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.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Then I'm at your disposal, babe. I even promise I won't try to steal you into a secluded corner for... I dunno. [He tugs out his phone from a pocket, glances at the display, then slides it away again.] Five minutes? You gotta admit that's a lot for me.

Awww. Could it be for longer than that, baby? You know five minutes is not nearly enough.~

[If there's anyplace to get frisky, it's Paris right?]

I meant you had five minutes guaranteed before I steal you away. [He winks at her.] I can promise that much. After that, well, all depends on if I can manage to resist you.

[Which she had a lot of control over, depending on how worked up she wants to get him...]

No self-control at all. That's fine, it's one of the things I love about you.

[So maybe that admission wasn't just the booze talking.]

You make me that way. [As he so often does, Jecht puts an arm around her, resting his palm on the curve of her hip as he tugs her close.] Something about you just revs me up.

Vroom vroom baby.

[Passion and energy aside, he's relaxing to have around.]

How are things with the band?

...They're good.

[A blatant and obvious lie so he doesn't have to tell her stuff that'd be depressing or upsetting? You bet it is!]

[Listen, Aramat just alienated most of her band and now Squalo hates her, she can take some bad news.]

You don't have to lie to me, Jecht.

[It's said gently.]

[He looks at her out of the corner of his eyes.]

Well... maybe I don't wanna talk about it and just enjoy my time with you? You're the good thing in my life right now.

So are you.

[Nearly everything else she's ruined or cannot get.]

I'm guessing I shouldn't ask you if Tooru came over to tell you a few things.

Heh, yeah. Came about an inch from throwing the bastard out. [Not exaggerating, either. She can feel him tense at the memory.]

He means well, but he doesn't know our struggle too well enough I'm afraid.

It's selfish. Shit like that's just selfish, saying you know what's best for someone else when you don't know a goddamn thing about them or what's going on. [Now he's getting all tense, to the point that by the end of his words he's gritting his teeth.]

Jecht...

[She'll try to grab his face gently to calm him down. No matter how she may feel about Tooru's plan, she agreed to help in the breakout.]

[If Tooru had just been after him, he'd have been pissed but fine. But no -- Tooru had wanted him to sway Aramat.]

Yeah, yeah... I was tryin' not to talk about this, wasn't I?

I'm sorry.

[She's not going to see most of her band ever again, so they were probably first in her mind.]

It's okay. I'm not mad at you. Just... the whole damn situation sucks. Just sucks. I wish it was easy and there was just someone I could punch to make it all better!

[~~Well there's Lesedi, but we don't think she can can be punched out these days.~~]

That would be nice. You could be my knight and I can be your maiden.

[Jecht looks down at her sidelong, then abruptly cracks a grin.] Pretty sure you're, uh, not a 'maiden'.

[And at that, she punches him. It's a playful punch, but there is still some hurt feeling in it. Squalo isn't talking to her right now for her indiscretions, the media is painting her as a dangerous, unstable jezebel. She wants to be pure in someones eyes. Has she messed this up too?]

So you won't save me since I'm not?

Are you kidding? I'm one of the biggest reasons you're not! I'd save you because you're you.

[She doesn't need to be PURE to him. Heck, her, ah, decided lack of purity is something he loves being the beneficiary of. He loves her for her.]

[She smiles at that.]

I guess maidens aren't as exciting as whatever I am.

Now you're catching on. [Jecht turns to grab her, both hands on the muscles to either side of the small of her back.] If they got no spark and fire, they ain't worth my time.

[She giggles at that. Jecht's always been comforting. Her fingers may trace the tattoo on his chest, smoothly going from point to point. She's done this before, many times before. Sometimes with her fingers, sometimes with her tongue.]

I always wondered, what does this tattoo mean?

What does it mean? Or... [He drops his voice slightly.] What does it mean?

[There are two answers. She's entitled to both, if she wants -- her and only her.]

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