interstellar5555 | ☆MINGLE LOG: SOUTH VISTA MUSIC FEST

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☆MINGLE LOG: SOUTH VISTA MUSIC FEST

Who: Everyone!
What: An open mingle log for everyone from everywhere.
When: November 18th-24th, 2054
Where: South Vista
Warnings: Could be anything!

☆THE FESTIVAL

Welcome to the South Vista Music Fest! An enormous, weeklong festival with hundreds of bands performing nearly 24/7, the Music Fest is a quarter annual event that celebrates all manners of local talent, both big time and small time. Every band from Pride Records and Virgo Entertainment will have performances to do, including the freshly recruited – you better have your act together, because now is your time to shine!

Player bands will be performing roughly once a day, with bands from the first app round predominantly with evening slots and the newest bands with predominantly afternoon slots. There is definitely a hierarchy to the scheduling - Pride and Virgo claim almost all of the prime performance times, while other labels are forced to deal with the leftovers. You've definitely been chosen by the winners of the music industry in these parts, that's for sure.

Shuttles will be available to take people back to their relative HQs in their downtime, but they're also allowed to hang out and enjoy the festivities if that's what they prefer. Stuff is happening all day and night, so it's really just a question of how much you can party while still being conscious for your own show. Your managers will tell you that the company CEOs pay extra close attention to this event, so that you need to be on your best behaviour.

The festival takes up a massive amount of floor area with multiple stages of various sizes and a large amount of glowy display screens. It's set up on the ground floor of the cityscape, meaning that the suspension roads and walkways above have been programmed to add to the ambient lighting all day and night.

► TRAILER PARK KIDS: For those that just want to chill, there is a massive VIP area reserved for labels to park various trailers for their musicians to hang out in during downtime - one for each band. They aren't quite as big as the tour buses, but they are comfortable and well stocked. Each is equipped with two beds and a bathroom/shower. Pretty much every local band you know of is here, including the notorious Predator. Nose around their trailer at your own risk.

► IN THE SPOTLIGHT: With at least six performances in a span of six days, there is plenty of time for shenanigans to go down both back and center stage. Time to show your mettle, and to hope that some asshole doesn't take all the best food items from the backstage catering tables before you can get to them.

► ATMOSPHERIC NOISE: If you dare brave the storm, there is a massive quantity of merch, vendor, and food booths available for your perusal. Many fans endeavor to spend as much time at Music Fest as possible, and so the space is very lived in, with large groups of people hanging out in well populated lounge areas. Depending on how popular you are, it may be difficult to get around without getting swarmed by your fans.

► DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER: And all the while, the strange memories continue. The label's newest members will have started to feel strange as of November 6th, and by the time of the Fest almost all of them will be discovering their first memories regains. The first one should be based on the alignment you chose, but the rest can be whatever you want. New character may regain up to 4 memories between their arrival and the end of November.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tiger glances at Greg's hand for a moment, and then away again. He picks up a bag that he's had resting at his side.

"Just a second," he says, and then takes out what appears to be a new hoodie from inside. It's galaxy patterned, unsurprisingly. He shrugs it on, and scoops his hair until the hood, just a few stray black and yellow curls hanging down in front of his face. "Okay."

He ditches the bag, and furtively starts wandering off into the crowd, hoping Greg will follow.

Greg's eyebrows go up. Foremost it's a really smart move on Tiger's part, and secondly that's a super cool hoodie. Greg kind of wants one now. Probably shouldn't go ganking the kid's style any more than he had already, though.

The hoodie is a good deal less flashy than Tiger's usual getup, but it still makes him easy to keep track of in the crowd. Greg, caught without his undercover costume, follows at a short distance, doing his best to keep his head low.

Tiger wanders until he feels like he's a save distance from the main performance stage. There's a small band playing on a smaller stage somewhere nearby, but Tiger maneuvers so they're back behind some of the structural walling instead of anywhere that they can see anything. He finally slows to a stop, his hands tucked into the hoodie pocket. He looks pretty lost, like he's not sure what exactly he came out here for.

"I'm..." he tries to start, but doesn't get anywhere. He shrinks down, at a loss. "I..."

Why is it so hard to speak?

"I dunno what to do."

Tiger can take as long as he needs to find words, Greg won't rush him. Even for words as uncertain as those. Greg gives a long sigh, and leans against the wall.

"I don't either."

All he can think of is to be honest. He's at an absolute loss. Every time any sort of idea to fix things comes to him, it's lost in a wash of shame and helplessness.

"For now... do you just want to talk?"

Tiger looks at Greg, his shoulders sinking. He doesn't even really know why he's trusting this guy - why what happened the month previous stuck with him so strongly. He'd just...he'd made a promise he couldn't keep, hadn't he?

But he'd tried, and for once it made Tiger feel like he could believe that he was earnest. That he really did want to help, and understood what that meant to some degree. Even if he was missing almost all of the big picture.

"You don't...really know what's going on, do you?" It doesn't sound like a question that's made to discredit him, more just a sad reality. How could someone outside of Pride understand?

It hurts, to hear. Even though it's perfectly understandable, even though obviously there's no way he could, even while until recently Tiger hadn't wanted him around at all, Greg still feels enormous guilt for his continued ignorance. He's had no way of knowing, but his stomach still churns with the insistence that he should have tried harder.

"I've got ideas, but..." Every time he thinks he's got something figured out, Tiger hints at something worse. "No. Not really."

There always being something worse is kind of how Tiger feels about life in general at the moment, so maybe that's appropriate. There's some stuff he can't talk about, though, no matter how hard he tries.

"I've...I've just been getting in trouble a lot. Because I was breaking the rules. It was my own fault."

Greg's brow furrows.

"Tiger. You're a teenager. Breaking rules is what you're supposed to do."

It's said without humor, quietly beseeching. There's more to it than this, he knows that. Tell him, please.

Tiger's words become more urgent.

"It doesn't matter what I am! I signed onto this, okay? I signed on and I'm supposed to do what they say and I didn't so that's why I got hurt!"

"That's not..."

Words stop up in his throat. Logic and common decency boldly cry out that it didn't matter. There was a contract, though, one that made clear conditions of its care, and simple rules that they'd been bound to. Greg simply can't argue with that straightforward fact, no matter how he might like to.

"No one has the right to hurt you, Tiger." He insists it, firmly, to himself as well. There's discipline for acting out, and there's a child, frightened and cowering before a tormentor. They're not the same. "You might have screwed up, but that doesn't make getting hurt your fault. Not ever."

Don't they? Tiger's pretty sure they do. He more or less belongs to them - he knows this in his gut, even if he can't really process it intellectually. He'd run away from his old life and the cost of that was basically being at their mercy.

"But I caused it," he says, starting to cry. "And...and I'm probably just going to get in trouble again because I'm acting like this, and that will be my fault too. I don't...I don't want them to get mad again!"

"Tiger. Listen to me. You can't control them, and you can't control what they'll do in the future."

He can say, again and again, that it isn't Tiger's fault, but that won't stop them from taking it out on him, and in turn won't stop him blaming himself.

"What you can control is you, and what you do right now." Hesitantly, he reaches out to place a hand on Tiger's shoulder. "I can't tell you what you need to do. I don't know that. You don't have to know that either.

"But you have to know that whatever you do is your choice, not theirs. And that works both ways. Does... does that make any sense?"

Tiger lets him touch him, which is something on its own. He rubs at his eye, sniffling a little. He's not sure it does make sense. He doesn't really feel like anything he does is his choice, at least none of the stuff he won't get punished for. He always feels so trapped in his own head...

"I dunno..." he mumbles, though it at least seems like the isn't going to fight about it more. He wants to believe Greg, he really does.

He'd be happier about the permitted touch if it didn't come with such misery. Greg's never sure if anything he's saying is actually helpful, or the inane advice of someone on the outside looking in.

"All right. Try something out for me, okay? I want you to think really hard on this, and take your time."

He stands up straight, and looks out over the festival, before looking back to Tiger. "Try to think, if they weren't around. Just... imagine, it's you here, on your own, at this shindig, right now. What... what do you think you'd want to do?"

It does take a lot to get his thoughts moving on the subject. Would he even be here, on his own? He doesn't think so. But he can try to imagine - he'd had some fun with Kido, earlier, in a way that had almost seemed normal. Yet there was always this lingering feeling that something was missing - he finds himself casting his case up to the towering buildings, and the stars barely visible behind the night glow.

He crosses his arms around himself, holding himself close. He can't even really think of this question of terms of what he would want to do here. If the others weren't here...if he could do what he wanted...

I want to go home, he thinks very clearly, and suddenly he remembers the crisp sound of the ocean, and the glimmering of waves at twilight. He remembers a girl across from him, and a feeling of indescribable fondness in his heart as his MP3 player plays a soft tune from the place in the sand. A tune that is so familiar, even from here.

"I'd just want to make music and stuff," he mumbles. "Except...just because I wanted to...and I could dance and stuff without anyone looking at me."

Greg smiles, gently. "Yeah. That sounds like fun. Everybody loves a good jam session."

There's a big difference between making music because it's expected as your job, and something private, simple, and for your own enjoyment. Greg makes a habit of keeping the two separate, but it can't be as easy for someone who feels as trapped as Tiger.

"Let's do it."

That catches him by suprise. He gives Greg an almost startled look, but not exactly upset.

"Do what?" he asks, not sure he's understanding.

"Have a jam session. There's no reason we can't, right?"

What are they going to do, punish him for dancing, or playing music?

Maybe?! Tiger isn't even sure he knows anymore. He's just flinching away from punishment, but unable to put a pattern to the things that cause it. He lifts his hands uncertainly.

"I don't have my stuff," he says.

"Then let's find other stuff. You can make music out of whatever you want, y'know. It doesn't matter, if no one but us is going to hear it."

No instruments from Pride. No recording equipment from Virgo. No reviews or judgments from Americana. Just them, making noise however they saw fit.

Tiger looks around uncertainly. Sorry, Greg, he's being a little bit slow on the uptake. He's been so wound up about other stuff that being spontaneous is proving to be a challenge. He's too embarrassed to do anything bold, for fear that Greg will mock him.

"...Okay, so...what you going to play, then?" he asks, watching Greg carefully.

"Uhh." Give him a sec, he didn't actually plan it out this far--or at all, really. He digs into his bag of souvenirs, vaguely wondering why a music festival doesn't sell more musical things.

"Here!" He brandishes a cheap metal lunchbox triumphantly. "Perfect for drumming!"

Tiger stares at Greg for a moment after that, almost incredulous - until, finally, he actually laughs, his cheeks blushing with warmth. Something about Greg's musical choice seems to loosen up Tiger's own ability to act, and after a few moments of though, he reaches into his pocket to get out his phone.

"That's so dumb," he says, but it's with a strange fondness. He swipes across his screen a few times. "But...But okay, I have this stupid phone mixer thing, I can maybe...do a thing on it, or something."

Oh man, look at that. He totally called it: Tiger looks fantastic when he smiles. Greg beams at the sound of that laugh. Even if this whole thing gets him in big trouble, it'll be worth it just for that laugh.

"We're in business!" He fishes out his marker, usually for autographs, and begind raps out a tinny rhythm. "I'll keep the beat, you bring the harmony!"

Tiger looks a little bit uncertain, but...well, Greg is just hitting a lunchbox with a marker. It's not like he'll be able to make fun of him for anything he does, right? Anything he does on this phone thing is going to be better than that, so there's no way he can make fun of him for this, right?

He thinks so.

Tiger listens to the rhythm for a few bars, and then starts trying to tap out a slow pattern on the tiny phone keyboard. After he solos something he likes, he saves that loop and sets it to repeat, and then starts trying something a little bit more melodic over the top.

Edited 2015-11-30 01:45 (UTC)

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