☆TRACK XI: THIS FIXATION

[interdimanagers]

Who: Everyone! Especially Lapis and all musicians.
What: The Final Festival finally begins.
When: May 5th, 2055, at 5:55PM.
Where: Concert stages for both Pride and Virgo, as well as throughout the city.
Warnings: Lapis related violence.

“I think I'm drowning. Asphyxiated. I wanna break this spell That you've created. You're something beautiful; A contradiction. I wanna play the game. I want the friction.” ☆THIS FIXATION The start times of the festivals are very explicit. The first notes are to be played at 5:55 PM – no sooner, and no later. This has been enforced by every recital leading up to this point, and today the word is law. The audience view it as a peculiarity. How could both labels independently decide to do something so particular? Those on the stage will feel it in their hearts. There’s more to it than just another concert. Something is happening, bigger than all of you, and something deep down tells you that you are powerless to stop it now. There’s a momentum that’s been building for centuries, and only now will the show truly begin. the 55th minute | the 5th hour | the 5th day | the 5th month | the 2055th year Those with magical, spiritual, or musical sense will feel it strongly. The magic of it is thick in the air, enveloping the entirely of Vista within its breadth. The music begins, and a terrible tension in the air finally breaks. In that precise moment, something has been released – and there is no going back from here. ☆THE SHORT AND DIRTY The ritual has finally begun. So let's break this down. ► The same moment the festivals begin, and occult magical ritual has been set in motion. That special time window that the labels were waiting for? This is it. Why the number 5 is so important we may never know, but the key thing to note is that the force of musical power behind the labels are now multiplying, and will only be getting stronger the longer the ritual goes on. Those with Fame Power abilities will feel more and more potent as time goes on as well. Magical juice will come easier and they will get bigger magical effects for their effort. ► The festival will begin with the labels biggest acts, so only a few of the player characters will be on stage at that point. Veteran musicians will start things off on a high note, and the rest will be lined up and ready for a seemingly unending roll of music all through the night and into the entirety of Friday and Saturday. Friday has been deemed a city wide public holiday because that’s how seriously Vista takes its music. Fledgling bands with characters of Fame Power 4+ or Fame Fortune 4+ will have the honour of being part of the first wave of performances, all starting at 5:55PM. This is a seriously big deal. So don’t fuck up. ► Very shortly after the beginning of the festival, Lesedi Santiago is going to fuck everything up for you. ☆LESEDI FUCKS THINGS UP And this is how Lesedi will fuck things up: she's getting Lapis Lazuli to do it for her. Lapis was recently captured by Pride Records while trying to sneak out information to the rescuers. She has been powerfully enchanted by Lesedi to attack and kill Virgo musicians and Rescuers alike, and her water powers will be temporarily enhanced by feeding off of Lesedi's magic. Lapis is being sent to attack Virgo musicians first - ideally disrupting as many Virgo performances as possible and FUBARing Blanche's ritual right from the get go. Juno will quickly regroup and start sending Virgo's magical adepts to try to stop her, while keeping as many of them on stage as possible. Meanwhile, this is all occurring in broad fucking daylight. So what do the civilians think? Well, they'll be scared and try to save themselves from any attacks they get caught in the middle of, but otherwise...it's like they've been reduced to zombies. None of them seem capable of acknowledging that anything weird is happening - the only thing they can focus on is the music, and as long as it continues their minds are ensnared. Rescuers who have been heavily effected by the brainwashing of the musical singles may also feel entranced by the music at the concert as well, and may have a similar lack of survival instinct. They'll be drawn to the music regardless of all else, up to and including the risk of death. Lapis's player has been planning out a variety of fight threads in advance, but since Lapis as the ability to create a lot of collateral damage, people can also be free to assume that they are trying to save civilians from surprise water hazards as this goes on, or simply trying to survive themselves. We will be assuming there are no deaths caused by Lapis unless it is cleared with her player first. This includes random audience members. This will go on for a while, until eventually Lapis is chased away from the festival and goes to attack the rescuer warehouse with the chip removal equipment instead. Silver will sent out an urgent message warning the rescuers of this, urging them to get over there as quickly as possible and help to remove the equipment and take it to a safe place. Silver themselves will not arrive immediately, and Gold is still nowhere to be seen - at least, not until the very end, when they will make a surprise return appearance to help attend to the Lapis Lazuli problem. “Now that you know I'm trapped- Sense of elation. You'd never dream of Breaking this fixation. You will squeeze the life out of me.”

Comments

[interstellarebels]

"Oh, I don't mean that I'm going to rip it out. I mean that Santiago and Blanche will when they find out you stole this much of their juice."

They lift their arms in a theatrical sort of way: an invitation to groove.

"But forget that for a second and dance with me."

[eba02]

Oh. Oh okay well that's a relief. Kind of. J breathes a sigh of relief, insomuch as he can right now. After the Rhombulans, being punished by aliens for taking a stand is kind of par for the course, though he can't say he likes the idea of the Kali Ma method.

But if they're reacting, it means he made a difference. Somehow, that's reassuring.

He grins - or tries to, at least - pushes off the wall, and snaps into place beside Silver. It's been a while since the last time he danced backup, but you never really lose the feel for it. The issue here is going to be focusing enough to keep up. "Lead the way."

[interstellarebels]

J has seen Silver do this before. As they begin to sway to a silent beat, the music in Silver's step seems to become real. Soon J can hear the tune on a level much more literal than the standard.

Silver swings around, and snaps up one of J's hand into theirs, pulling him into the dance with them. This is maybe not going to be the kind of genre that he was expecting. Hope he knows how to electro-swing.

[eba02]

'Dance with me' really only means one thing on a mission, and J is still thinking in mission mode; while Silver's music becoming audible on a normal spectrum isn't a surprise, Silver grabbing J's hand and swinging him around is. He recovers quickly - as much as he can while he's still skirting the edges of exhaustion - and falls into step with Silver, letting them lead.

Does he know how to swing. Please.

[interstellarebels]

It will quickly apparently that he's not just letting them have lead - they're firmly taking it. Despite retaining enough control to add his own particular creativity and flare, he'll swiftly find himself being drawn into the dance in way that goes beyond conscious thought. It's not clear if he could stop if he wanted to.

"Hey, brother, what you thinking?
Leave that old record spinning...
You feel the rhythm, going."

Then Silver starts singing in that robotic voice of theirs, with backup voices seemingly coming from nowhere.

"(They call it lonely digging.)"

On the bright side, his exhaustion and stress will quickly become much less of a problem, his physical concerns fading as the energy seems to fluctuate between the two of them like electricity. Even if he doesn't know how to use the power he's holding, Silver does.

"Let's end your time to lay low.
Your knees a-bending, so,
It's time to get up and let go."

"(You're gonna come undone)"

[eba02]

Okay, J knows how to swing, but not like this. Usually it's a partner dance, a balance between two people regardless of who's leading. This is different - this is dizzying and intoxicating and out of his control. It's running along something that isn't quite the Music - not deeper; just different - and for all he keeps up with Silver, it's still swept him off his feet. At least he no longer feels like he's burning up.

Magic. Christ.

He takes a moment to remember how to breathe and keeps in step.