☆TRACK IV: COME TOO FAR

[interdimanagers]

Who: Everyone!
What: Something explodes in the distance. In a figurative sense.
When: November 6th.
Where: Anywhere you are.
Warnings: ???

“Like the legend of the Phoenix, All ends with beginnings, What keeps the planets spinning, The force from the beginning.” ☆COME TOO FAR On November 6th, the sudden lockdown of Pride Records and Virgo Entertainment finally ends. But not before some unseen actions have their consequences. Due to the nature of the conflict, none of you can be there to see it, but that doesn't mean it can't be felt. In the morning of the 6th, something cries out to you spiritually - like the voice of a guardian angel, or a haunting ghost. Something, somewhere, is calling on you for aid. Pleading for you to lend it your power. Whether or not you consciously agree, you'll feel a connection stronger than anything you've felt up till this point, like whatever this creature is is somehow in the room with you, or maybe like you're with it. What happens next depends on your alignment. ► LOVE & HOPE: All at once, characters with these alignments will feel as if they have taken a deep, spiritual blow - much like having someone clasp their hand around your "soul" and attempt to snuff it out. The attack itself will be brutal but brief. It's the after effects that linger, which may be any of the following: 1) Lingering spiritual pain that triggers symptoms akin to a fever in the body. It may also trigger effects such as nosebleeds and other signs of intense stress. 2) Forgetting everything except the memories you've regained. 3) A feeling of being desperately alone. How your character reacts to this feeling can vary, but the most common response will be seeking comfort from anyone nearby, even if you are not usually the sort of person to do that. These effects will last from anywhere as short at 15 minutes to as long as 5 hours. You can pick more than one of these effects for a character, but try to balance the potency of each if you take more than one, so you aren't completely kicking the shit out of them. Vestiges of these effects can linger throughout the rest of the day, but in a significantly reduced capacity. ► DUTY & PASSION: All at once, characters with these alignments will feel an intense sense of fear and grief, as if they have lost something extremely precious to them. Generally speaking, this will manifest as a sort of panic or desperation to save whatever that thing is - but not being entirely clear on where they have to go or what they have to do to accomplish it. This can very well trigger some brash and irrational actions as they sort out this abrupt feeling of urgency. 1) Soon after the feeling begins, affected characters will feel empathically drawn to the characters suffering from the effects listed for Hope & Love, even if they are not normally the sort to be so concerned for others. This can go as far as having them be aggressively protective to the point that they will conflict with each other over it. 2) Along with that feeling of being drawn to protect them, all characters will feel an intensified kinship with all the other player characters - from both labels. This feeling of kinship won't cause them to know anything more about each other than they did before, but it will cause them to feel like much closer friends than they actually are. These effects will last from anywhere as short at 15 minutes to as long as 5 hours. After that period has ended, all these empathetic effects will fade off on their own. Any network posts made in the chaos will be deleted by the execs after the 5 hours period has closed, if not sooner. By the end of the day, Lesedi Santiago and Edward Blanche will announce their return, and bans from leaving HQ will be lifted. They will not acknowledge the events of the morning unless someone goes to ask them about it. “We've come too far to give up who we are. So, let's raise the bar and our cups to the stars.”

Comments

[tigermillionaire]

[It's super not what he was asking, but it just makes him more distressed. He wants to keep asking questions, but...but it's all so much information and all of it terrifies him, and his inability to grasp even the small things just make pushing deeper all the more daunting.

He gives up and rests his head against her shoulder, starting to cry in earnest.]

[blindfoldcode]

[Oh shit. How does she comfort someone crying on her back? She doesn't know how to respond.] It's gonna be okay, kid. Take a deep breath. We're gonna figure it out.

[punchesyu]

Thanks, Nariko. [He smiles, appreciating the offer.] Same goes back to you. I'd really hate if well... You know. Something happened, or like... I don't know. I don't exactly know what I'm saying.

[He stumbles on his words, rubbing a hand nervously on his head, his emotions and anxiety getting the better of him. Not knowing what was going on, and yet thinking more and more on how messed up everything is.]

[punchesyu]

[He nods back to her, more than happy to lead her out of the building to walk a block or two around the corner to the shop.]

It's a little pricey, but it's totally worth it in the end. Problem is, even though it's a small shop, since it's so close to the Pride building the paparazzi and fans have found it and sometimes you can't get out without signing an autograph or fifty...

[Not that he minds that much, but he will sure as hell complain about it.]

[yuruse]

"Get drunk, or write music while drunk?" The fact that Greg seems to recall anything at all has caused Weasel to brighten considerably. His bandmate's state of mind is very important to him - moreso even now than usual. "They often go hand in hand." His expression softens, a small and mildly embarrassed smile appearing.

"You enjoy yourself. It's not like it happens every night, just when an appropriate time arises. Besides, you have us." Their group isn't exactly full of heavy drinkers, given that two members are still recovering from stronger addictions.

[punchesyu]

We need to get you somewhere you can lie down. A doctor! O-Or the hospital or something!

[He starts to panic. Wrong with her legs? He has no idea what could possibly be wrong with her. Either way, he lets her lean as heavily against him as she needs to, trying somehow walk her down the hall to her room, the Flashnest, or wherever he can find so she can lie down.]

I AM.

[consocius]

The silence before he responds doesn't actually bother Sora. It's not like he'd said any of those things for the purpose of hearing something back anyway. He'd said them because he'd wanted them out there and for Jamie to hear them. There is no actual expectation for Jamie to respond. But that doesn't mean he isn't really happy to hear something back, anyway.

Whether he picks up on Jamie's embarrassment or not, he just tightens the hug slightly in his own response to Jamie's words. And then isn't quite sure what to do himself. Staying this way is nice though, and is his first instinct. There was something that just felt wonderfully safe about being close to someone after... whatever the heck it was he'd even been through, he still doesn't want to think on it too hard.

And yet his mind goes back to the messages on his phone, remembering the timestamps on them in his head. "Was I really only gone a few days?" He finally asks, voice quiet but curious. Still relieved, yet there remains a touch of sadness in it that he can't completely shake. He's relaxed, but there's a feeling that he's forgotten something important. "...It feels like a lot longer."

[consocius]

[Sora takes the offered blankets from him eagerly, adjusting them in his arms.] Yeah... Oh, and you got my name right! I'm Sora. [There's more of a smile now, as he keeps close to Koumei and looks up at him.] You're in Cosmic Indulgence with Nariko and Terry, right?

[It feels a little more like some weight has been lifted from him, which is ironic considering he's now carrying a load of blankets. But it makes it easier to talk without feeling like he's going to immediately start crying. Again.] Luce was worried about you. Uh, the night everyone went missing? She texted me.

DWRP is the sport of sadisomasochists, LOOK HOW MUCH WE ENJOY ANGUISH

[mildwildchild]

If he's going to be completely honest with himself, Jamie feels safer this way, too. Not just because he knows, in general, that someone else is around to help keep his loneliness at bay, but because this way he can be sure that Sora is where he should be - safely in the penthouse, not up in Lesedi's office or wherever he's been for the past few days. Whether he wants to admit it or not, the band is, if slowly, becoming more important to him than he might ever have thought.

"Seemed like a lot longer on this end, too." There, he admitted it, as if the panicked texts weren't indication enough: he missed Sora. "But...yeah, I guess it was only three days." He realizes how flippant, how dumb that sounds, and huffs into Sora's shoulder again before he pulls back to look him in the eye.

"Only three days. That's - that's long enough to file a missing persons report. That's when they start breaking out the dogs and search teams." He's...probably not really treating this with the dignity it deserves, but he's just feeling so much right now and he's still not sure how to deal with any of it.

He takes a second or two to try and pull himself together a little more, because he feels like he's on the verge of rambling. "...how much longer?" he asks finally. "I mean - how much longer does it feel like you were gone? Like...weeks, months?"

[goateeocracy]

Go get your head checked out. If you're still seeing weird shit, go tell your manager and get a medical consultation arranged. There's no such thing as ghosts or spirits or magic or whatever the fuck else. It's all in your head.

[Though it's really starting to scare him that so many people seem to be affected. As far as he knows, he's the only one who's been treated, but that's a huge problem if it's this widespread. What could even be causing this? He thought maybe it was genetic because he knows Koumei is affected too and they seem to be distant relatives of some sort, but it looks like the whole thing is much bigger than that.]

[goateeocracy]

Do you think "Kou" the country is 紅? My name would be 紅炎. Read "Kouen" if you transliterate it the way yours is.

[And, even though he's looked it up to figure that out, he never felt the sense of strangeness, almost vertigo that he's feeling now sending this text to Koumei. He's seen his own name before hundreds of times, so why does it seem strange now?]

[connivingbird]

Do you think it's more fucked up before you were pulled from the basement or after?

[This was a serious question. He had his own theories about what had happened, especially with the dreams coming on stronger and stronger. He doesn't know what they are, but he doubt that it was all just wild dreams. There was something too real about them.

He didn't expect the rose. He stared at it for a long moment and then some of the tension left his features as he picked it up and sighed. He really really needed to find a way to get some more red in his life.]

Thanks.

[sponsorigami]

[ And that is not any help. Luce collapsed. The Doctor and Pao-Lin are suffering now. Is Rei next? He'd sacrifice himself if it would save them. And as soon as he thinks it, he's making a fist because that damn spirit's haunting him! It may feel like the visions are happening to him, but that's not his life. That's some stupid failing ninja ghost. ]

Then try telling Miss. Juno that. I'm more willing to believe her when she says we have a ghost problem that Virgo's trying to get rid of than you. That's why she ... sent me to get a...

[ It's startling how fast that fire goes out when he thinks back to what happened after he talked with Juno. He lowers his head and almost curls in on himself. Something tells him that he shouldn't talk about it. He's already said enough. ]

... I already had one, okay?

[goateeocracy]

You're welcome. I figured it was either that or you might start getting ideas about my hair.

[Which is about as red as that flower and not leaving his head, thank you.

He's quiet for a while before he addresses the question, though. He's not sure he even knows the answer.]

It should be less, but it doesn't feel that way. I'm calling the doctor again once this shit's over.

[He doesn't want another operation, but he doesn't want this shit to get any worse, either.]

[goateeocracy]

Juno...?!

[Yan's eyebrows shoot up and he recoils a little bit in shock. Juno said that? She should know better. Was she actually serious? What the actual fuck?]

She told you there's a ghost problem Virgo is trying to get rid of? And you had what? A medical consultation? What did they tell you?

[As he speaks, he grabs Ivan's arm and starts dragging him into the apartment. Oh, they're having this conversation. They're having it right now.]

[connivingbird]

If I get any ideas, it would be to comb it out.

[Hair that long should be nice and shiny and fun to play with and he has no idea why he would even begin to think that. it was probably the bird in him that he doesn't know about - some of them do like tugging on their human's hair.

But his mind doesn't focus on that weird thought; instead he focuses on the odd word choices he was using. For a long moment Ankh is studying the rose, frowning about what could have happened before he shrugs a little out of the blankets and reaches over to grab his shoulders. This is important after all.]

Don't see that doctor. No matter what, don't. If they are messing with your brain and things aren't getting better, then they'll kill you before they get it right.

[connivingbird]

..Try to grab you?

[He doesn't remember that. He remembers the dream and the strange armored figure with the glowing eyes and the various colors and the feeling of fire under his skin and the itch of the wings on his back...

Ankh groaned and pressed his hand against his head.]

My head hurts.

[trustme]

Yes. Big, blue, lights inside. It's a police box and it's very important to Susan and I. [ So he's figured so far. The inside is still a mystery along with some strange statements from Susan about going to Ancient Egypt. ]

Now which way to the penthouse?

[trustme]

Well then clearly something is amiss! Unless it's a place of medicine you wouldn't find an entire building full of people who are experiencing neurological problems- except when something is wrong.

[ He looks up at the ceiling, down the hall in both directions and down at the floor. He sniffs the air. ]

Gas would affect all of us. [ He hops off the chair and walks up to Luce. ] Can you check my head for injury? Have there been any accidents here recently?

[trustme]

You're sick too? Fever?

[trustme]

I've felt something more than sickness too. When it all started it felt like something was calling to me at first. Like I needed to go somewhere or find someone. And then it hurt. Like the moment you find out something terrible has happened. You can't breathe for a moment because your heart hurts that badly.

Then I was on the floor all fevery and heart poundy.

[trustme]

Oh yes more tea would be excellent.

[ But back to the truly interesting topic! ] What's so dangerous about the lights? Did Juno say something about them?

[trustme]

All of this happening at once. Unnatural. I don't think it's mere cabin fever.

[trustme]

[ Doctor notices Ivan's expression. It was only natural to be hurt by the idea of being forgotten, and even if Doctor didn't know the extent to which he was involved in Ivan's life, he could imagine amnesia was painful to watch. With that in mind he prepared to apologize.

But first his dog robot toy lit up and barks again. ]

Shhh shh K-9. Oh maybe I should turn him off for a moment. I thought he'd help but apparently he doesn't have much to say. [ He flips the toy over and flips its switch. ]

Sorry about that. -About me forgetting you I mean. Hopefully this is temporary.

[trustme]

[ As they reach the end of the hallway Doctor spots an empty seat at a lounge table up ahead. A room with access to comfy chairs and drinks? Perfect! ]

They really would! It'd be very fitting if they found each other.

Looks like I can get you a glass of water. Better keep hydrated in your condition.