☆TRACK XII: LOVE AND TRUST

[interdimanagers]

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.”

Comments

Artolo Apemis - touring all over the goddamn place

[iitrebel]

General

[For the most part, Artolo's schedule is mundane. He goes along with the tour, does his performances both with solo rap and still drumming for Crown of Thorns, parties a little with the loud persona he's built up to this point, and then goes back to his room to lay face down on the floor for a while.]

[It's fiiiiine.]

[Whether coming off of a set, partying with a drink in his hand, or trying to get stoned out of his mind in a lobby while singing nonsense under his breath, feel free to bother Artolo whenever.]

Paris; locked to B

[Considering the memories that are flickering through his mind, Artolo figures there's something he really needs to say to someone.... So that's why, one day, B will find someone knocking out a rhythm on his hotel door.]

Madrid; locked to Tooru

[He's been thinking on this long and hard... But finally, Artolo approaches Tooru in their rooms.]

Hey. I wanna talk to you about something.

[killerbeep]

[B takes just a moment to check out the peephole before opening the door, so it's with some enthusiasm that he does let Art in. Weird goings-on or not, it's still always welcome to hear from him.]

Hey, man, good to see you! Something up, or just stopping by?

[iitrebel]

Something... is kinda up, yeah. Mind if I come in?

[He's going to reveal what's wrong in complete privacy or burn the hotel down, there's no inbetween.]

[killerbeep]

[Well that could potentially be a little worrying. B nods and steps aside.]

Come on in.

[iitrebel]

[It’s a relief to slip inside, and Art makes a beeline straight for the couch. Even with the serious situation, he still flings his lanky ass body across it like a ragdoll.]

So. Uh. I’m not actually sure how to say this in a way that’s not weird as balls or make you think I’m tripping, buuut...

I’m an alien.

...Probably.

[killerbeep]

[B follows him, dropping down to sit on whatever space he can find that Art isn't taking up (or, honestly, he might just sit on his legs if there's none left), and listens with visible concern as he starts to explain.

Then what Artolo actually said sinks in.

B's eyes go wide, and he abruptly grabs the back of the couch and leans toward Art.]

Wait-- seriously?!

[iitrebel]

[Well, he was sort of expecting that reaction. Artolo rubs the back of his neck, shoulders hunching up.]

Yeaaaaaah, it’s kind of- look.

[He removes first his shades, revealing the pure black contacts he’s been wearing beneath them ever since the Fairy Trial thing. And then he removes the contacts, revealing pure red in one eye and blue in the other.]

It’s kind of. A thing.

[killerbeep]

[Holy shit. Holy shit?? B slumps back against the couch, his eyebrows apparently trying to leave his face entirely.]

You...

Holy shit.

[Then he starts laughing, somewhere between disbelieving and... almost relieved. He pushes his hand up under his under his shades, covering his eyes for the moment.]

See, dude, here I was wondering when I was gonna need to bring this up.

[iitrebel]

[Okay, that’s not the kind of reaction he was expecting, but- wait.]

Wait, hold on, back up, are you saying what I think you’re saying?

[killerbeep]

Probably. Y'know, not... it's not exactly the same, but, uh...

[Jeez okay he should probably just get this over with. He pulls his own shades off, dropping them on the couch next to him, and gives Artolo a slightly nervous grin.]

Wasn't really sure how I was gonna explain the whole... robot thing, I guess.

[iitrebel]

No shit-

[He’s half laughing as he pushes up out of his seat to come closer, staring in wide eyes.]

A robot- who the fuck knew? I guess I'm wrong with the 'another alien' guess!

[killerbeep]

I mean, you may not be; shit, I'm still trying to figure this out.

[He laughs, still a little jittery, leaning forward a little to get a better look at Art's eyes himself. His eyes give a soft whirr as they refocus.]

Okay, see, that's even cooler when I can see 'em properly.

[iitrebel]

[Barely and only with the help of robotic vision are two pupils visible in otherwise opaque eyes, but he laughs when he hears the whirr of machinery.]

Holy crap, I think I’m going to die. All this time we were toe-stepping around each other like assholes, and we had the exact same problem.

[killerbeep]

Seriously, we suck at this.

[He tilts his head a little as he examines Art's eyes, grinning, before leaning back again.]

At least we did end up talking about it, right? And, uh-- speaking of which, thanks for bringing it up. [He laughs sheepishly.] I dunno how long I would've felt like I had to keep that secrecy shit up otherwise.

[iitrebel]

Yeah, well…

[Leaning back, he starts to calm down a bit as he rubs the back of his neck. There’s more to be honest about and he’s kind of not looking forward to it. It feels awkward, after everything else.]

I figured… if there’s a time to say anything… It outta be now. Shit seems to really be going down lately.

[worthlesspride]

[Tooru was on the balcony, looking out over the cityscape and turns to look at Artolo. He's not wearing his brace and a pair of khaki shorts and white tank top. The scars that had once covered his right knee were gone. He hadn't let anyone see this yet. He told a few people, Artolo included, that one of the rescuers had healed him]

What about?

[he turns and leans against the railing, arms spread out. He looks at his friend with a frown.]

Should we make a pile?

[iitrebel]

[The offer makes him grin a little. It's nice to know that this ridiculous asshole has adapted so quickly to weird bullshit that's just the quirks of an alien species Artolo only half remembers actually being.]

Yeah. Housekeeping will probably be pissed, but oh well.

[worthlesspride]

[Tooru laughs and grabs the pillows and covers off the bed]

Probably, but we're tame compared to other bands.

[iitrebel]

I know, right?

[Snickering, Artolo starts taking cushions off of a couch and flinging them onto the floor.]

We haven’t shoved a dresser out a window or anything. We should probably do that. I mean, we’re only going to be here for, like, a day.

[worthlesspride]

We should. It's on my bucket list.

[Once everything is on the floor Tooru makes himself comfortable.]

So, what did you want to talk about?

[He gets the idea he's not going to like this conversation.]

[iitrebel]

[The feeling of an unpleasant conversation probably only intensifies when, instead of flopping down like he’s trying to break his bones with pillows, Artolo lays down carefully and removes his glasses. No contacts today, just his usual alien mismatched gaze. He takes a breath.]

[There’s no point dancing around it.]

I should stay behind.

[worthlesspride]

What?

[Tooru stares at Artolo, and shakes his head]

Okay, repeat that. I don't think I heard you.

[iitrebel]

[Yeah, he didn’t think it’d be easy. Artolo kneads his fingers into the softer parts of the pile, wishing he had claws again. There’s something so much more satisfactory with claws kneading into pillows.]

I think I should stay behind. Like a mole. Or something.

[worthlesspride]

I don't like it.

[He looks up at the ceiling]

Sell it to me before I allow it.

[iitrebel]

Honestly, better than I thought you’d take it.

[That’s, what, a chance to talk things out? Hell, he’ll accept that. Artolo takes in a deep breath.]

Alright, so. We both already know I’m decently high up on the ladder socially here, right? I have no idea how, but that’s facts. And no one views me as a threat, I’m just that asshole who did a thong song once. So if anyone’s likely to stumble onto important information if they stick around it’s me, right?

Not to mention… [He shifts in the pile, not looking forward to pointing out a certain fact.] There’s no guarantee everyone will escape. If that’s the case, if anyone gets caught… You know what’ll happen.

[The same kind of thing that first happened to Tooru.]

And then they’ll be watched even harder, get a reputation of “tried to be an escape artist”. Unless they don’t try to begin with, don’t even act like they were involved. You get me yet?