☆RESCUER TEST DRIVE: SOMETHING ABOUT US

[interdimanagers]

☆WELCOME RESCUERS

"Daft Punk - Digital Love" (Watch on YouTube)

Welcome to Interstellar's second RESCUER TDM! A part of the Interstellar plot that first opened a couple months ago, this TDM cover the second round of recruitment for those approached by the lone space pilot Shep to join him on a mission to the planet Terra to rescue those held captive by Pride Records and Virgo Entertainment. Rescuers will not suffer any memory loss and will enter the game as they are, in contrast to the memory loss/force humanization of the musician half. Powers will be nerfed to a certain degree upon entering the game fully, but during recruitment they will remain at full power.

☆A DREAM ABOUT YOU

These prompts are designed to be game canon, for both rescuers and musicians both new and already in game. For those in game, they will start occurring around New Years in the form of dreams. The dreams will be very clear while happening, but after waking, they will swiftly fade away into something barely remembered. For rescuers, these dreams will occur very shortly before they are approached by Shep or other already recruited rebels to join the rescue squad and go save the people being held captive in Vista City. Rescuers will remember these dreams as clearly as something that actually happened in real life.

Both of these prompts take place in the dreamscape, ostensibly, and the surrounding will appear as whatever fits those taking part in a scene. It can shift and change as a thread goes along, as well, and may resemble things from a captive's home, the game setting, or anything else appropriate. Rescuers that are already in game can also end up in this dreamscape, and can run into both new musicians and new rescue team recruits.



►A1) FOR THE CAPTURED: The kidnapped musicians of Vista City will dream of being themselves - in a way more true than they have been for months now. They'll dream of themselves as they're meant to be, in physical form and manner of dress, and their personality will align more easily with their true nature, even as the confusing influences of their programming nag at their mind. It could alarm them, or it could feel somehow natural. Either way, their memories will still be gone, except for what they've recovered - but they feel somehow much closer to reach, like they may break through if only given the chance to dig just about deeper. They may dream of home, they may dream of Vista, but either way...when the morning comes, their memories of this experience will be all but wiped away. Including the memories of the strangers that promised that they would find them and take them home.

►A2) FOR THE RESCUERS: The dream is the first sign of something being wrong. You'll find yourself somewhere else - either a scene from your home, or someone else's, or an alien world you've never seen. In this dream, you'll find a person. Perhaps it's someone you recognize, someone you love dearly, but that doesn't remember you. Maybe it's a stranger, lost, confused, and desperate for help. Either way, you find yourself reaching out to them - but outside of this dream, you are helpless to save them. The dream will fade but stay with you in your memory, and may be a key component in you choosing to believe and join the other rescuers when they come to your door. Something has been taken, and you will take it back.

☆MAKE THESE DREAMS COME TRUE

These prompts are design to be kept as game canon after acceptance, and can be used as the official story of how your character entered the game. Importantly, the technology used to enter your timeline causes massive time distortions, which means that the outcome of this scenario will stagger and replay itself multiple times before settling on an outcome. This means that after the fact, you character may remember being encountered multiple ways, or going in more than one direction, before the timeline settled on a final path.




►B1) JUST SAY YES: Soon after these dreams, rescuers will find themselves in a strange situation. Time will abruptly stop for every part of the world except for them, and fade into a ghostly vision of its former self - just in time for them to be approached by some mysterious strangers. Whether your rescuer chooses to run, fight, or talk, eventually they'll be told the truth - people of the multiverse have been captured and taken to a universe far away to be harvested for their souls...in the form of forcing them to becoming rock stars. You heard it here first, folks.

The people recruiting you will mostly be other player rescuers that have already been recruited (regardless of whether or not that's been threaded out - you can assume your guy got recruited by someone if you want to recruit OTHER people.) The pilot and owner of the space ship doing this appears to be a blue man named Shep. He's the guy that's apparently in charge of this whole thing, but he's so busy with the dimension hopping that he's kind of hard to find and talk to. He presumably recruited some of the first members personally, but things have been sort of getting more complicated since then.

►B2) INTERSTELLAR DISCO: After you've agreed to come for whatever reason - to save you lover, friend, some guy, whatever - you're be taken upon the guitar shaped spaceship to wait out the tide of the temporal distortions picking you up has caused. It's a long journey back to Vista City, and you've got plenty of new comrades to get to know. This mission could take a while, so you better get comfy. You're in for the long haul now.

NOTE: If you want to see the interior of the spaceship (or if you want to see Shep dance) watch the music video posted up top. It's going to be a fair bit bigger in Interstellar to accommodate the big crew, but the essence is there.

☆HELPFUL INFO

► Follow the mod plurk for updates: interstellar5555
► Check out the game NAVIGATION
► Check out the MUSICIAN TDM
► Ask the mods some QUESTIONS
► Reserves open on February 27th at 12:01AM EDT
► Applications open on March 4th at 12:01AM EDT

Comments

Emmett "Doc" Brown | Back to the Future

[4thdimensional]

A2. Dreaming of the Future

[Doc's reality has been largely the same for the last few years. By daylight he enjoys his work as a smith and daily horse rides, in the evening he tends to the task of raising his new family. It's the closest to contentment that he's felt in a while, but still...still something is missing.

It's been a long time since his dreams have contained anything out of the ordinary, but tonight is a change. He hears loud, bold music, something of the type that his young friend once preferred. The landscape is neon-bright and abstract, and somehow he's not alone in this fog. Doc's never been one to let a curiosity pass him by unchecked, so someone's going to be approached by an odd-looking man in a cowboy costume tonight.]

Hello?

B1. The Pitch
[The fog again. He'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, disturbed by the strong emotions wrapped up in what he'd seen and felt. Something was very wrong with someone he loved. Somewhere out there, the fabric of space-time was tying itself in knots again, and here he stood helpless to stop it.

Or was he? He felt a chill run up his back once more as the world around him faded to a blur. Who was that approaching him with their anachronistic fashion sense? Again, he braced himself, though his voice was a little steadier this time.]

Do you have an idea what the hell this is all about? [He makes a sweeping gesture at all this abstract strangeness. It's really been getting to him.]

B2. All aboard!
[Aboard the ship, Doc's days fade into a long blur of restless activity. When he's not drawing up a plan or pestering his new allies for information, he's pacing so quickly he might somehow burn a hole in the floor. He normally prides himself on a methodical approach, but the knowledge that his best friend is brainwashed and in very real trouble tends to trip that up.

He approaches anyone and everyone with a friendly if worried expression, idly glancing out the window as if willing the skies to pass more quickly.]

It's strange that intergalactic travel can involve absolutely mind-boggling speed yet feel so painfully sluggish.

B2

[chronobreak]

[It feels a lot longer than it is. But he also can't make time go any faster, that's Zilean's domain, not his.

The best he can do is loop a small amount of time over and over and over. Not... that it would be helpful at all at this point.]

I know, right? You'd think space travel would feel faster than this.

[4thdimensional]

[Doc wishes he could will it faster, or even bend time in their favor---but no, there was no room to cram a time machine on board. All he can do is give his new companion a tired smile.]

That's parallax for you. But even opening a direct portal to our destination would feel insufficient.

[To him, anyway. He presses a hand to the wall.]

Soul-harvesting through musical means. Ever heard of such a thing?

[chronobreak]

Time and space are fussy like that. [Oh time. A strange creature, indeed. Sadly he hasn't mastered it in its entirety just yet.

One of these days...]

I've heard of soul-harvesting. [He's seen Thresh plenty of times- even if he wishes he hadn't.] Never seen somebody use music for it though.

[4thdimensional]

[Doc's eyes widen. That---that's useful information.]

I got the impression that their energy is being sapped, harmlessly enough at first that the victims can keep performing, but their time will run out, won't it?

[That's the urgency pushing him on. No way in hell will he let Marty die.]

WALKS THE HELL ON IN HERE

[heymcfly]

[ Your friend is the culprit here! There's nothing he enjoys more than being too darn loud, making the people's ears ring with the sound of his music. What he also likes about his band is that there's...something unique about it. Sci-fi-ish, in a way? He's always had a feeling he'd like to show a friend what he's been up to, but hell if he can remember who it is. Does it matter when he's rockin' away?

When his fingers are too sore to do anything else, he sits his guitar to the side and wanders forward. Marty can hear someone calling to him. He looks up, tilting his head curiously as, well, a cowboy walks up to him. A very old cowboy (no offense buddy).

Marty probably looks like an eyesore, unless you're hard into the 80's. He's grown his mullet back, his ears are pierced, and yup. He's definitely wearing a leather jacket with those awful looking jeans. And the boots. 80's represent.

He gives Doc a look up and down, frowning lightly. ] Jesus, nobody told me it was cowboy night...

[4thdimensional]

[As he approaches, the sound becomes clearer. It's the familiar loud rhythm of the guitar---rock. Thinking on the genre brings his thoughts right back to a memory of Marty wailing away---no. He shakes his head. Best not to reminisce too long before he loses himself.

As expected, he happens upon a rocker of the usual appearance. Boots, leather, mullet, aloof attitude. Definitely scoffing at him. Doc's about to shoot off a snippy response when his brain sorts through the odd echo of this upended reality.

He knows that voice. And whatever else is different, he knows that face. He's here with...]

Marty! [A small smile breaks across his face.] You'll have to forgive the attire, I've come straight from 1885.

[Doc's happy, right? He's missed Marty terribly, this has been his dearest wish for far too long. But there's a nagging feeling there---something isn't right.]

[heymcfly]

[ This cowboy guys knows him.

Marty feels a nagging feeling too; he knows this guy. Maybe? Dreams of him, or flashbacks of weird experiments gone wrong, or trains...it doesn't make sense. But as quickly as the nagging feeling comes, it goes. Brainwashing kind of does that to you. ]

From where? Aren't western guys supposed to have accents, or something? If you're trying to make a band based that far back, you're gonna have to work a little harder.

[ A pause. ] No offense.

[ Maybe this old guy is a fan. Marty's band does base around cool fantasy stuff, after all. The costume could be a fan-made costume! ] Unless you're a fan. Are you a fan?

I don't have any pens. Wanna take a selfie?

[4thdimensional]

[Making a band? Fans? Selfies? What is he going on about? That sure is a funny way to say 'Doc, how've you been?' or 'Doc you're late'. There's no friendliness there, no recognition...it's like they've never met.

Have they somehow altered the timeline so severely that their bond is broken? He feels his stomach churn at the thought. And if that's true, it's only a matter of time before the alteration reaches him too...they'll be lost to each other forever if he can't do something, but what?

First he ought to figure out what went wrong. It's made more complicated due to the fact that for what's likely the first time in their relationship, it's Doc who can't understand a word Marty is saying.]

What the hell is a selfie? Oh---oh never mind, that's not important!

[There's the wild-eyed stare. Doc gestures dramatically as he talks, pacing back and forth, then reaches...no, Marty doesn't know him, he can't scare him like that.]

What's important now is that no, I'm not a fan, I'm your friend---yet that doesn't appear to be true for you, and I need to find the cause of that temporal disruption and neutralize it before the effects are permanent.

B1

[avidita]

You're being recruited.

[And excuse you, gramps, black hoods are always in style. For, you know, cultists for most of history except the more recent bits, but listen. Shut up.]

The actual cause is going to sound ridiculous, so I'll just start off with the result first, which is that someone's disrupted space and time for imbecilic reasons, and we need every bit of help we can get to put things back in order.

[A pause.]

Also, happen to know brain surgery?

[4thdimensional]

Disruption of the space-time continuum? Someone's seized control of a time machine?

[Funny, it's usually him or Marty doing the disrupting. But he's listening---he absolutely cannot allow any nefarious alterations to the timeline. As far as that other query...]

I'm a nuclear physicist by trade---biology's never been my strongest suit.

[avidita]

No, worse. [And as someone who knows what a nuisance time travel can be, that's saying something.] A pair of individuals have kidnapped various people across time and space, disrupting the flow of things as you might guess, and brainwashed them.

[Pity about no brain surgery experience. Damn. They'll have to keep looking. Why can't Shep put them some place decent for once?]

[4thdimensional]

[How nefarious. And odd. Doc folds his arms, thinking through the implications in a blink---all right, time to investigate.]

The purpose of the brainwashing? They want slaves?

A2

[consocius]

[Even as the man dressed like a cowboy approaches him, Sora can't help but feel like something is kind of familiar about this, all of it. It feels odd and confusing though, made even more so by the fact that there's also such a feeling of familiarity.

The landscape around them is strange, but the loud music he's more used to. Still, Doc Brown sticks out like a sore thumb, he couldn't look more out of place. Sort of like how Sora feels here, like he's not where he belongs.]

Hey. I'm... dreaming, right? This is a dream? [In which case, it shouldn't feel like it does. He'd thought he'd gotten used to having odd dreams by now.]

[4thdimensional]

[A dream, huh? Doc doesn't usually bother thinking over dreams, they're fluff pieces, but whether he's in one...well, it's surreal enough. He has to be. But this figment of his dream telling him such outright is unusual.]

That would be one logical explanation, yes, though that would make one of us a product of the other's imagination, wouldn't it?

[Or would it? He gives the boy a considering look.]

[consocius]

[That's usually how dreams work, sure, but... not really for Sora lately.]

Maybe... But I have been seeing a lot of dream stuff in real life lately. Mostly people I see in my dreams. We don't usually talk about dreaming in the dreams, though.

[...that's a lot of the word 'dream.']

[4thdimensional]

The edges between the outer world and the inner world are blending, in other words?

[He revels in abstract metaphysical concepts at times. He has no issue in rolling with this.]

Is this common in your area?

b2

[forgottendecade]

It's pretty obvious that they aren't using a lot of loops.

[This guy doesn't seem too surprised by the travel length. Then again, he seems to be a little preoccupied with detaching a section of his arm so he can get into the glowing greenish loop of wiring and something with a screw driver.]

How good are you at bio-mechanics?

[4thdimensional]

Mmm, definitely not.

[Any new items to be tinkered with will catch Doc's attention. He glances at that arm with clear interest, then considers the question.]

Mechanics, yes, though I'm far more familiar with weapons and vehicles than anything tied to life. I can likely assist with some guidance if we don't have a more qualified candidate on hand.

[forgottendecade]

It could be dangerous if you don't have the right circuits so I can understand the lack, but I had thought we were in a hurry.

[Not that he cared much whether they got there or not. He could escape easily enough; years of tinkering with the weird bio-signature of a dimension hopper had given him a little of the same talent.]

Let me worry about the life side of it; I just need a second set of hands while I fix these stripped wires before the feedback starts poisoning me.

[4thdimensional]

That I can handle. Last thing we need is for anyone to be out of commission before we even arrive.

[He rolls up his sleeves and removes an unusual amount of watches from his wrists. Ready to go.]

B2

[radiant_bloom]

Kairi offered him a small smile, hoping to lift his spirits if at all possible. She didn't like to see people so down, so upset, not if she could help. She sat beside him and put a gentle hand on his arm, a wordless offer of comfort. But after a moment, she did speak, with a smile that invited him to smile as well.

"One of my friends, he said the same thing, when he used to travel. At least we're not being shot at. That's something."

[4thdimensional]

Doc's startled out of his usual melancholic thought train by the girl's touch. He's still not entirely used to people who don't instinctively fear him, even though he's here to save the friend who first dared to give him a chance.

"You're right, of course. Being shot at would put a damper on our progress," he nods. "It's relatively smooth sailing...at least until we hit the planet and slip into the shadows in search of our friends."

He sighs. "Are you here to chase anyone in particular?"

[radiant_bloom]

"I was told that people need help," she said with a warm smile. "So... I came to help. I may not be the hero my two best friends are, not yet, but that doesn't mean I have to sit around and do nothing. It doesn't matter if I don't know anyone in danger, if they need me, I'll be there."

She looked a little sheepish after she said that. "I guess that sounded a little out there, I'm sorry."

[4thdimensional]

"Believe me, I'm the last person you need to apologize to about sounding spacey," Doc reassured her with an easy grin. "That's my entire life story."

He considered her words for a moment or two, then looked right back at her. "Compassion given so freely, the mark of a true hero." He shook his head. "I'll admit my motives are somewhat more selfish---I'm fighting this with everything I have, of course enslaving innocent minds is evil beyond comprehension, but most importantly my best friend is in danger."