interstellar5555 | ☆TRACK IV: COME TOO FAR

Entry tags:

☆TRACK IV: COME TOO FAR

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.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He frowns and thinks that over. Did he? Yeah, maybe that's what he initially thought it was. Or at least it was one of his theories. Everything's been so goddamn foggy lately.]

You saw something, too. Did they pull you out for the performance in the basement? I don't remember.

[He hates having to say these things because it makes him sound like a flaky dumbass, but he genuinely doesn't remember. He couldn't even tell you this guy's name if you paid him.]

I can't keep anything red in this place and it's driving me nuts.

[He just selected a red colored pop to replace one that he finished which probably prompted that statement. He stared at it for a moment and then bit the tip off, chewing as he studied Kouen for a very long moment. While the events in the basement had been weird, he did not get singled out as some of the others did. He wondered if that was because they were more vocal or if it was because they some how slipped up or was it a mixture of both. Something was off since that night, but to admit it didn't seem wise.

On the streets if you didn't say shit and you won't get shivved.

And the memory rode that thought - the clink of coins and someone singing 'Happy Birthday'.]

I was too busy chasing the little blue lights. I thought that a few of them in the bedroom would make it look less like a hotel room or something; I don't know. [He finished that treat and then wiggled closer because he wanted the comfort of sharing space and he's a tiny blond wrapped in blankets and someone needs to hug him or something.] Is there something wrong that you didn't remember?

My head's fucked up and it shouldn't be.

[That about sums all of it up. He shouldn't be remembering things he shouldn't remember and forgetting things he should. This isn't what they said would happen and he knows he can't leave it alone, but he doesn't know whether or not he wants to know what the severity of the problem or its solution are.

At least there's something here he can do something about.]

Hang on.

[He tucks the blankets a little tighter around Ankh, then gets up and disappears into his bedroom for few minutes. When he returns to the couch, he has the tacky fake red rose that had been tucked into the band of the hat he wore to the party.]

Here.

[He tosses it on top of the blanket pile and sits down, closer than he had been sitting before, and makes himself comfortable. He's never been the most affectionate of people, but not out of any lack of caring. The only people he's ever been affectionate with are --

Are...who exactly?

He distinctly remembers a little (small, but not a child) girl clinging to him and crying and wanting to at least pat her on the head to comfort her, but...

But...

No, he can't remember.]

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.

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.]

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.

[Yan frowns at him, a little perplexed as to where this is coming from, but at the same time a little touched by the concern.]

What's that supposed to mean?

[It's his immediate response, but it comes out of confusion at the intensity of Ankh's response more than anything else. He doesn't have any reason not to trust the doctors, as far as he knows. Well, beyond the fact that what they did didn't seem to fix anything. Koumei didn't seem to believe what he had to say about any of this, either, but what other explanation does he have?]

I... [It was weird, but the memories about that time while he was cleaning up were always a bit sketchy. He had been putting it down as being that he had been totally fucked in the head, but now, with the other memories, things weren't so clear cut. Maybe he was going insane, but never would he go to another head doc. Never.] had seen one when I was trying to clean up, you know. Fucker nearly had me chugging pills to off myself.

[His coach saved him. Stupid stubborn --hobo-- no cheerful and always saying things that never made sense until afterwards. He really owed the man a lot.] So they ain't that good for you. They can make it worse.

[Yan shrugs Ankh's hands off his shoulders, but only so he can cram him back into the blankets and tuck him back in.]

You do realize I'm talking about brain surgery and not therapy, right?

[He may sound a little irritable, but he's already thinking it over. He has no reason to doubt what they said to him, except that nothing went right. If anything, it's all worse than before. Part of him just doesn't want to think about it anymore and part of him is screaming that he can't ignore it and he feels like he can't choose which to listen to.]

No, I didn't. [Okay, he's getting tucked in again and that's okay but it won't stop Ankh from still glaring at him.] Why would you let anyone do anything to your mind? That's even more fucked up then having a shrink.

[Brains were tricky, okay. Having someone poking around in a brain could cause a lot of problems, even if it was for your own good. Ankh is so going to glare for Yan's sake here. Too bad it doesn't look very intimidating with all the blankets around him but he's trying.]

What the fuck? You're lucky they didn't turn you into so much breathing meat. Don't let them screw your head like that.

If it's either that or lose it...

[Ankh is right, though. It hasn't fixed anything. He still has the same hallucinations, except with even more frequency, and now he has trouble remembering past events and names and probably other crap that he doesn't even know he's forgotten. On top of that, it seems like he's the only person who's been dealt with this way, even though so many more of them experienced the same exact things. He wants to trust that Virgo has his best interests at heart and it's almost impossible to consider that they might not, but this doesn't cast them in the best light.]

But you're right. I'm not letting them blindside me like that again.

Fucking doctors poking where they don't need to poke... You're fine. You're doing just fine and don't need to get dragged away, hear me?

[Okay, this time he is going to gnaw on a ice cream stick for Yan's sake, still glaring and being just a little huffy. Sorry about that really; he seems to be having his own mini-episode about something here too.]

They musta figured something out to have enough to push you that way.

You taking control of my medical decisions, Dr. Ankh?

[Yan very, very rarely cracks jokes. When he does, most people don't even notice because the delivery sounds no less irritable than anything else he says. The same goes for when he smiles. His lips may make the attempt, but that doesn't mean his eyebrows or forehead approve of it and agree to go along with the idea.]

I'm telling you that whatever is going on, whatever that's making us see this stuff or feel this stuff, it's something that they are trying to use. If we don't give them the fuel to screw with us and make it worse, then we don't do it at all.

[It doesn't make sense but that was the least of Ankh's worries. Something was happening and he refuses to let it get taken out of his control like this. Sure, it probably isn't in control for him, but letting someone else just waltz all over him because of something weird is not the solution at all.]

Tch. Funny; I'm not a doctor, just been around enough of them to not trust them.

[That sobers Yan up real quick. He doesn't want to believe that they're being screwed around with somehow. Why would Virgo do that to them? There's really no reason why they would and he's very certain of that. But things keep not adding up.]

What do you think they're trying to use it for?

[Even if he doesn't believe it himself, that doesn't mean he can't see what other people think about it.]

Maybe there's insurance on us or something. Maybe they've got some kind of thing in which they make more money if we really get screwed up.

[Sorry Yan, Ankh was starting to list things from his foreign dramas he liked so well. He might even hit the marriage plots at this rate.]

Maybe they have a bunch of people they can't put into our places until we're too messed up to fight back, or maybe there's like some kind of government plot in which they need to take rock stars and turn them into living weapons. Or they got these people that they need us to marry and they have to make us unable to fight it off.

[Oopps too late.]

Stop being stupid!

[It may seem a little harsh, but really, you don't truly know for sure that Yan cares about you until he tells you what an insufferable moron he thinks you are. It's not really easy to differentiate this from when he tells people he can't stand that they're insufferable morons, though. It's all in the nuances. Or something.]

Why would they need to do any of that shit?

[Eeepp. Ankh blinked at Yan from under the blankets, all big eyes and blond hair and pouty lower lip. He manages to hold it for about a half a minute before he starts to snicker about the stuff he was saying and went for the last ice pop to chew on.]

Sorry; I'm being overly dramatic. But seriously we can't afford to let them to screw with us. These thoughts or dreams or whatever we're having has to be something important that they don't want us to put together. Why else would they try to mess with your head over a little weirdness? We're rock stars; we're suppose to be weird.

Heh. Weird in ways they can market. Weird in ways that they can't gets you in trouble. Greg...what's-his-name. From that metal band. He got called in and they just let him go because he's a harmless little weirdo.

[As he talks, he thinks over what he's saying. That conversation had bothered him and it's still bothering him now. The more pieces to this puzzle he gets, the more he can't figure out how they all fit together and it's driving him nuts.]

And why do they think they can't market the stuff we're dreaming up? I mean ancient religions and magic and the rise of new life beyond what mortals can dream of?

[It felt right, even if he wasn't too sure. Of course he had been searching about alchemy and desires and the origins of both so that could be easily explained away. Just a new angle for a storyline of an album, right?]

what weird stuff do you have? Is it too weird, or does it actually makes more sense?

[Ancient religions and magic and the rise of new life beyond what mortals can dream of? What on earth is Ankh hallucinating? Wasn't it just some sort of traffic accident last time? Maybe things are escalating and getting weird for everyone...]

It started out making sense. It all looked like something out of a Chinese historical drama. Most of it still does, but there was this one... There were monsters and Roman soldiers and "I" kidnapped some little wizard kid and had red snake scales all up my arm. I just wrote it off as the surgery fucking with my head.

...There was a monster too. A kind of strange grasshopper-man-thing.

[There. He admitted it even though it sounded weird and strange to admit it. He tsked lightly and scoots over another inch or two, reaching over to tug on that hair because it so needs to be combed out.]

That sounds like something from 'Dynasty Ever After' starring Joo Byugn Ho.

[Yan glares at Ankh and grumbles when he tugs on his hair, but instead of snapping at him like you'd expect, he patiently tolerates it. That strange sense of deja vu hits him again at the feeling. That little girl again, the one who was crying. Hundreds of braids in his hair and her looking for more hair to braid. Irritation, but fondness as well. The things you'll do for a little sister...

This hallucination shit should have stopped, not gotten worse...]

Does it? I was looking for dramas it might have been from, thinking maybe it was just my subconscious putting things together.

[But is that how it works?]

[Encouraged by the lack of snarls, Ankh hums a little as he tries to finger comb out the tangles. It was a mess and he frowned a little at the amount of work that needs to be done with it before shrugging and pulling out a comb to get to work.]

They took it down at the beginning of the year cuz they lost the renting permit. I think you can find it on some pirate channels but Virgo is pretty strict on how many of those you can access.

I can get my hands on a bootleg.

[Or at least he's fairly certain he can. Stay in this industry long enough and you end up knowing a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy. There's probably not that much out there that he can't get, to be honest. And if someone gives him crap for it, he can just shrug it off as a gift or something. It's all in how you play the game.

Speaking of games...]

What the fuck are you doing to my hair?

☆TRACK IV: COME TOO FAR

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