☆RESCUER TEST DRIVE: DIGITAL LOVE

[interdimanagers]

☆WELCOME RESCUERS

"" (Watch on YouTube)

Welcome to Interstellar's first ever RESCUER TDM! A part of the Interstellar plot that has just opened up, this covers the entrance of those recruited 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.



►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
► Reserves open on January 2nd at 12:01AM EDT
► Applications open on January 11th at 12:01AM EDT

Comments

STEVEN UNIVERSE | A1 (ALREADY IN GAME)

[tigermillionaire]

Tiger feels...little.

Not that he didn't just abruptly get shorter recently, thanks to whatever magic those masked people have going on. But it feels more natural and all together here. He's standing on a sandy beach, looking out at the ocean. Above him, there is a giant stone woman carved into a cliff-side. He doesn't really get what it's about, but he feels like he should.

He also feels sort of like he wants to cry. It's nice here, is all he can think. It's nice, and he wants to stay, but he knows that he can't. Wherever he is, he's going to get taken away from it eventually.

He's wearing a different shirt, he notices dully. One that looks like something Greg would wear, which is kind of silly. He lifts it up, and sees that the weird gemstone is still there in his bellybutton. His hair is shorter and undyed...and probably more poofy.

"Hello?" he calls out to the empty beach, feeling lost and forlorn. He feels like there's something important he's supposed to be doing, but he doesn't know what.

[dontstartunbelieving]

The beach isn't quite as empty as he thinks it is. There's a twelve year old shaped like a friend popping up not too far away. She looks at him once before looking down at her own pink, star sweater.

"Hey!" She doesn't mean to startle him, but that doesn't mean she won't. "We match!"

Being twelve, weird dreams are kind of her thing. At least this one has no sock puppets. Just what seems like a potential dream friend. Those are the best.

[tigermillionaire]

Tiger takes a step back, obviously pretty disconcerted despite the fact that he was just calling out for someone. He doesn't recognize this girl. Is he supposed to. His face flushes a little.

"Um...yeah, I guess so."

He tugs down his shirt subconsciously. He feels like he shouldn't let anybody see his belly, even if it's in a weird dream place.

"Do...Who are you?" He asks, and then adds, like he's worried about being impolite. "I'm St...Tiger."

[dontstartunbelieving]

"I'm Mabel." And she's harmless! Probably not someone he knows, though.

And she's overly friendly, watching that tug. That's suspicious. Detective Mabel is on the case. "Tiger's a pretty cool name. Did your parents actually name you that? What's under the shirt?" She throws the question in so completely naturally.

[tigermillionaire]

He jumps, his reaction clearly giving away the fact that there is indeed something under his shirt, which just distresses him all the more.

"What? There isn't anything - Leave me alone-"

He takes a step back, the whole reaction coming across like such an instinctive flinch that it must be rooted in fear. There's already tears in his eyes, though he isn't letting them fall.

[dontstartunbelieving]

That was not the reaction she had anticipated. She blinks at him dumbly, head tilted to the side. "Are you hurt or something?" People aren't supposed to hurt in dreams.

[tigermillionaire]

He's panicking a bit, because he has no idea what to expect out of this. Mabel seems nonthreatening, but...so did Nia...

"No," he sniffles. "It's just...none of your business...I don't know you..."

[oceantier]

What?

What is she doing here?

She awakens into the dream like a drowning woman catching her next gasp of air, surging above the waterline.

Except there's no water.

She's on land.

And she's just herself. On her knees. In the sand.

Her hands tighten slowly around the granules, her eyes wide and staring.

Five seconds until panic.

[tigermillionaire]

In another time Steven would have wished that he could handle this different. He would wish that he knew the right thing to do. He would wish that he remembered her.

But Tiger doesn't. So when he sees her in the sand, he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know her, and he doesn't know himself. His compassion is outweighed by his fear.

He takes a step forward in her direction, but then he stops. He raises a hand, but then drops it. He pulls down on his shirt, bothered by how short it is, and how much it feels like he might accidentally expose his secret.

"Um..." he says, and backs away.

[oceantier]

Her eyes flash towards him at the small noise. For a moment they're wild, unfocused; for a single moment the water surges behind her as though the water rushes to her will. For a moment, with the look on her face . . . his fear is absolutely warranted.

Then: ". . . Steven?"

Her voice is husky, as though it hasn't been used in some time -- a soft, thin thread of sound. "Steven, what are you doing here?"

Her eyes flash back in the other direction. Back toward him. All around them both. "Jasper . . ."

"Where are we? Where's Jasper?"

The last words come out a little harsher than intended. The panic isn't gone yet.

[tigermillionaire]

His first instinct is to demand that she doesn't call him that. She shouldn't know that his name is Steven, he didn't tell anyone but Greg that. If Greg told on him...

But then he realizes that this woman is both blue and also it seems like the ocean is angry now? He jumps back more pointedly at her demands, his fear rising from cautious and wary to something more panicked. Oh no. He doesn't know what she's talking about. Who's Jasper?!

"I - I don't know," he says, his voice shaking. "I'm sorry..."

It's not the kind of sorry that just comes from someone not being able to help. It's the kind of sorry that comes from someone genuinely feeling that they may be hurt in response to their failure to give a useful answer.

[oceantier]

He's afraid.

The realization surges inward like a wave. For a moment it floods. Drowns out everything else.

Why is he afraid?

Steven, who confronted her at the crest of her ocean tiers. Steven, who tried to break her free from prison. Steven, who always dares to do the things that should be impossible, unthinkable.

He's afraid.

Of her?

The water slides backward towards the surf. Slips away into the sand.

"Steven . . . ?" Her voice is higher, even softer.

What's wrong? Something is wrong.

[tigermillionaire]

He's got an arm raised like he's anticipating being hit, but nothing comes. He lowers it, wrapping it back around his torso defensively. He hasn't felt very daring for a while.

He flinches when she says his name again. Does she...know him? He's been so worried, a moment ago, that he hasn't had the time to think any of this over. She knows him. But he doesn't know her.

He looks up, and around the beach, like he's wondering if he's being watched. He's still scare he's going to get in trouble, for all kinds of paranoid reasons. Is this a test? What if he does it wrong?

"Do you..." He doesn't want to cry, it would make him too vulnerable. As if he isn't already. "You know me?"

[giglio_madonna]

"Hello, dear!"

Luce's voice rings out over the beach, and she's easy enough to find with a bit of looking. Her hands have hoisted up her long white dress just a little bit to help her run better as she makes her way out of the strange house nestled in the statue. She reaches up to steady the large hat on her head.

"Tiger!"

[balletbattler]

When the dream comes together around her, Pearl's rounding the corner of one of the rocks that make up the cliffside. She searching for something, though she can't place why, and the what only comes when she spots him sitting there alone on the beach.

"Oh, Steven! There you are..."

Pearl's tone is the kind of tone a mother would use, as if she's called him three times for dinner and was starting to get worried when he didn't respond, but there's a hint of relief now that she's found him.

"I've been looking all over for you."

[tigermillionaire]

Hearing that tone makes his heart hurt. It feels like something that should be comfortable and welcoming, but it's not. He doesn't recognize this person at all, and the fact that he doesn't just makes him feel even more displaced than usual.

When she first appears his looks up to her, his eyes wide and wary. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do, and so as Pearl comes towards him, he looks away again like he's trying to pretend this isn't happening.

"No," he says softly, and maybe it's mostly to himself. He's so confused, he wants it to stop.

[balletbattler]

Pearl draws back the hand that she was about to place on his shoulder, tilting her head to try and get a better look at his face. There's a deep sense of worry within her that she doesn't know what to do with just yet because she can't rationalize it. Steven's here, he looks unhurt, and whatever's bothering him can't be anything she won't be able to figure out. Human problems can be messy sometimes but she's never met one she couldn't reason with.

"Is there something wrong? It's alright Steven, you can tell me," she says, gentle and confident.

[tigermillionaire]

He feels guilty, like she's mistaking him for someone else. He curls his knees closer to his chest, shaking his head as he hides his face.

"I'm not Steven," he says, pleading. "I don't know you.

[balletbattler]

"What? Don't be silly, of course you are."

Unless... no, Amethyst's shapeshifting isn't so advanced that it can fool Pearl. This is something else. Maybe a malfunction of the human brain or... well, maybe he just needs a reminder. She stands up straighter and gestures at Steven then herself, smiling confidently and matter-of-fact.

"You're Steven and I'm Pearl, of the Crystal Gems."

[tigermillionaire]

He folds his hands into his hair, tugging at his curls as he keeps his head buried in his knees. And soon enough, he finds himself crying again. He's already under so much stress all the time, stuff like this just makes him feel like he's falling apart.

"I don't know what that is," he says softly, his voice wavering and weak. He doesn't look at her. He doesn't want to.

[eba02]

The beach isn't quite empty, though for the life of him J can't figure out why he's there. It sure isn't any beach he's familiar with, especially given the giant statue just up the sand. There's a broken tune here, though, and that's more important than the sun and the sea and the sky.

It just about breaks his heart to find that the warped, skipping tune belongs to a little kid. Even the tune itself sounds sad; the damage isn't doing it, or the kid it belongs to, any favors. J turns and offers him a smile, trying to give him something friendly. "Hey. Nice place, huh?"

[tigermillionaire]

Oh no it's a guy.

Tiger looks alarmed, but...at least this one isn't getting in his face or demanding that he knows them or something. He's more dejected than anything else. With how terrible he's felt inside as of late, and with how much has been done to him, his inner song must be a total mess.

"Yeah..." he mumbles, quietly. "I don't know why I'm here."

[eba02]

Well, considering J doesn't know the kid, he's not about to expect the kid to know him either. He can hear that alarm, an ugly layer on top of the kid's tune that does nothing to smooth out the jagged edges, and he decides to be hands off for now - he can wait until he's got a better feel for the kid before trying to tap into his tune.

For now, he looks out at the ocean and puts his hands in his pockets - casual, nonthreatening. "Right here right now, or in a cosmic sorta way?"

[tigermillionaire]

"Right now," he says softly, and sadly. Nostalgia is firmly gripping his heart, like he's remembering something he loved that is forever lost to the passage of time. "I don't know where this is. Do...do you?"

[eba02]

Clapton. J wants to wrap this kid up in a blanket, give him hot chocolate, and protect him from the evils of whatever world he's landed in, because something has to be evil to Timberlake a child's tune this badly. The kid's an emotional wreck, and J can't tell if the damage to the kid's tune is the cause or effect of that maelstrom - they're too closely intertwined.

The best he can do right now is try to talk the kid into a more stable mood - if that's even possible right now. "Sorry, little man. It's new to me too." He looks over his shoulder at the kid. "We could go explorin' if you want. See if anything looks familiar."