And I Just Can't Stop (New Year's Live and Kickoff to Musical Event)

[roundandaround]

WHO: Everyone! Performers from the Music Club, stage and tech crew, audience members, and even unsuspecting viewers at home.
WHAT: The Music Club End-of-Year Live and New Year's Party... and kickoff to the musical mini-event
WHEN: Night of December 31
WHERE: Sunwaning Theatre
WARNINGS: Magical compulsion; the final number specifically includes possession, body horror, cannibalism imagery, bugs, and soul removal.

The Music Club has been meeting all month to prepare, an ad has gone out a few days into Yuletide, and now it's here: the New Year's live and party. The same venue as last year was booked, decked out in sparkly banners celebrating the year 218 on the Ellipsan calendar. And this year the concert is even televised so people can watch it in their own homes!

Surely this won't go wrong.

(OOC: Plotting post! The final number when the clock hits midnight will usher in the Musical Event for anyone who hears the song or gets affected by it spreading throughout the week. Max will be possessed for the remainder of the week, while Rinku will be comatose and taken to hospital and her soul will be wandering the collective unconscious and popping into the dreams and/or hearts of anyone who volunteers.

And remember this post is a mingle, so thread with one another to your hearts' content!)

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PRE-SHOW/DINNER

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[Much like last year, when people start arriving from 6 to 7 is the dinner in one of the meeting halls, available to both guests and performers. Food tables are there to sit down at, serving end-of-year Sunwaning standards like shrimp, fried fish, pickled lotus root, oranges, mochi, and candied chestnuts.

The games return as well after the food's done! There are more this year: a scavenger hunt for assorted small toys, a piñata full of candy, magnet fishing in a kiddie pool, bowling, three-legged race, and good old Pin the Tail on the Human. There are candy prizes and goofy little New Year's glasses for everyone who completes a game.]

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[1) upon entry]

[Rinku's greeting everyone as they come in. She might be spotted taking something from a mage and cheering him on.]

Don't worry! I know your new version of your dream charm's gotta work better than the last one. I'll use it tonight and see what happens!

[She waves him off and turns to the next person with a smile.]

Welcome to the New Year's show! What are you looking forward to tonight?

[2) dinner]

[Running a show is hard work, and Rinku... well, she eats a lot in the first place. She's already on her second helping of the New Year's supper.]

This might be even better than last year! I mean, the food is all the same, but why change it when it's so good? What do you think?

[3) games]

[Rinku can't participate in the games, but she's here to give out prizes as well as help people with the games if they need help or explanations. She waves at anyone who comes up to her.]

Hi! What did you need?

THE CONCERT

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(For performers: you can describe your act/any acts your character was involved with here! While duets were encouraged this year, any act or number of artists is allowed; the plotting post does have a partner-finding TL, and they can always perform alone or with their usual group.

For the audience and any character backstage, performer or not: react to their performances by responding to their sub-toplevels! Chat in the audience, gossip backstage, congratulate them when they come back to the green room. The world is your oyster.

If your character isn't yet involved with the Music Club and you want them to participate, we can handwave that so you can put them in here. Membership is always open and flexible.

Due to its place in the event, Max and Rinku's finale number has its own toplevel below.)

THE FINAL NUMBER... (cw: possession, body horror, cannibalism imagery, bugs, soul removal)

[roundandaround]

[Rinku has been excitedly flitting about. She's put a lot of work into this concert, from contracting staff to booking the venue to advertising, and the work is never done. Tagging Eiden's anon post, chatting with the guests, checking on the kids who are still too young to stay out this late -- and wait, was that Bartholomew she was just encouraging at the dinner? Should people be worried? But surely it's fine.

Max has been not quiet but different all day. His sunglasses are pushed up to cover his eyes all day during the concert preparation. The preparations for the musical equipment, speakers, and a large screen to display the performers on stage for the audience in the back. He's spared no magic or effort to make this as big and bright as he would. He does so without question or request, and asks for nothing in return.

Which, itself, is odd. Though it does follow in line with Max's more recent behavior.

The other acts go on and, while Rinku happily squeals and waves lights, Max is quiet and watching them all closely from backstage. His glasses reflect the lights and sights of the performances. He smiles a sharp grin that looks out of place.

Then it is time for the final act with Rinku and Max. They already don't match, but that's the fun of it. Rinku has another wild DJ outfit, but Max is dressed in a more formal outfit for New Years: jacket, button up, bowtie, and slacks, his green sunglasses still on as he grins with his headset on and ready to go.]

3... 2... 1.

Happy New Year! Let's make this one 「Happy Around!」

[The song is picked and ready to go, but as Rinku's song starts, another song cuts in as the two clash and mingle together.

Looks like this act isn't a duet. It's a music battle!]

Song portion, collapsible for length

Failing to beat the game of life, how pathetic
A knock at the door in woe and I get a kick
Gazing at every torment at this event
“A tale that I abhor”

[The screen behind them splits, one half showing Rinku and the other focused on Max. The screen showing both of Max's eyes glowing green as his sunglasses slide down his nose with the choreography of his part of the battle, while Rinku's sparkling red eyes blink and she quickly adjusts to his improvisation.]

Zombies, monsters, evil spirits chasing after me, that's how I see day-to-day responsibilities
Round and round the barber's pole spins, I can't take my eyes off it

Once again, God sends me a spring breeze today
There's a girl above the clouds and the wind blows up her skirt! Don't think, link!

Alone by the riverside, taking in the view
Lazy, relaxing, but I'm still feeling blue
Let the future be bright somehow
For the me who's faking a smile

Gorge at the gullet, and a body so avid
You can’t bite the bullet with a soul of a kid
Downing a mass of every heart, their demise
And gouging out the eyes

Hey, don’t lie, you wanted that after all..!
And in that moment that I glare at you they call
When the souls in pain cry to me,
Bon Appetit!

[The sunglasses fall off Max's face on the final line, and he stomps on them with a wide grin. Even Rinku, behind her turntable, gasps. Then he turns on Rinku and moves closer as he sings the next verse of the song.]

Welcome into my carnal womb
Love and your ego in that tomb
Does it matter when you, will soon awaken anew
That I’m reveling in every suffering just like a demon?
“Ahh why! No! Why!” you howl and cry
“I never wanted this” you lie..!

[Rinku shakes her head. She keeps dancing, keeps that smile up, even if she seems worried.]

Side by side, the two of us relax
Drifting slowly, gracefully, carelessly tumbling, soaked to the skin
But you see, there was no point in worrying.
Look, it's fine -- rain falls and when you're wet, it's all the same

Look into my own eyes, there lies your fate and demise
And I know there another fated eloquent master awaits

[The music volume starts to shift. Pulling the sound from Rinku's part of the battle and drawing it to Max's. His smile grows wider and uncanny as he turns to sing at the audience, surging the intense emotions out toward those watching on TV and in person.

Rinku tenses. She tries to turn up the volume, but it only feeds into Max's song. Her next line is shouted.]

I'll make it a happy ending!

Fables in every life around and their fate now
They love one another, I can never allow
Jeering, the serpent, not a care, laughing out
“Yeah, I could do without”

When things aren't going my way, I sleep it off
By the time I'm awake, all is forgotten
The lottery wheel at the store spins, there's a clatter
The ball that comes out is the special gold prize

[She shakes, but stands her ground. Is this staged? Can Rinku act that well?]

Ahh, not enough, I can’t evade the desire
To eat up their darkened hearts upon the pyre
Taking a hold of every one of their lives
I’m buried in their eyes

Confetti falls, congratulating me
I thought the world was mine
But then it turned on a dime!

["Max" spins and moves back toward Rinku, green energy swirling around the base of the stage now. His powers mingling with hers, a pulse of energy resounding through the house and backstage. So this is what they call a XROSS∞BEAT. He bows to her as he sings the next verse.]

Falling alone, I realize
Even if a dream simply, cleanly, suddenly, quietly slips away
The future I long for is still full of empty pages

Ahh, it’s also in you, deep down inside
The power bigger than them all, Combining Eyes..?
Yes, within this sad tragedy
You are the “queen”

HaHAHAHA!

["Max" laughs as he stands and the screen shifts to focus solely on "Max" as he grins out at the audience.]

Lives, all around, howl out in praise!
Love and your ego, darkened days
As they all come around, it all decays in the ground
Toward a tragedy, I see the crowning moment coming
“Please give it back!” you howl and whine
“I’ve had enough” haha, I’m fine
With your eyes all a gaze, we laugh at you in the haze
The fate of everyone not undone I have won has now begun!

[The music drops out, both songs, as "Max's" arms wrap around himself. As the music starts to build, he falls to his knees. He leans forward, so low as to nearly press his forehead to the stage. His back bulges suddenly before it splits in jagged clothes and flesh. Arms spring forth from his back as something, no, someone claws their way out. Blond hair tied back in a ponytail, a dark jacket and suit that aren't unlike the one Max has on. Glowing green eyes as he pulls himself free from Max, only to spin and slam his foot down on Max's back, forcing him prone onto the stage.

Rinku gasps. She reverts her booth into the form of a small robotic lion, the one Rui gave her, and stands in front of it protectively, forming a sword from flame.]

What's going on?

[The new arrival, grinning, continues the song. As the music picks up, he laughs loudly and unhinged at everyone.]

How pitiful to live and die
Time and again you all defy
Though it will end the same, you keep resetting the game
Remiss and pain all aflame
Crying, howling, ever writhing

Ahh everybody lives a lie
Don’t even try to cry out “Why?”
Everything’s all in vain, repentance you can’t attain
No miracle is coming for your pitiful lamenting
“Fine, I don’t care at all” you say
Then, here again with no delay
Feeling all so abash, it all will fade into ash
And as another day in the haze ever repeating in a craze
I will still be right there with a glare laughing right in your face!

[The song builds to its loud and epic conclusion. The green rolling mist around the edges of the stage flood it as it pulls at Rinku's powers in full force. The blond reaches down, grabbing up Max with rough hands. The blond man's chest and stomach split open to reveal teeth and long carapace-covered insectoid limbs. They quickly and without mercy pull Max inside the wide maw. He struggles but it is in vain as he is pulled inside, the last part of him seen being an outstretched hand. Then the maw snaps shut.

More unhinged laughter from the man as a wave of musical energy and the power of the XROSS∞BEAT wash over not just the crowd but over all of Ellipsa in a flash of green light. The music draws to a close as the man bows to the audience, only to vanish into a wisp of green smoke, leaving Rinku on the stage alone.

She dissipates her sword. Once again unable to do a thing.]

Davis-san... What was -- ngh!

[Rinku staggers and grabs her head with both hands. She looks pleadingly out at the audience, but her eyes are already clouding over.]

Is this what happened... to Neo-chan...

Everyone is sparkling, shining, dazzling...

[With that one last line, she collapses to the stage.

The house lights go on, and crew are calling for medics and healers. But there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with Rinku physically. Any Winters or other people who can see spirits and souls, though? Will find that hers was just sucked away.]