☆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

[eba02]

"Because I've been hidin' all my goddamn life, an' some things don't change!"

He's yelling now, and that's too far. He pulls up short, doing his best to calm down, forcibly if need be, breathing erratic and shaking from tension. J doesn't usually go this far - he doesn't let himself get pushed this far - so now he's on the verge of explosion and having one hell of a time trying to control it. He can't do this - he's not sure his friendship with Lapis can survive the damage, and he might well break in the process - but he's not sure he can stop himself.

"Look, d'you get why I'm mad at you?" The volume has lowered, even if the intensity hasn't. "Just. D'you understand."

[oceantier]

She looks back at him -- that same expressionless, quiet, empty look.

"If you trust me . . . if you expect me not to just follow orders because I trust you . . . then . . ."

She presses her lips together. "Then . . . you need to trust me to tell you when you're wrong. You need to trust me to know when to protect you. And . . . you need to trust that I will."

Her eyes plead quietly. "Even when you're scared. Even if it goes against everything you know."

"I want . . . to give that back to you."

"You gave all of that to me."

[eba02]

It's like having a bucket of cold water poured over his head. One the one hand, Lapis gets it - she's seen him screw up, and she's still offering him support. On the other hand, somehow, she still doesn't get it. It's a bizarre contradiction, but in a way, it helps - he'd rather spend energy trying to figure it out than being angry.

"Look, Lapis, I get it. Believe me, I-" He laughs, and it's a quiet, mirthless sound. "-I can hear it. I just-" How does he say this? How the hell is he supposed to put this? "I get that you're tryin' to protect me, an' I get that I need it." That would usually be a blow to his ego, but he doesn't seem to have one of those right now - it's been beaten to pieces. "An' believe me, I'm grateful. But I don't think you understand that what you did out there wasn't protectin' me. Sans was scared, but he wasn't shootin'. You shot first; you made it violent; an' you could've killed Agent 3. I know you've got a lot of control, but you can't guarantee anything in that kind of situation. I just...I need to know that you get that."

He trusts her with his life, but he doesn't trust her judgment. It's a weird spot to be in.

[oceantier]

She looks away at that, her hands braced at her elbows.

"You don't wait when someone is pointing a gun to ask if they'll shoot. Don't you know that? I can't wait to ask him if he really wants to shoot you; he's there, it's pointed at you, and he's scared." Briefly, her eyes rake across his, pointed. "You know how much people are capable of when they're scared."

Her voice steadies, rises. "If you weren't paying attention, I didn't shoot him. I made sure he couldn't move so he couldn't shoot you. Violence would have been taking him apart, and I didn't; I just made him afraid. I protected you, and I would have protected 3."

"I don't apologize for that. I don't apologize for doing what I did, and I don't apologize for protecting you. I won't, and you can't expect it from me. Just because I trust you doesn't mean you get to order me. Just because I trust you doesn't mean you always know best."

Her eyes are back again, burrowing into his. "Or are you actually afraid of me too?"

[eba02]

"I don't have to ask! That's the point!" They've talked about this. They've talked about this. "I've heard enough violence to know what it sounds like, and he wasn't gonna shoot unless someone pushed him! Believe me, if he was, I would've gotten the hell out of the way instead of tryin' to talk to him!" He's got a protection boon in his back pocket, sure, but that doesn't mean he wants to use it fighting with an ally.

So they're doing this now. Great. He meets her gaze and doesn't look away. "I am not afraid of you." There's a whole lot of gravity to the statement, but no edge. There are things in the city worth fearing; J refuses to let his friends be among their number, at least in his mind. "But Sans is. He's ten kinds of broken already an' you just made it eleven. 'Cause now, on top of all that, he's afraid." If Lapis isn't going to apologize, she can at least hear the consequences of her actions - not the way he can - never the way he can - but nonetheless.

"You can't help him, and it'll be a miracle if he lets me try. So now what."

[oceantier]

She stares back at him for long, silent moments.

"Are you going to blame Papyrus for holding down his floating magic, or Rarity for holding down his gun? Or you, for being defensive and secretive and making him afraid back?"

"Or is it just all about me, because I don't do anything right?"

She half-turns, eyes narrowing. "I didn't deserve that from you. Let me know when you figure that out."

And she steps around him and out the door.