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

The kid looks at him. Shit. That's right. He forgot there are actual kids here. But he honestly doesn't know any better way to try and make people feel better. He's only trying to help. This is why he doesn't do nice things for other people.

He makes a dark sound that might be frustration and he frowns. "It's whiskey. And does it matter? Not like I'm going to tell on you. Shit, I was drinking this crap like water when I was your age." He thinks...he's not sure.

"But I guess I can get you something else. Juice or milk or...fuck if I know. Throw me a bone here, kid. What the fuck do you need?" Because goddamn he needs to be helpful, to fix things.

Jamie looks a little scandalized at all the cursing and shrinks away just a bit.

"I don't...really need anything to drink. I think - I'm supposed to find...something in a desert? Do you know if there's any deserts around here?" Jamie looks dubious as he peers uncertainly up at Xanxus.

Yeah. He curses a lot. It's pretty much his full vocabulary. It's when he stops swearing that people should be worried. But damn it. Of course. The kid doesn't need something to drink. Then what the hell can he do? He's never done this being nice thing before.

"A desert? Don't know..." And he whips out his smartphone. Exit out of twitter. Exit out of some translation apps and onto Maps. "Maybe if we look, we can find one."

Jamie stretches up on his tiptoes and cranes his neck to try to see whatever Xanxus is looking up on his phone. "I didn't even think to check mine," he admits. Then again, he's not totally sure he even has one. He absently pats at his pants and coat pockets, trying to determine if one of the little devices is stashed there.

"Where are we, anyway?" He sounds a little hesitant as he asks this, realizing how insane that sounds. How could he not know where he is? Or remember how he got there? Or why he's here to begin with?

If Jamie weren't quite so distracted by the all-consuming desert images clouding his head, he might be a little upset at just how screwed up he is right now.

He notes the kid struggling. Normally, he would get a kick out of being a towering giant, but not today. Today, way too much is way too different. So he takes actual pity on Jamie and moves the phone down so the other can see it.

"It says we are here in Vista City." He points to a little arrow on his phone. "Right here." He started to press the zoom button. Out and out some more. "Looks like a lot of city... and sand...but that's the beach. Not the same, I know, but I can't get it to zoom out far enough to see what I need. But maybe we can look it up on the net or something."

Jamie at least seems to appreciate Xanxus accomodating his lack of height and allowing him to watch more easily as the tall man fiddles around on his phone. "Vista City? That...doesn't sound familiar." This doesn't surprise him much, though.

He frowns a little at the results of Xanxus' brief search. "Well...maybe it's a beach I'm supposed to find. I mean - all I can really think of is sand, so I thought it was a desert, but...it could be a beach." He shrugs, looking from the phone to Xanxus in confusion. "Is this - are we far from the beach?" He feels stupid for having to ask about the specifics of their current location, though he doesn't know why he should, as disoriented as he is today.

It...really doesn't. Strange. He was certain he was from here. From this city. He knew all the bars and the streets. The year seems strange too. But he's not about to point that out. Instead, he focuses on the fact that he's trying to be helpful here.

"I don't know. I don't think it's that far. Probably a half a day or so by car." He looks at the kid. "Probably too young to drive too, aren't you? I guess you could take a cab or convince your manager to get you there. Maybe some sort of publicity stunt. They eat that shit up."

"My...manager?" Jamie looks utterly baffled by this. "I...think maybe the cab thing is a better idea. How do I get out of here and find one?"

Yep, he's pretty much just planning to hop into a cab and go to the beach on a total whim. Planning is for people who don't have gigantic gaping holes in their memories.

Xanxus thinks for a second. Could this kid even get a cab out of the city without an adult present. And why the hell was he thinking of playing "parent and/or guardian" to some teenaged boy. "Well... I guess we call a taxi and walk out the fucking front door and wait. Then we get in, tell them where we want to go and we go. Simple as that." He's aware what the boss-lady told him about asking permission to fuck off and go to bars, but guess what, the beach isn't a bar so HA!

"What do you say, kid? Think you want to try and find that beach?"

Jamie's about to protest, a little indignantly, that he knows how the actual process of taking cab works, it was the whole finding his way out of the building that had him a little stymied - seriously, the thing is huge and he's not even sure what floor he's on - but Xanxus' offer is...tempting. And oddly generous. If Jamie were a little more mentally present, he might be suspicious, but "stranger danger" isn't included in his current repertoire of memories.

So he gives a sort of tentative little smile and says, "I - yeah. Yeah, definitely. I'd really appreciate that."

"Then...get your shit and get ready. I'm going to take you to the goddamed beach." So what if they're locked in still. And so what if he's on house arrest and probably some sort of probation. It doesn't matter. There's that urge to do whatever it took to help this kid. So he's going to make sure it happens. Even if he has to break the glass, just out a window and go and beat someone up for their motorcycle. He's going to get this kid to some sand.

"I'm ready! I'm ready right now." He totally is. All he knows is that he has to get to wherever the sand is - there's nothing indicating what he needs to do once he gets there, so as far as he knows he doesn't need to bring anything with him. Jamie is prepared to walk out the door (or window) just as he is.

He nods and stands back to his full rediculous height. "Then we're getting you the fuck out of here, kid." He cracks his knuckles as he heads towards the front doors. He'll probably be dragged back to the office for this. This is so stupid. He knows better, but he just...he needs to help this kid out.

Jamie trots alongside him, eager and excited for reasons he's not sure of. Maybe once he gets to the beach, he'll be able to get his bearings a little more and figure out what he's supposed to be doing and how he got in this building to begin with.

"I really appreciate this," he says as they make their way toward the exit. "Maybe after we get there and I get my head screwed on a little straighter I can make it up to you somehow. Um - what's your name, again?"

Out of the corner of his eye he notices a couple of burly men in suits watching the two of them as they approach the doors, but this doesn't strike him as odd. Honestly, everything is so weird today that one more weird thing is pretty normal.

It's almost like having an excitable puppy at his heels. That's fine though. It means he's actually doing some damn good for a change. It feels sort of okay to help for once instead of doing what he usually does to make things worse.

"Don't mention it." Really, don't. Because he has a reputation to keep. He'd lose all his bad boy street cred if it was found that he helped this kid go see the ocean. "And it's Xanxus." Yes, that Xanxus.

That Xanxus who is approaching those guards and cracking his knuckles as he goes. He's just as burley and nothing is going to stop him from getting this kid out of the building. Not even if it means seeing the Boss again. "While I keep those gorillas busy, you try the door."

The name means nothing to Jamie, aside from a new piece of information to file away in his brain for later. The guards, on the other hand, are quite familiar with Xanxus and his reputation and therefore dispense with formalities, converging on him at the same time to take a swing at him - one aiming for the face, the other for the kidneys.

Jamie looks horrified at this and, for the first time since finding himself in this mystery building, feels a twinge of fear. Whoever these people are, they don't want him and his new pal getting out. All the more reason to follow Xanxus' suggestion and try to get the door open as quickly as possible.

Skirting the guards and Xanxus, Jamie bolts for the door and throws all his weight against it. It doesn't budge. "I-I think it's stuck!" he yells, voice going high with mounting panic.

Xanxus is utterly not surprised by this. It's pretty much a certain bet that he was going to draw the attention and the beating that was going to follow. Better him than the kid. He's older and he's harder, he can take it. So what if he gets some bruises and some internal bleeding, at least he saves someone else from it. Though it seems really wrong for him to do that. For him to sacrifice himself for anyone else. Whatever.

He's not going down without a fight though. He's going to throw everything he has at these men. This is the man that took four police officers to subdue. Two burly guards about the same size he is are going to have difficulties. He's probably going to knock a few teeth out and maybe break some bones before he's taken down himself.

"Pull hard...mother fucker stay the fuck down...er and calm the fuck do...no you don't you piece of shit...wn." Of course he doesn't know it'd locked in such a way they can't get out and of course he doesn't know when it will be unlocked. All that matters is distracting the guards until the kid gets out.

One of the guards goes down after an elbow to the face, but the other one is giving as good as Xanxus can give, and it's only a matter of time until reinforcements arrive. Jamie tries to pull himself together and get the door open, first shoving at it, then hauling back on the handle with all his body weight.

"It's not working! Is it - are we locked in?" Sure looks that way, and there's no obvious way of getting the door unlocked. His eyes stray to the guard that's currently knocked out on the floor. "M-maybe that guy's got a key or something..."

He gives up on the door for now to start rifling through the fallen man's pockets looking for...anything that looks like it might unlock the doors. Placing himself within grabbing distance of either of the guards is probably the worst idea he's had in like ten minutes, but in his current condition Jamie is kind of oblivious to common sense.

He doesn't doubt he'll be pulled to the ground eventually. It's inevitable, but at least Jamie has proven something he suspected. They are literally locked in. Trapped. Prisoners in their own penthouses. And though it's swanky as fuck, a cage is a cage is a cage.

"Hurry it up." He takes a fist to the face. "Find it and get the hell out of here!" He might have a bloody nose now. And there's a couple more guards and he's going down hard. All he can do is hope Jamie gets the key and gets out. If not, then they can always regroup and try again as soon as their bruises heal.

Jamie more or less pulls the entire contents of the guard's pockets out in his frenzy to find something to unlock the doors, and finally he thinks he's found it: an ID card in the man's jacket pocket.

"Hey I think I - "

Jamie straightens with it - and nearly ends up in the clutches of one of the guards just arriving on the scene. Jamie squeaks and ducks away, pivoting on one heel and bolting back toward the door. He knows he can't fight these guys off, and Xanxus is down - all he has to rely on is the fact that he's quicker and more nimble than the guards.

"Just hang in there for a sec, okay?" he calls back to Xanxus. "I've got it, I got the key, we're getting out of here - " He rambles as he flips the keycard around in his trembling hands, swipes it through the lock beside the doorway, yanks at the door. It opens a crack -

- and then someone is grabbing him bodily around the waist, hauling him away from the door. Jamie utters a wordless squeal of frustration and fear, squirming and kicking in desperation.

XANXUS HALP.

For the love of... Xanxus is trying okay. He's down and everything he is is screaming that it shouldn't be like this. That he should be able to just punch these assholes through the walls but nope. He's on the bottom of what's pretty much a typical pile of guards, keeping his arms pinned and his face beat in. He's not giving in though because Jamie has the door open.

He's not a nice fighter and he will kick a dude in the junk. Just shows a guard the intersections of Steel Toed Boot and Balls. Then there are elbows and more kicking and he sure is swearing in a language he doesn't really understand. Just cussing in Italian on his way back up. "Let him go, you fucks. Let him go or I swear to fucking god I will kill the lot of you."

It probably sounds better in English or whatever common language everyone is using. But he'll wear a guard or two on his way to getting to Jaime and trying to help him, even if they aren't getting out of that door anymore. Freeing the kid from the gorilla is more important at the moment. Sadly though, he's going to probably end up knocked the fuck out for his troubles. Just suckerpunched right in the neck leaving poor Jaime on his own.

Sure enough, there is an elbow to the neck in Xanxus' immediate future, as well as a few more assorted kicks and punches just to make sure he gets the message. Jamie, for all his struggling, isn't nearly as much of a threat - a good hard shake and some manhandling to get his arms twisted behind his back is enough to subdue him - but he gets a fair amount of cursing aimed his way for his part in the troublemaking.

They also take back the keycard he stole fair and square. Jerks.

Then the guard will escort Jamie to one elevator, while Xanxus will get a whole team of them prepped to haul him to his feet and drag him off to another. You're both going to your rooms.

Feel free to fight them some more if you've got it in you, Xan. Otherwise, you go upstairs and think about what you've done.

He gets thrown into his special elevator. But not before yelling out to Jaime. "Which floor are you on!" Because it's not like he's going to just go to his room like a good boy. Hell know. The kid got hurt and it was his fault for not fighting hard enough. So he's going to take it on himself to find Jaime as soon as he can to help patch him up if needed (even if it's Xanxus that looks like he's gone rounds with Mike Tyson).

"What?! How should I know?!" Jamie can barely remember who he is, let alone where he's supposed to be in this stupid building. The guard holding him punches the button to call the elevator, and as the door slides open Jamie panics, pulling his legs off the floor to brace them on either side of the opening. This prompts another torrent of angry profanity from his escort, but Jamie yells over it to Xanxus.

"Where are they taking us? Are we going to die?!"

Because honestly, after the shit he's seen just now, he could believe it.

This kid...This poor fucking kid. He's more messed up than Xanxus thought. Not to even know where he is in the building. Shit. He had to do something. Anything. He struggles more, even though he's pretty much under a pile of guards in the elevator.

"Calm the fuck down kid. If they were going to kill us, they already would have! Deep breaths and look at the button they pushed. What's the number! I swear to fuck I'll come for you as soon as I can. Just hold on until then. I won't let any of these asshats hurt you!" He seriously seemed to mean that too.

☆TRACK IV: COME TOO FAR

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