HANDSHAKE EVENT: FANSERVICE START

[idolpro]

Who: Unfamiliar faces?
Where: Tokyo-F
When: Day 424, morning

[ The cryptic countdown pauses: 999999.

Then, the video feed turns on. Who's this—why, it's Man☆Eater! ]

A big ol' congrats to our final winner, who requested: "PLEASE MAKE C KING OF HEAVEN"! Now, we could make that happen for you, but where'd be the fun in that? And hey, we've got a special occasion to celebrate: the start of our fourth season! If the third time's a charm, the fourth's gotta be even better, right? Gyahaha!

They say you should meet your heroes... eh, or wait, was it the opposite? Oh well, too late! 'Cause guess what, you lucky rascal? Instead of sitting back and watching all the action through a screen, you're getting the once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet the man himself! No accounting for taste if you ask your host here, but hey, go bask in his divine presence or whatever! Gyahahahaha!

[ the video shuts off before further explanation can be given, though fortunately you're receiving a text message: ]

IMEEJI'S FIRST HANDSHAKE EVENT BEGINS
FULFILL FAN REQUESTS TO BECOME MORE POPULAR ♥

[ And the ground begins to shift . . . there's a rumbling sound—an earthquake?

—no. Those are the sounds of footsteps . . . thousands of them, all at once.

Wherever idols are, they'll be able to see the streets and buildings are being invaded. Not by imps, not by demons, but rather, monochromatic people—sometimes just silhouettes, shadowy facsimiles of people rather than people themselves. Though they look lifeless, the energy they bring with them is overwhelming. Suddenly, the empty once-plastic city feels like it has the population to justify its size, and every building, communally upgraded or not, now accommodates the visitors, with non-upgraded buildings revamped inside to be bare-bones sleeping quarters for the . . . just how many people are here, anyway?

Perhaps more intimidating than the abrupt number of the Damned in Tokyo-F is the fact that they're all wearing. . . idol merchandise. Jackets with idol faces on them. Headbands. Lightsticks.

And. . . wherever you are, they're there. To get your signature. To shake your hand. Maybe to ask you to do something.

Idols will have to deal with this for . . . some time. The cryptic countdown has started again, but this time it's ticking reliably, though slowly, down.

Incidentally: far from the hotel, tall white walls have been erected around Honmachi Sakura Park. They're not magical walls, though—it seems determined idols can use any number of methods to climb over the walls to get to Heaven. It looks like it's largely there to keep fans away. . . ]

SIGN-UPS | REQUESTS | TURN-IN @ SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12

Comments

[inspiteful]

[ There's this long pause as Lark rubs the back of his neck, because there isn't really any good way to explain, "hey so, I'm pretty sure Valor is supposed to be dead". Like he supposes there's no other way to go about it besides just saying it, but it seems kind of blasé? Is it okay to go about telling what amounts to speculation to someone who, technically, isn't involved in this?

... But besides Bad End, Lupine's been pretty much the only kind of person to have expressed this kind of interest in Valor. ]

I suppose I had to explain this to someone, eventually...

... Shrike — the one he calls 'Rain' — back before she changed, she was a lieutenant in the army where they're from. She and her scale got ambushed during ... a [ He says this like he's not entirely sure if there was only one, maybe it was better to say 'the', but gods know the Hundred Kingdoms are a mess. ] war, and they were all killed in battle. Including her.

But as she was dying, she heard ... a voice. It mourned the inevitability of their deaths, that they had followed her and sacrificed themselves for her for what amounted to nothing. That ... [ His voice gets strained here, as he remembers what he saw and heard from Shrike's memories. ] ... so many people in the world would suffer that sort of fate. Then, it asked her if she wanted their deaths to be worth something, and she came back the way you saw.

... I think Valor was supposed to have died, too. It probably wasn't the same ambush, and I'm not sure if it was during the same war, but based on that and what else I know ... [ Lark sighs. ] How the hell am I supposed to tell him that?

1/2

[at_heart]

[ Lupine eases back a little in his seat, his expression contemplative. That sure is a lot to take in. A freaky death-voice calling people back... After a moment, ]

Well, I asked him about the palette swap, and he said he had no idea. You could try telling him you think you know why that happened to — Rain? Shrike?

[at_heart]

I mean... he's not the only one here who's been dead.

[ And he's not looking at you, but he is very much waiting for another shoe to drop. ] [ Unless Lark is just... genuinely worried it might upset Valor to think about?

Man, and you tried to play it like you weren't that attached to him. You two are a little ridiculous, though not in a bad way. ]

[inspiteful]

[ It's not actually a wrong assumption, because even if Valor is already kind of ... blasé about death as is, it still feels weird to have to tell him that something about that near-death experience must have changed him for the worse? Does he want to be responsible for that? ]

Well, the thing is that he hates her, so I'm not sure if it's something he'd be interested in hearing, let alone connect the dots to how it's related to his own situation. And it's not just about the almost-dying, I think he might actually like the creepy voices of some things that are dead [ 'Dead' being said in a tone of uncertainty but in the sense that either way, then implications aren't good. ] and powerful and would really like existence to cease to be.

...That and I really don't know how I'm supposed to break the news of "it's really likely that you were supposed to be dead". [ Or rather, Lark might not want to know what Valor's reaction would be? And in some ways, it's less about Valor possibly being upset. ]

[at_heart]

Well, I think telling him about Rain-Shrike-whoever would be a decent icebreaker, whether he'd actually ask about her or not.

[ Beat. ]

Sorry, this is just a lot to take in. And I know I'm still missing pieces.

[ Scrubs a hand over his face. ]

So, you think he's hearing voices telling him to... do shit?

[inspiteful]

He gets annoyed whenever I bring her up.

Oh, he's pretty definitely hearing voices that want him to do shit or otherwise sort of just...say things about the state of the world. Or are just in agony. I've heard some of them thanks to a couple of adventures here.

1/2

[at_heart]

[ This is just. So much fun to be hearing. Slowly, ]

Cool.

[at_heart]

[ There's a pause, then, more compassionately: ]

That must suck.

[inspiteful]

I suppose the good news is...well, at least the voices aren't living rent-free in anyone's heads here. It's more like what I've heard were Shrike's remembered experiences of them.

... So, I'm pretty sure Valor isn't hearing them here. [ Since you asked about the voices earlier. ]

[at_heart]

[ Headtilt. ]

Why not? [ ...Hrm. ] You think this place cuts us off from that sort of thing?

[inspiteful]

As far as I can tell, yeah. Shrike told me she couldn't hear anything.

[at_heart]

That... must be — disorienting.

[inspiteful]

In a way, she was kind of relieved, I think.

...Perhaps in the end she didn't really like the voices, so much as they sort of spoke to the state of mind she used to be in. And, I don't know, maybe that's the same for Valor too, except he likes them. But I wouldn't know for sure.

[at_heart]

[ Except he likes them. ]

So. Murderous nihilism?

[ mmm ]

That'd explain his attitude towards violent games.

[inspiteful]

"There's always an ending". It's a saying where we're from, and it's not always supposed to be...uh, a bad thing? Though it's not a great thing, either.

[ Lark pauses as he recalls something Valor said before. "There's always work for a knife". Can't help how his eyebrows crease just thinking about it. ]

... I think that if you gave him a goal that he was motivated to accomplish, and told him he can do that through murder, it pulls some lever in the back of his head. He'd do it and wouldn't be sorry about it, 'cause it's basically just work for him.

[at_heart]

...That tracks, yeah.

[ Beat. ]

I remember talking to him, wondering if he really got that dying still hurts even in a game. I mean, he's kind of a dick normally, too, but... not that kind, so much.

[inspiteful]

I mean...if death is inevitable, then from a certain point of view, it means everyone's a dead person still walking, and there isn't a lot of difference between going out from the end of a blade sticking into you or something else.

Actually, I think a lot of us are more bothered by dying not being permanent, here?

[at_heart]

Heh. Wasn't sure how else to explain it.

[ Beat. ]

Death not being permanent is definitely weird.

[inspiteful]

It's really weird, kind of eliminates whatever meaning there is to the finality of dying, and it's both cheap and isn't at the same time.

[at_heart]

[ ...Mmm. ]

Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, I don't know that I really think dying has a lot of meaning normally.

[inspiteful]

I mean, not the act of dying itself, but the idea that it's supposed to be an ending of some kind. Even if it's just...your soul departing from your body, or whatever, it's not supposed to be something you can just walk back? Take backsies?

And maybe for some people the idea of an ending is supposed offer some solace, but I think it's only when you have to face the certainty of no turning back that you decide what matters to you in your life.

[at_heart]

[ A tight, not terribly comfortable shrug. After a moment, Lupine offers up a wan smile. ]

Sorry. I didn't mean to derail like that.

[ He was just. Thrown right back to his conversation with Nyx, suddenly turning religious. ]

Doesn't really matter what I did or didn't think happened after we died, does it. Might not mean anything for your world, definitely doesn't mean anything for this place.

[inspiteful]

[ Welcome to all of Valor's conversations (and really, a lot of people's conversations) with Lark, where it just meanders from topic to topic and gets derailed and rerailed pretty often. ]

...Right. Sorry, I got distracted.

[at_heart]

Heh. Well, we both did. [ Beat. ] This place just— We're all from different planets, right? Some of our worlds have magic, some don't. Mine has some kind of dragon, which doesn't seem to be as uncommon around here as you'd think...

[ Which reminds him. ]

And I mean, some people don't know what planets are.

[ Like, maybe you?? ]

[inspiteful]

[ Don't make a face at "dragon", Skylark. ]

Oh. Yeah, someone explained that to me and I still think the idea is a little weird.