere else, and it's somewhere he feels trapped.

He closes his eyes, flinching as Rarity touches him, leaning his head away from her hand slightly as if he wants to pull himself away from it but knows he doesn't have the freedom of movement to do so. He's gone from trying to fight to the acceptance of total helplessness in a matter of moments. There's a terrible kind of apprehension to his surrender, his mind lost in reliving a series of potential horrors. He's panting in agitation in a way that is strange for a creature that doesn't breathe.

He knows that they've broken him. He was broken before they even started.

[oceantier]

Lapis is looking a little pale on her end -- not from the threat, not from the exertion, but from the scream. The echo of it is still rippling through her, shivering through her frame.

She'd still hold on even so, but . . . for the moment he's slumped, and for the moment the others are taking charge. She doesn't completely trust it -- she never can -- but releases him, eyes still wary, watching.

Her hands come up to brace at her elbows, her shoulders tightening upward.

[eba02]

He can't do anything.

The last thirty seconds have been nothing but a whirlwind of violence and terror, the scream coming out of Sans' mouth echoing in his tune and tearing through the Music, leaving fear and worry seeping into the tunes of just about everyone here-

And there's nothing J can do about it.

He can try to help Sans - he wants to help Sans - but Sans knows about him now, about what he can do, and being aware of it might just set that agony and panic off again and make everything worse.

Because that's what today has been: an exercise in making things worse, starring J. Maybe it's been going on for a while. He doesn't know. He can't think. He's shaking again and his head is ringing with sympathetic horror and he can not think.

Thank God for Agent 3 and her whistle. It rattles just about everyone, but it's what they need - a jumpstart to get back on the right track. "Sounds like a plan," he manages, not quite managing to keep the tremor out of his voice.