TEST DRIVE MEME: THE SELF TITLED ALBUM

[interdimanagers]

☆WELCOME TO INTERSTELLAR

And welcome to our first 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 tour. 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?

☆THE MAGIC TOUR BUS

By default, these prompt 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. They take place after being kidnapped and brainwashed, on your character's first tour under their new label. As it turns out, it seems like brainwashing aliens isn't the only thing the abductees have to worry about.



►B1) PLAY IT STRAIGHT: It's just another day on the tour bus, in between long stretches of highway. How do you fill your time? Do you practice your instrument, or do you take full advantage of the open bar? Do you sulk and try go to bed early? Do you yell at your bandmates for ruining the toilet? Do you troll people on Twitter? Tours being what they are, everyone is probably at least a little bit tired or cranky. Just don't do anything that will get the Manager on your ass, because that's always more trouble than it's worth.

►B2) THAT'S NORMAL: The Managers aren't here, as far as you can tell, leaving you in a moment of relative relaxation. Something about those guys just make you uneasy, and they're always shoving you around and making you do things you don't really want to. However, these moments of peace don't last long, because it stars to become increasingly apparent that your tour bus might be...haunted? Whether its the bus turning on without a driver and without a key, wine glasses falling off tables, or guitar static sounding like frantic whispering, things are starting to get weird. Yet, at the same time, something in your subconscious is strongly suggesting that you should ignore it, and that everything is normal and fine...

►B3) THEN WHO WAS GUITAR?: These weird experiences eventually culminate in a kind of phantom music bleeding in from the air around you. The source is impossible to discern but it's somehow...familiar? Like something that played at an important moment in your life, even if the event itself just won't come to mind. What's weirder, is that everyone seems to hear something different. It gets to you in a way that your programming doesn't like - but how do you react? Reluctantly take it in, or throw a fit until it stops?

☆HELPFUL INFO

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► Reserves close on SEPTEMBER 25th at 12:01AM EDT
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Comments

[nibelungvalesti]

[When it comes to 'stronger', Nariko has her beat in some ways -- such as comfort with her role as a sexual being, rather than simply accepting others will view her as one and that she could not change the fact. Meril had never really made an emotional connection to anyone, but had never made a physical connection either in all the time they'd been traveling together, and certainly not for a lack of fans who'd have been willing to try.]

I would. [Meril generally puts very little emotion in her voice, but it is rich and nuanced enough that simple inflections can speak volumes. When she says something in this particular tone, she means it.] I might even look at the comments.

[gunslingerqueen]

[She's quiet for an extra moment but an elated, almost bashful smile finds its way onto her lips, pulls them up and up, until she feels stupid and covers her face.]

Thank you. [It's incredibly difficult to feel anything but empowered by that tone, and the implied support.] I guess I can give it a try, and you can let me know what you think later, if you want!

[And she really will get to it, there's absolutely nothing hollow about the promise. But:] What about you, though? Is there something particular you believe in?

[nibelungvalesti]

[Hm. She is much prettier, and more approachable, when she is smiling like that. Easier to know than the usual ball of energy and complaints and assertive emotions Meril thinks of her as.]

[...She can't blame Nariko for hiding that side of her. She'd never survive the fans or the tour circuit if it was up front and common.]

[Meril looks back down, the only sign of her own embarrassment.] I am still looking for something that feels right. That is why I asked.

[gunslingerqueen]

I see! [That's not a bad way to go about the whole thing, figuring it out by hearing other people's beliefs.] Well, I'm honored that you wanted to ask me at all.

[But she knows better than to linger on that and appear too prideful.] Do you think there's a Heaven or Hell or anything, at least?

[It's not meant to be a pressing question, people could still have opinions even if they weren't too sure of how they believed yet, right?]

[nibelungvalesti]

[Meril rarely has trouble speaking, but in this case she is struggling to put nebulous thoughts and feelings into words. Hesitation colors everything, as she shuts her eyes entirely to focus.]

There must be something more than this life.

[gunslingerqueen]

Hopefully. Something more is definitely better than just rotting in the ground.

[But that vague answer doesn't seem like Meril at all, so if Nariko didn't already believe that her bandmate was only looking for answers, she certainly did now.] Well, the more you learn the more likely you are to find something that fits, right? Maybe we just need to ask more people!

[nibelungvalesti]

If you blog what you have told me, I can hope there will be some opinions worth reading, somewhere between the posts trying to impress you and the ones trying to seduce you.

[She can admit she had a selfish reason for suggesting that, though she honestly doesn't expect to get much out of it.]

[gunslingerqueen]

Ah.

[So ... It wasn't necessarily that Meril had any investment in Nariko's personal thoughts or beliefs, it was plain curiosity. And if she used Nariko's popularity with their fans then of course she would get more answers that way. It was actually a decent plan. Too bad it felt an awful lot like being used as a means to an end. Why had she gotten so excited before? Clearly that was stupid.]

Well, yeah, I suppose that'll be the case. [It really was kind of dumb to think it could be a thing they explored together, right? This was definitely why certain parts of her nature had to be kept under wraps.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[See, this is why Meril didn't really have much luck with interpersonal relations: she's terrible at them, always managing to give the wrong impression. The truth is that expressing herself doesn't come naturally at ALL -- either written or spoken. In trying to overcome the one, she's run face-first into the other...]

[Still, she can't at least leave it like that without another stab at an explanation.]

If I simply asked outright, I think my... style, my mannerisms and fashions, would lead people to suggest only certain ideas. Ones I have already investigated and found wanting.

[gunslingerqueen]

[She pokes at her own jeans, hoping to find a loose thread that can be yanked at. This is a dumb thing to become upset about but it gets under her skin for reasons that are difficult to verbalize.]

You could have asked me outright.

[It would have been as simple as 'Hey, could you help me with this?' and that's all.] You didn't have to pretend to be interested in me.

[nibelungvalesti]

[Meril doesn't have many nervous mannerisms of her own. Stoic, cool, and rarely engaged with others, she almost never fidgets or fumbles about.]

[With one major exception. The girl, after a moment of hesitation, tugs the end of her braid into her lap and slips off the tie at the end. With practiced attention, she begins to reweave it. The gesture is proportionate to her distress, which is why it comes out so rarely -- her hair is quite literally longer than she is tall, and the braided portion represents two feet or so of work to attend to.]

It was... it was not pretense. I want to find what I can believe in, but -- what you believe in matters as well. If I asked it poorly, I apologize.

[The tone she apologizes in gives the words no credence, but... that's Meril, that's how she always talks. The body language is what truly offers a glimpse into her sincerity.]

[gunslingerqueen]

I wish you'd let me do your hair sometime.

[It's ... Not the most logical thing to say, or doesn't seem that way? It's how she chooses to acknowledge Meril's sincerity, but the length and overall beauty of it has always impressed her. Nariko's own hair goes down to her ankles, up until Meril she'd never met another woman who could match her.

... That, and she's a touchy person, so platonic gestures are common with her.]

It's okay. I just don't really like feeling used. [But had Meril really done that, or had Nariko just imagined it up, twisted it in her own way? It was a bad habit of hers, she knew that, which is why it's better to apologize. No matter where the fault lies, if there's any at all, she doesn't enjoy perpetuating it.] I'm sorry, too.

[nibelungvalesti]

[And that twin confluence of hair had showed up on more than one promotional picture in the past. Which thought led to another one.]

Do you not feel you are being used here?

[Meril knows perfectly well she's being used. Outfits that show off every inch of skin they can get away with, videos and gigs that work them to all hours of the night, marathon autograph sessions, talk show appearances she'd rather not do... She tolerates it all because that is the business, but she is candid about its reality.]

[As for the hair, well. That isn't a no, which is a lot closer than Meril is usually capable of coming to a 'yes'.]

[gunslingerqueen]

Oh, that's definitely the case. [There's no use in arguing that, and Nariko might be a little ... Questionable at times but she's isn't a genuine idiot.] But I really love music, singing it, playing it, talking with fans! I don't really care about the other stuff. [Like that one time she was five minutes late because she'd wanted to buy a cake for no reason and was 'disciplined' by their Manager. Thank goodness for liquid foundation, and a steady makeup artist.] And the other thing is that we can't change this. The Managers will be themselves, the bad stuff will always be bad whether anyone tries to do anything about it or not.

[There's something a little odd about that, maybe. Why is she making excuses? ... Who knows.] But when it comes to my friends I don't want to put up with that.

[And, yes, that was the right word to use.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[That... is kind. A kindness she does not perhaps deserve. What has she ever done to be Nariko's friend, save for play in the band, and have the occasional conversation with her?]

[Meril doesn't understand. And yet she does not doubt the sincerity of the term at all.]

I am not even sure how I could use you if I wanted to, so in that respect, you are safe with me.

[gunslingerqueen]

[She waves one finger with a knowing grin.]

See, the world is a pretty cruel and ridiculous place but you're never anything but honest! [Ah, but she does have to consider:] I mean, hopefully you never figure anything out, that'd be for the best.

[Meril is a smart girl, and she's never seemed particularly menacing but you never know.]

[nibelungvalesti]

There is no logic behind it. You said yourself you love the music and the fans that come with it -- how easy would it be for them to get your best out of you by simply asking for it? You would both get what you want, without consequence or negativity.

[Then again, Meril might not be here playing bass. Or she might. Funnily enough, she had never given consideration to what she would be doing if she wasn't stuck here.]

[gunslingerqueen]

Not everything needs logic, sometimes it just has to be about feelings.

[And for her that's what it is. Don't their fans, the Managers, already ask for their best in their own ways? The fans want more music, the managers want more money, and Nariko only wanted every person to hear her voice and feel comforted, loved, emotional - whatever. As long as they heard her. It had nothing to do with logic and everything to do with what she decided to want.

Right? After all, nothing else ever made her happy, not in the real way. Not sex, drinks, parties, not even affection.]

[nibelungvalesti]

...Then they feel like treating us poorly and using us, instead of obeying any logic behind how they treat us.

[That's the obvious conclusion, isn't it? Meril, never a master empath, doesn't think deeper beyond that, into the whys and wherefores, the nature of power dynamics and control. Her shades of grey are more of a haze, and when things become darker than that...]

[Well, the sudden unconscious deathgrip she has on her braid can't be good for it.]

[gunslingerqueen]

[She shakes her head, here, as if Meril has somehow missed a very vital step in this conversation.]

The Managers treat us like that because they're shitty people, Meril. I don't think genuinely bad people follow any real logic, either, they can't do that and still get what they think is owed to them.

[Why Nariko does what she does and why they're treated the way they are happen to be two very separate ideas.] Even so, what would you do if you weren't here?

[In other words, what was the point in questioning that particular avenue? They were at their best as a band, right?]

[nibelungvalesti]

I cannot even imagine.

[The question snaps the tension out of her with a visible quiver, her muscles all going slack. She literally can't imagine. Nothing else she has ever encountered seems right, nothing else has ever given her purpose or even a place.]

I do not believe there is anywhere for me but here...