interstellar5555 | ☆TRACK XII: LOVE AND TRUST

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☆TRACK XII: LOVE AND TRUST

Who: Everyone!
What: The tour hits Europa, and Edward Blanche plans a trap.
When: May 25th - June 17th, 2055
Where: Any of the potential tour stops, but mostly MOSCOW.
Warnings: Probably violence.

“Oh, will you break my fall
When I climb too high?
I always lose my nerve,
It happens every time.”

☆LOVE AND TRUST

After the disaster that was the beginning of the World Tour, things from there have proceeded innocently enough in comparison. Virgo ended up being able to pull its act into some semblance of order before the festival finished, and so the magic on their side was not entirely lost. Things are tense, however, for anybody who has an idea of the stuff going on upstairs. Whatever is going on, Pride is in the lead by a landslide, and the desperation is present in the managers and the execs alike.

Lesedi, however, couldn’t be happier. In fact, she is getting cockier by the day. Her plans with Lapis went wonderfully, and wherever the gem is now is irrelevant. Barring any major disasters, she is increasingly certain of her defeat of Virgo, and is encouraging her elite members of take potshots at them any chance they get. (This includes her beginner music mages.)

The beginning of the month is spent with both labels visiting a lot of very familiar locations across Americana - most of which are places they will have visited in the past. The routes are very similar to the ones the first bands took during their opening tours last summer.

As for the rescuers, now is the time to regroup. It’s not practical to follow the musicians to ever stop they make, but Shep has apparently enabled his spaceship with a cloaking device, and will be taking all the rescuers and free musicians to the major tour centers of each continental tour - the headline festivals, each lasting for days, and each carrying an important role in the ongoing ritual.

That’s what Silver thinks, at least. As some of the rescuers may now know, Gold has apparently gone solo.

☆EUROPA TOUR

As the Americana portion of the tour comes to a close around the 25th of May, both labels will be finishing up in Britain and heading on into the conglomerate of Europa. All of these cities are basically what they are like IRL except about 50 years more future-like, and you have full creative liberty to make up some developments to the local culture and worldbuild because this is the last time these places will ever be mentioned meaningfully!

THE OFFICIAL STOPS: Paris (May 30th - 31st), Berlin (June 1st - 2nd), Madrid (June 3rd - 6th), Istanbul (June 7th - 8th), Rome (June 9th - 10th), Vienna (June 11th - 12th)
THE HEADLINER: Moscow (June 12th - 17th)

The festival in Moscow is much like the festival in Vista City - a musical blowout to end all blow outs. The two labels festival grounds are practically blending together at this point, almost as if fighting for physical territory along with fighting for the attention of the crowds. The thick energy of magic follows the tour like a comet’s tail.

► RESCUER PROMPT: Instead of cutting through all of the earlier stops, Shep loads all the rescuers up into the now-cloaked spaceship and will bring them to Moscow, the last step in the Europa tour path and the place they’ll be stopping the longest. Silver has been saying that the lot of them should start working on freeing captives at all costs, especially now that the labels are on the road and increasingly disorganized. Shep has gotten together a bunch of new material for disguises as well as more holo projectors - a lot of them have been spotted at this point, but if they can get close to the musicians and catch the labels off guard it could be their best hope of bunging up the rituals for both of them.

Meanwhile, Gold is obviously absent from the team, and some may have seen their former leader essentially announce their intent to leave during their fight with Lapis. Silver and Shep seem to have been avoiding talking about it, but occasionally it will be referenced in public places and the conversation will turn rapidly tense.

► MUSICIAN PROMPT: Everything is more or less business as normal, except for the pressure of the tour seems to be causing all the authority figures to lose their minds, especially in Virgo. Beyond that, though, it’s all deceptively the same. Both labels stop in the various cities and put on their best show, only stopping briefly to enjoy the local culture. Everyone is under very careful watch, however, no matter where they are. No one leaves the performance areas without an escort - it’s clear that both labels are desperate to hang on to musicians at this point. The gravity of the situation is increasingly obvious.

Both labels have been booked into the same hotel this time, which is essentially a castle in Moscow. It’s every bit as lavish as you would expect, and it’s easy to get distracted from the stress with the luxuries that are offered at every turn. The consistent sense of desperation that Virgo has running through it at the moment is totally absent in Pride - Lesedi seems like she’s in an absolutely fantastic mood.

► FESTIVAL PROMPT: The festivals crowds are bigger than anything you’ve ever seen. Rescuers will easily be lost in a crowd, and musicians will be followed by a detour of body guards that honestly feel needed for reasons besides imprisonment. The stages are colourful and elaborate in set up. The musical event goes on for three full days, and most of everyone’s time will be spent backstage or in their hotels. Rescuers will have to do their best to keep up.

☆BLANCHE MAKES A MOVE

In the wake of Virgo falling behind, Edward Blanche has come up with a magical scheme of his own. Using the soul crystal of pure love from Greg Universe and pure duty from Meril, he has been devising a ritual - and with any luck, it take out two birds with one stone.

Greg and Meril, having mostly lost their real personalities after having parts of their souls torn out and crystalized, will be set up in a central location in the hotel, after the performances on the last night in Moscow. They’ll be set up to play music, and while that music is playing it will be reaching out to all of the rescuers, whether they can hear it or not. This music is going to trigger the love and duty within their own souls, and direct it to a particular cause - a sudden and desperate need to save their friends, family, or other sympathetic souls from the labels. And the need to do it tonight. This will hit them particularly hard if they are naturally of a love or duty alignment, but it will have an effect regardless. How much it gets them exactly is up to you.

Virgo’s musicians will be protected very heavily during the ritual, as Blanche is expecting the attack. His hope is to lure rescuers in and kill or capture them, having the advantage of foresight. He’s also hoping that the rescuers will go after the less protected musicians of Pride and steal them away from Lesedi, who isn’t aware that this is happening. If things go well for Blanche, both the rescuers and Pride will take a major hit, all in one go. Why not let your enemies destroy each other?

Player participation in this can go two ways: one is that your character can simply go after any of the musicians you choose, and you can work out between the players and the mod how well it goes. Alternatively, you can have your character go to the heart of the matter and try to take on Greg and Meril. The tricky part? Blanche is going to be overseeing the ritual as well. However, without the focuses of Greg and Meril’s soul crystals, the ritual will fail. Also, there will absolutely be a few opportunistic ghosts looking for the opportunity to give everyone a hand.

Communication with the mod is key for this event! Please run by plans to have any musicians successfully escape by me before going through with it, and also do let me know if you’d like the ghosts to help out! This can absolutely be combined with other player plots, such as the Pride break out initiative that’s been floating around.

The night of the ritual is June 17th, so take some time to plan things out, and then get threading. Let me know if you need help setting any scenes!

“Oh will you bring me home
When I'm barely alive?
It's the state of love and trust,
And this is for you,
And this is for us.”

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Minako took Usagi's hand with a soft smile. "No, I...I think I agree. As much as I miss Ami and Mako and everyone...we've bonded with the people here, and I want to see to it that they'll be okay. We won't let this disaster or anything like it happen again."

"Do you think we'll get that choice?" she asked as she looked at Minako. "After it's all said and done, nothing would worry me more than them... than all of us being forced to forget this, each other. We have to remember, if only so we can stop it from ever happening again." She swallowed.

"And the idea of coming in, destroying... so much and just leaving, goes against everything I stand for. We've never done such a thing."

Minako clenched her fists. "I'll fight for that choice, and I know Rei will too. She has more of a reason than any of us...I don't know what will happen, but I know we'll fight."

Right? She leaned against the window, taking in that view of the world they'd pledged to save before returning to their own.

She wasn't naive enough to be as selfish as she used to be. She knew, perhaps better than anyone, that the heart had room for to love so many, to cherish everyone. She did know, she did understand, but some part of her.... the part that was still young, was scared of losing Rei at the end of it all. She knew, of course, that Rei had more memories back, and more kept coming everyday, more importantly, she had said that she wasn't going anywhere, and she believed her because Rei had never lied.

But she was still scared, on some level, one she wouldn't admit to and it would take an enemy's spell to make her confess otherwise, that she was terrified of Rei choosing to stay, or worse, choosing not to stay, but not choosing to come home because what she went through here, made a new Rei. She wouldn't admit to it, and that teeny-tiny young and selfish part of her would erase this world's claim on Rei. However, she knew she couldn't but more importantly, she wouldn't. It would make her a hypocrite, but more than that, it wasn't putting faith in Rei. It was saying that everything Rei went through as a senshi, with all of them, did not compare to everything she went through here. It said that, Rei would have all her memories and find the life of a senshi lacking in comparison.

And some little nagging voice, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Nehelenia, told her that the senshi had never been Rei's family the way that they were made to be here. Hadn't Usagi failed to befriend Ivan and Pao-Lin? Hadn't she failed in keeping Rei safe like she promised?

She had. She could admit it.

It didn't make it any easier to know that, though.

She was not enough on her own. It was good, then, that Minako could fill in the holes that she couldn't.

But it didn't lessen the fear and she knew it wouldn't until they were back in their own home. And she couldn't bring herself to say "if Rei came with them" because she wouldn't allow herself to doubt in Rei, not after everything.

She leaned her forehead against the cool glass and closed her eyes. They would fight, they would win, and they would deal with the fall out.

Because they were senshi, because she was Sailor Moon, because it was just the right thing to do.

"Sometimes I wish we could go to the future again, if only to know how things are going, how we're doing with that has happened. I have hope for the future, I know that we'll make it through this, because we always will when we're together." She swallowed. She was putting too much on Minako's shoulders again, she knew.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She couldn't doubt herself. She'd die before she let Blanche and Santiago get their hands on another person, before they could ever touch Rei again.

"We have to get ready for Moscow and whatever may be there. I think it will be the final act, as it were, the last song."

Minako's faith had wavered to some extent in the past, but the funny thing about being with Rei was that it had numbed it. Somehow...though she hadn't dared hope before, she now did. She knew she was meant to be with Rei, and that would never change.

She was also to be with Usagi, and...that she couldn't allow to change. So that simply meant carving out a path with whatever means she had.

"One last stand...the final battle. I've never been fond of those. But it has to end."

Her fist balls against the glass.

"I can't summon the grail, and I can't call upon all the senshi either," she closed her eyes. She wouldn't even think about using the Lambda power.

"But you'll trust me, won't you? To save them?"

"I do. Always have, always will," she promised. Pinkie promised, actually...she did so love slipping her finger there and squeezing.

She smiled as their pinkies locked and was quick to move to hug Minako, happy to have had her here since the beginning.

"I know," she smiled as she pushed back some of Minako's hair from her face. She figured... well... she swallowed.

"Could I ask you something, Minako? And I would like you to be honest with me."

Minako subconsciously curls closer to her, her voice uncharacteristically quiet.

"You know you can always ask me, and I'll always answer."

"Do you regret being born a senshi?.... Do you regret... being bound to me, I suppose?" she looked out the window. "You could pursue your dream of being an idol, you'd never be in danger... at least, not to the degree we always seem to be, you wouldn't have to risk your life for mine..." she swallowed and bowed her head.

"I never... I never asked if you all wanted to be my senshi, you were just assigned the task back then, and you continue it now." she took a deep breath. "It's not... not that I know you can't all do it. I know you can and have. I've loved every moment of us being together and getting to be side-by-side with you all in this life."

She loved every single moment with them. And whether or not they had willingly given up their life to protect her, she had never asked them if that was what they wanted. She wanted to support their dreams, whatever the dream was. She wanted to see them shine and thrive in whatever they took on.

"And maybe you grew up to like it... but if you wanted to stop..." her hands were trembling and she looked away, unable to finish the sentence. She hadn't asked if the senshi wanted to be... well- the senshi. Luna and she had just sought them out and gave them the task to fight. "It's- we both know, that I could... if you asked me to- I could- that I w-would..." it was getting harder to talk. "You wouldn't have to be- you could follow your dreams above all else instead."

She hadn't meant to interrupt so many dreams. How much was their dream because they convinced themselves, and how much of it was their dream because that was what they wanted?

She should have asked, she knows now. She should have done so many things- and she made so many mistakes. Not asking was another mistake, and she was going to fix that. She would ask Rei, she would ask all the girls. She would offer them all the same thing because they shouldn't have to give up their lives simply because her mother so many millennia ago assigned them such a task. She loved them and adored them, so much...

So much so, she'd relieve them of their duty without question, if that was what they wanted.

Edited (I am so sorry.) 2016-06-17 09:47 (UTC)

Minako clasped her hands to her chest, closing her eyes. This was a painful question, but she knew Usagi needed to know the truth. Their lives were far more complicated than they were even a few months ago, with so many competing desires and strange occurrences nipping at their heels.

She exhaled softly, voice beginning as a whisper.

"Usagi...I'll be honest, I know I've missed out on things. On boys, on dates, on singing on stage...and I wonder what it'd be like to be a normal girl. To try it out for a while."

She folds her fingers together, gazing up above. "But...you're not just my princess, Usagi. You're my best friend. I love you to the ends of the universe and back, you've made my life so much brighter...all of our lives, I think they'd agree."

She huddled closer to Usagi. "But I love Rei-chan too. She's more than any boy could've been, and I got to sing on stage with her! If we could all come back together, that's the only thing I want. I'll fight for it forever. But..."

She closed her eyes. "I think Rei-chan will leave us, and because I love her...I'll let her go and stay with you. My duty, because I love you two so much."

She swallowed and nodded, even as she felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes, even as her vision blurred. She had asked. It wasn't that she was mad, she wasn't.

She wasn't hurt, either, because ultimately, Minako chose her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, wrapping Minako up in her arms. "I'm so... so sorry, Minako-chan, that I ever... that you've had to give up so much because of me, for me," she swallowed and took a deep shuddering breath. But she couldn't put her friends dreams on hold, she couldn't deny them their chance at love when she had it in abundance.

"And I won't... I won't do that to you, to any of you, not any more," she whispered, whipping her eyes. She swallowed again, but her nerves were steeled. "Minako-chan... Venus... if you- if you and Rei have the opportunity to be together, I want you to take it. Don't... don't worry about me, alright?" she smiled even as tears were falling, trying so hard to be strong. "Even if that means leaving my side. Love like that is something to fight for, I should know," she tried to make light of how often she had to fight for Mamoru- or worse, against him. She pushed back a strand of Minako's hair.

"If she leaves... if there is a choice, I want you to go with her. You can't give her up, not-not when you found her finally, when you found that piece of yourself you never let yourself have. I-I'll be okay," she assured. "I've got-" well no, they might choose to leave as well once she posed the option to them. "I've got Mamoru and no matter what happens, I'm going to be your best friend. You love her and I love the both of you. That's not something that comes along so easily for the both of you. If she decides to stay with us, then I still don't ever want you to feel like you have to choose. I want you both to be happy, I want you to know that sort of love."

Minako exhaled softly, relief and guilt engulfing her at once as they only could when Usagi was near. She knew this wasn't settled and there would still be difficult times ahead. But she clung to her best friend for all she was worth.

"I love you so much, Usagi-chan," she cried softly. "Thank you. But this isn't over yet."

"I know... but even back home, I want you to choose her over me. You deserve that much, you both do. And I need to stop being so selfish regarding all of you. I thought... I was better about it, about that- but I'm not. Not really. Not once did I ever ask any of you once we regained ourselves. I don't want you and the others alive for hundreds of years to be bound there because you feel so out of obligation- and I know it's not that either," she said quickly, knowing how upsetting it would be to make it sound like that when they were best friends.

"I think... also, I will let the offer stand. Maybe... maybe you don't want it right now, but if someday down the line you do- even in the middle of a war or something, that's okay too."

Minako responded by holding tight to her best friend, fighting back strange tears that she couldn't readily explain.

"That's why I love you so much, Usagi. You're not selfish...well, not more than anybody else, really. It's gonna be okay...no matter what happens. You won't be alone, and I can't leave you. Who's gonna fail classes with me, huh? Rei'll just mock my bad grades..."

The arrow hit, of course, but she laughed and nodded, hugging tight onto Minako and so very glad that they were talking about this.

"I love you all so much... I'm sorry... I never wanted any of you to feel forced or- or stuck. I want to be sitting at your concerts and cheering the loudest of anyone in the entire audience. I want to have Ami-chan be my doctor and sip tea at Makoto's cafe and pray on new years at Rei's shrine. I don't want any of you to give up those dreams. I love you all so much."

Minako laughed, hanging onto those precious imaginings. That future together...they were still going to have it someday, she'd make sure of it somehow. She had to have faith.

"We have a thousand years, there's enough time to fit it in, right?"

"If Michiru-san and Haruka-san can manage everything they do and still save the Earth, we can too, right? No one is more driven to be an idol than you."

"Well...Rei might have me beat this time, but I'm not out for good!" Minako promised, clenching her fist. "We'll show the world. We'll do it all, and save it too."

"Do you think when we get home she'll still want to be a priestess then?" Rei didn't really seem to... enjoy being on stage, even if she was good at it.

"Do you think she can still play the violin too?"

"It's her calling...or it was, for now. I think she'll like the peace," Minako admits. "Though if she played together with Michiru..."

She trails off, stars in her eyes. Once they're sure Haruka and Michiru are safe, it'll be truly beautiful,.

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☆TRACK XII: LOVE AND TRUST

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