interstellar5555 | ☆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 looks actually relieved at this response, and offers a small smile.]

Yeah. I wanna help. [Which is always true, but even more now he's hoping that feeling helpful, in addition to the company of Koumei, will ease the loneliness and almost-despair that keeps trying to creep up on him.]

[It was hard to turn down eager help-- especially when Koumei could see the shadow of an unspoken fear lurking in the young man's eyes. Not commenting on it, Koumei instead offered an arm full of blankets for the boy to carry.]

Very well. It's good to have a helper anyway-- especially now, when so many in here are having a hard time.

[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.

Koumei. That's right.

[He bobbed his head, glad to see Nariko and Terry making friends with people closer to their own age.]

And you're with Flashstep, with Yosuke, if I'm recalling correctly.

...

...Luce texted you?

[He had caught the rash of messages she had sent him when Predator had harrassed them, but he hadn't realized that she had contacted anyone else in Pride. Koumei would need to do something to make it up to her...and Sora too.]

Koumei. [He repeats the name slowly, not that it's exceptionally difficult. But concentrating on this conversation is good for right now. He gives a nod back in confirmation.]

Yeah, you are! Yosuke's my friend and one of my bandmates.

Oh. She did... Didn't she tell you? [It didn't seem like it was supposed to be a secret or anything.] It was good she did though, I didn't even realize everyone was gone before she started texting me... I was just sleeping.

[He looks kind of guilty about this, the small smile he'd been keeping finally dropping, as he stares down at the blankets in his arms.]

-- don't feel bad about it, [Koumei cut in quickly, leading Sora around his route through HQ in search of anyone who needed a blanket.] It's better that you weren't there.

[It was a fact that Sora may or may not have realized on his own in the aftermath; the tension in HQ was wound so taut it was like a guitar string on the verge of snapping. Not even Koumei himself, with his seemingly level headed nature, was unaffected by the ordeal.]

Yeah... I know, but...

[This is the same thing that everyone keeps telling him, that they were glad he wasn't there and didn't have to go through it. But protecting his friends is one of the most important things to him, and he still feels a little like he let everyone down by not being there to help. And the fact that there's been an aftermath, that everyone continues to be affected by it, just makes it worse. He feels helpless and just wants to fix things for everyone.]

I just want to be able to help.

Then help me with this right now.

[He smiled warmly at the young man.]

It's not much, but it is a start.

[Well, he can't argue with that. He smiles again in response to Koumei's smile, a small one that's both thankful and thoughtful.]

Yeah. And I've done other stuff too. For my band mate friends. We had a party before, with a big pillow fort I built and I think everyone had fun...

[Pillow forts? Koumei chuckled.]

That does sound like fun! You're already doing a great job at helping, if you're helping with things like that.

Yeah? ..Yeah! We played video games and there was a pillow fight...

[He looks back down at the blankets in his hands. These were things he's been concerned about for a while, about helping his friends. But the uncertainty and need for reassurance just seems to have increased tenfold, and he's not sure why... Maybe just because he's not feeling well right now. Whatever the reason for the bad feelings, at least Koumei seems to be helping with them.]

I think I'm doing my best.

[This kid was so sweet and earnest, but the uncertainty was evident in the quick glances that he cast down the hall and the rigidity of his movements. Koumei felt for the boy-- and just wanted to see that he was taken care of.

He chalked it up to some unknown brotherly impulse. They were both part of Pride, and Koumei was one of the oldest musicians among the newer recruits. Perhaps, it was only natural?]

Then that's all you need to worry about. Keep doing your best; something will work out.

Yeah... Thanks!

[It felt pretty natural to Sora, even if a lot of other things about today or the last few days didn't. Koumei's presence brought safety and reassurance, whereas before he'd felt like he'd been adrift in the halls with no place to anchor himself, on top of the feeling of loneliness and sadness. Giving him some sort of purpose, even a small one like this, was a help.

Something that had been sitting in the back of his mind re-emerges, as he goes back through the entire conversation.]

Oh... Nariko. Has she been doing okay today? I haven't seen her.

☆TRACK IV: COME TOO FAR

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