interstellar404 | TEST DRIVE MEME: SECOND STAGE

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test drive

TEST DRIVE MEME: SECOND STAGE

☆WELCOME TO INTERSTELLAR

And welcome to our second TDM! We've got two types of prompts to use this time around: the first takes place while your character is in the process of being captured, and the second is during their first brainwashed rockstar networking gig. The former is designed to be considered 100% game canon if you make it in officially, while the later is more speculative and will only work if you get lucky during label and band selection.

☆THE TALENT SEARCH
These prompts are design to be kept as game canon after acceptance, and can be used as the official story of how your character was captured. Importantly, the kidnappers entering 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 captured multiple ways, or going in more than one direction, before the timeline settled on a final path. Or at least, they'll remember this until their memories are wiped shortly afterwards, but that's okay! That's what memory regains are for. Read this page for more specifics on this situation. Any powers the characters have will be weakened and prone to malfunction to the point of uselessness.

►A1) THE SEARCH: It always starts out this way, doesn't it? At some point in your life, you were just doing your thing, wherever you call home. Then, all at once, it's like you've been torn from your dimension by the roots. Time and space displace, and it's like you've been shifted one layer of reality to the left - like some kind of subspace where you can see your reality through it, like a rainbow surrealist image of your home. Even if you can see this ghost image of where you were, you can't interact with it meaningfully. Any friends or family are somewhere else. As you begin to wander, without any other options, you'll find that the scenery gradually shifts to ghost images of other places, other worlds. If you wander long enough, you'll even find other people, lost just like you are. But you probably won't have much time - you've been brought here for a reason, after all.

►A2) THE HUNT: It could happen almost immediately, or it could happen hours later - but, at some point, your dimensional kidnappers start to do their sweep. Space Men in black body suits and gas masks pursue you on foot and in small spaceships, trying to sweep you and the other displaced up like fish in a net. Their guns contain a weird pink gas that will knock out most with only a single breath - and for those more enduring, they have the heavy artillery, like electrical nets and guns. The fallen will be sealed up into stasis pods for transport and loaded onto the ships, which seem like the only way to get out of this place by choice. This is where it ends, but are you going to put up a fight?

NOTE: Characters already in game can't really tag into these sections, so try to tag around to other first time character tests if you can!

☆WELCOME HOME
By default, these prompts aren't considered canon, but if after you are accepted and sorted they can be tweaked into working for you, it'll be totally okay to keep them as a part of your rockstar's personal history. This occurrence is something that will be happening around November 15th game time, but of course, what remains canon and what doesn't will be subject to who is accepted and where they are placed. This takes place after being kidnapped and brainwashed, as your character is first joining their new label. As usual, this is celebrated with a party.

►B1) PLAY IT STRAIGHT: It just another large scale soiree, something typical to the high music society of Vista City - but maybe it's not yet typical to you. For a number of the freshly signed on newbies, this is their first real taste of what their new label has to offer - either Virgo or Pride - and the sheer glamour of it may be intoxicating. Industry big wigs scatter the floor, as do performers of all the tops labels and bands. Maybe you feel intimidated. Maybe you want to make your mark. Or maybe you're not quite as new as some, and are just trying to get through the evening. Either way, they is plenty of booze available if you need some liquid courage. And is that a hookah pipe corner over there? Probably.

►B2) TOTALLY NORMAL: The signs of it are small, at first. Glasses you set down seeming out of place, stuff that almost looks like words written in the condensation on your glass. These little hauntings only get more and more persistent as the night continues, almost like some otherworldly presence is following you. You can feel them lurking nearby at times, like an unusual spot of cold or warmth in the air. None of the higher ups seem to notice but...to some of your new peers, this feels like old news. Eventually the signs become bolder, and at some point in the evening you'll hear it whispered in your ear or written on the bathroom mirror: "Remember."

►B3) REMEMBER: And you do. It strikes you suddenly, a feeling like a foreign presence straying through your mind. You remember something of your past, pertaining to the emotional affinity Love, Duty, Passion, or Hope - whichever feeling describes the person you used to be best. Except you know nothing of that life now, nothing except this single, strange thought in a room full strangers.

NOTE: Current characters definitely go to this party on November 15th, but it isn't required play. Besides the haunting and meeting new characters, it is considered business as usual.

☆HELPFUL INFO
► Follow the mod plurk for updates: interstellar5555
► Check out the game NAVIGATION
► Reserves open on November 6th at 12:01AM EDT
► Applications open on November 11th at 12:01AM EDT

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[Kerra shrugs and keeps sipping her drink, leaning back further. No point in poking the kitten, really.

Reaching down, she took another puff on the hookah and left it where Maki could get at it, and went on.]

Anyway. I actually wanted to ask you a couple of things about your new album. How long did it take you guys to write all that?

[ah, Maki liked that question much better. she relaxes again, letting out a soft sigh]

About ten months. We didn't want to rush it, so we went over the lyrics over and over. I didn't start composing anything until we had most of the lyrics finished.

You write the music then? Or is that a group effort?

[She'd guessed about the lyrics, since that was always something a group did together.]

I wrote all the music for this album. [Maki is quite proud of that, and it shows when a small smile graces her lips] I don't know if it'll be different for future albums.

Well, I hope not. The piano in there was brilliant.

[Another sip and Kerra laughs quietly to herself.]

Kind of a shame we don't write much of our own music, or I'd ask for some pointers.

[the piano was all her! Maki preens, flipping back her red hair]

Maybe you can try writing some of your own lyrics for the next album. If you're interested.

For yours? Or ours?

[Kerra shakes her head.]

I sure hope you mean yours, or nobody'll ever hear it. We're a swing band, all our music is pretty much done for us, and was in the 1950s. We do the arrangements, and make twists, but innovation isn't what people listen to us for.

[Still, that pleased her too.]

[Maki shrugs now, taking up the hookah again. she is still very relaxed] I meant for your next album. I would have been happy to read over them.

[Kerra slouches a bit in her seat, still nursing that wine glass, watching Maki.]

Hah...well I am going to try and sneak in a rewrite of Minnie the Moocher, update it a bit for modern times. If that takes off...then yeah, definitely.

D'you know the song?

[Maki shakes her head at that, feeling a bit sheepish] Can't say that I've heard that one...

You wanna hear it then, sweetie? It's one of my favorite songs.

[She leans in a little close, setting down her half empty cup. She's completely serious, if Maki actually wants to hear it.]

[why was Kerra leaning in so close? Maki finds her face getting warmer] Sure...

[Well a free concert to the whole party? No thanks.

Kerra's smile remains firm, unabashed by proximity, and she begins to sing in a low alto and snapping her fingers in time to an unknown rhythm.]

Hey folks here's the story 'bout Minnie the Moocher
She was a lowdown hoocie coocher
She was the roughest toughest frail
But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale

[With the first verse done, she keeps going, smile widening as she gets more into it.]

Hidehidehidehi
Hodehodehodeho
Hedehedehedehe
Hidehidehideho

[Now offering a hand to Maki, palm up, she moves to the next verse...]

She messed around with a bloke named Smokie
She loved him though he was cokey
He took her down to Chinatown
and showed her how to kick the gong around

[And with that verse out, she slows, still snapping her finger but has to interject...]

Think you can join me for the next chorus if I lead? It has a bit of a callback...

Edited 2015-11-11 21:17 (UTC)

[Maki nods and, after thinking about it for a moment, brings her hand up to rest against Kerra's palm. she doesn't know why Kerra offered it to her, or why she decided to take it. but she at least knows she can follow the song. and when Kerra gets to the part she knows, Maki joins in with an accompanying alto voice, even adding a little harmonization]

[Kerra's hand closes around Maki's, gently and she starts swinging her hand back and forth. It's a part of how the song was meant to be performed, two people in accompaniment.]

Hidehidehidehi (Hidehidehidehi)
Whoah (Whoah)
Hedehedehedehe (Hedehedehedehe)
A hidehidehideho (Hidehidehideho)

[And then she speeds up, adding little flourishes and extra inflection on certain words, definitely keeping in time with Cab Calloway's original tune.]

She had a dream about the king of Sweden
He gave her things that she was needin'
He gave her a home built of gold and steel
A diamond car with platinum wheels

A hidehidehidehidehidehidehi (Hidehidehidehidehidehidehi)
Hodehodehodehodehodehodeho (Hodehodehodehodehodehodeho)
Scoodiliboo-scoodiliboo-scoodili-bidili-bidiliboo
(Scoodiliboo-scoodiliboo-scoodli-bidili-bidiliboo)
A zootibitididdly bitididdly bitididdly bitidooey
(Bitididdly bitididdly bitididdly dooey)

He gave her his townhouse and his racing horses
Each meal she ate was a dozen courses
Had a million dollars worth of nickels and dimes
She sat around and counted them all a million times

Hidehidehidehi (Hidehidehidehi)
Hodehodehodeho (Hodehodehodeho)
Hedehedehedehe (Hedehedehedehe)
Hidehidehideho (Hidehidehideho)

[And finally comes the last line, presuming Maki's kept up with the energetic rendition. It's a start tone, Kerra's voice going as low as it can go.]

Poor Min, poor Min, poor Minnie

[...and then she exhales, inhales, and flashes a grin.]

And that...is Minnie the Moocher. Better with accompaniment, and even better with brass, but I don't think we did too bad for acapella.

Edited 2015-11-11 21:49 (UTC)

[once Maki knows that she needs to echo Kerra, there is no stopping her from also getting into the tune. by the time they are finished, hands still connected and swinging, Maki has a big grin on her face. she leans back, letting out a small chuckle]

We did all right, could've been our own band.

Just about, yep.

[Kerra chances a look into Maki's eyes, and quickly looks away, almost shyly. She hasn't let go, though her grip softens just a bit. The snapping hand plucks up her cup and she takes another sip before leaning back against the couch too.

Watching Maki from the corner of her eye, still feigning a touch of shyness, she goes on...]

You've got a great voice, y'know.

Thanks! So do you. [Maki is also a bit shy in her expression, but her words are not hesitant at all. she's happy, believing that she has made a new friend]

[She has, probably. Kerra's finicky about friends, but she does like you. You're more than an idle amusement, at least. The genuine note in Maki's voice stirs something in her, decidedly shifting gears in her brain from 'tease and prod' to 'this girl is actually worthwhile. Behave, Kerra.']

So kind of you to say.

[Her attention flicks to Maki's fingers, still in hers and her face blossoms red just a bit, letting one of her fingers trace along the back of the other's hand. An odd gesture, maybe, but one that she thought conveyed her interest a bit.]

Didn't expect to connect to anyone quite like this, tonight. Figured most people here would be fakers who just didn't really get it.

Edited 2015-11-11 22:23 (UTC)

[it's not a touch Maki expects. it's rather... affectionate? especially coming from someone like Kerra. something within her stirs, a little spark, and Maki moves to lean in, opens her mouth to say something.

and that's when the cellphone in her pocket starts vibrating. it startles her, because she had been so focused. when Maki realizes what it is, she makes a scoffing noise and sits back, taking it out to see who is disturbing her]

Ugh. One sec. It's my producer.

[Kerra's lips curl upwards in a vaguely amused smile, but she nods. What awful timing, that. But then...she's not wandered off to take the call...]

Sure. No worries.

[no, Maki stays put, because she doesn't really want to leave. she wanted to ask something!]

Yes? [a pause, as she listens, eyes flicking off to the side] No, I'm still here. [...] But-- [she pouts suddenly, brows furrowing. and then an eyeroll] Fine. I'm coming!

[Maki then pulls the phone away from her ear and presses the button to turn it off. SIGH. she tilts her head toward Kerra] He needs me to go out there and talk to people. He called it ...schmooze?

[Kerra laughs a little externally and nods. Yeah, she guessed this was bound to happen to her too. Lots of questions about where she'd been and what she'd been up to. Still, she's not ready to quite let this one go.]

Yeah, I guess I should too, huh?

[She gives Maki's hand a little squeeze and leans in just a bit closer. There's a crinkly feeling of paper against her palm, as Kerra slips the other a card.]

It's been fun, Maki. You're a pretty cool chick. Call me sometime? Or tonight, if you get tired of schmoozing. Not like I'm going anywhere...

[One last pause.]

Unless there's something on your mind.

Edited 2015-11-12 01:31 (UTC)

[tonight? but it was pretty late already! Maki's already getting tired, so she can't imagine staying up too much longer.

but she's happy, at least, even if they have to separate. because now she has Kerra's number, and Kerra thought she was cool. no one's ever called her cool before! this was awesome!]

Maybe we can hang out tomorrow. [she smiles and tucks the card away into her jacket. she... totally has forgotten what she wanted to ask earlier, but it didn't seem to matter now. she's still giddy over being called cool. FRIENDS]

[What a good kid. Kerra smiles and gives her a brief hug with one arm.]

Tomorrow, sweetie. Have fun out there.

(no subject)

nandemonai - 2015-11-12 01:53 (UTC) - Expand

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