☆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

[4thdimensional]

[That...somehow doesn't surprise him, though it definitely feels wrong. Just how many holes have been drilled in his memory? This isn't a normal effect of timeline alteration, isn't it?]

I'm sorry.

[Maybe a strange comment to make, but it's not entirely intended for Marty. It hits Doc then just how much George and Lorraine have to lose as well. Despite everything, he's grown somewhat fond of them, and knowing that their son is on his own as a rock star and can't recall them...it would break their hearts like it's breaking his.]

I...see. But you have a full life? You're happy in this life?

[heymcfly]

Sorry? For what?

[ It's not a snippy question, or a passive-aggressive one. It's rather sincere. This guy just met Marty, dressed as a cowboy asking the weirdest questions. This guy sounded like he was crazy -and looked like it too-, but Marty refused to call in security. There was something….different about him. Something in his head is screaming for Marty to think just a little harder…but he can't.

The next question ties him up a bit. Is he happy?

Something in his brain tells him to say yes. Marty opens his mouth, about ready to answer the question like that, but stops. There's something being repressed. He remembers ghosts, being captured. The only way to make things stop was to tell the truth. So say it, Marty. ]

I…don't know. [ Not the answer they're looking for, probably. ] Don't tell 'em I said that, though.

[4thdimensional]

[Doc's slowly starting to piece this all together, and it cuts him like a knife as he does so. Who's 'they'? The fans? His managers? Does it matter? What matters is that his friend's been tampered with. Timeline damage, clear memory problems...

It hurts. Doc closes his eyes and sucks in a breath to ground himself. There's so much he has to know before he can act, but it'll get there.]

I won't. I'm something of an old hand at keeping secrets.

[He looks up at Marty with a kind smile, hoping it's reassuring.]

You don't have a reason to trust or believe me, that I know. But...in another life, in a parallel dimension...we were friends, as unlikely as that sounds. I'm sure you're doing incredible work with your music, you always did.

[Every word hurts. He's not sure where he's going with this...is this a departure? Is he fishing for more information? He's left so off balance here that it's difficult to keep up.]

[heymcfly]

[ When the old guy promises to keep his secret, Marty doesn't feel as nervous as he should. Instead he feels reassured. Relieved, maybe. It's a really weird feeling, and it's even weirder to just trust this stranger on the spot, but he does. Marty smiles, and if Doc looks close enough, it looks tired. Maybe a little pained. Marty's had experience with brainwashing and punishments for not doing as he's told, and it's not fun.

The words sound like the old guy is trying to say his goodbye's. That fills Marty up with such a hard feeling of dread, it sinks like a rock in his stomach and almost sends him into a panic. ] I, I did?

[ He'll say anything to keep this guy around. ] What was this life? Before, I mean.

[4thdimensional]

[It really surprises him that Marty wants to hear more. In fact...oddly, the longer they spend together, he seems to be warming up to him a little. That's a positive sign, isn't it? He looks up and smiles.]

Let's see...you were a suburban high school student. Your family didn't always please you, but they looked out for you. You were---what's the phrase? 'Going steady' with a bright young woman named Jennifer. The two of you loved old Western films. And you fronted a garage band: called yourself the Pinheads. Your music could wake the whole neighborhood.

[He laughs at fond memories of the occasional jam session near his garage.]

As for my place in town: they called me 'crazy old man Brown'. The townspeople spread all sorts of unsubstantiated rumors about the dangers of my experiments, and while it was true I'd given over my fortunes to the pursuit of a wild dream...I was happy with my work and my canine companion.

That was why I was caught entirely off-guard when I met you. You were dared into taking a small item from my garage and cleverly evaded my traps, and somehow I ended up hiring you as my lab assistant. From there, we became friends.

[He shrugs and smiles. Wild story, he knows, but it's the truth.]

[heymcfly]

[ All of the stuff this old guy is talking about is hilarious. Marty, a high school kid? Putting together some kind of cheap garage band? It sounds like he was the star of a cheesy movie, something that seemed like a good idea at first but was absolutely cringeworthy the older it got. It brings a smile to his face, at least until Doc starts talking about himself.

Maybe some of his suspicions were right; this guy kind of did look like the wild scientist who blew up entire towns, or set rabid things on the loose. But Doc was nice. His eyes looked kind of crazy, but he talked nice and seemed nice in general.

This all sounded really, really familiar though. Marty couldn't get rid of the feeling that everything the old guy was saying was absolutely true. He tries to remember more, or focus on the little things, but all it gives him is a hell of a headache.

He points to somewhere nearby, offers a smile. ] You wanna grab a coffee, maybe…?

[4thdimensional]

[Even now, even when Marty can't remember a damn thing and is living such a radically different life...he'll go out of his way for a lonely old man. It's enough to make Doc glow with pride and harden his resolve to save his friend.]

Well it's a step above the backyard burger joint behind my garage...

[He remembers those greasebag runs fondly, but this is still nice. He steps inside, removes his hat, and grins. He's surprised that no one else is giving him much of a side-eye. ]

Is there anything else I can answer for you, or...perhaps you could tell me about your career? Astoundingly, I must be the one person who hasn't had the chance to follow your rise to fame.

[heymcfly]

[ Oops Doc you're gonna regret giving Marty the opportunity to brag. He's not even going to wait until they're sitting down to begin his ego trip, nope. ]

'S okay, I guess. It's not like you could help it, right…? I guess? [ This is all super confusing, and pretty damn weird. But he'll go with it, why not? ] I'm in a band called Defying Atmosphere. We're a part of Virgo Entertainment. I was picked up not too long ago and got lead guitar. [ Marty's absolutely beaming as they take their seats. ] The band wasn't doing all that hot when I first started, so it's been getting better. Some people actually say our band's cursed.

[ Or so the tabloids say. ]

Before me and a bunch of my other bandmates started, half of the band got fired. After we got the job me and someone else-

[ Oooh no, we don't talk about that. It's probably not the best to explain this to a fan-to-be. At least, with the ghosts and everything awful that came afterwards. Marty shakes his head and chomps down on the inside of his cheek. ] a-ahh, got in trouble, I guess. Then I took a break. Kinda threw things off, I guess.

[4thdimensional]

[Oddly enough, Doc's all right with this. Marty seems proud of his accomplishments, and seeing that spark reminds him of what he loves about his old friend.]

And I'm sure it's excellent---I'd love to hear it sometime. But all this talk of firings and trouble. I take it your management plays a very active role?

[They better not be hurting him. Nobody hurts Marty if Doc's around to do something about it.]