Play On

[celebrity_commentator]

Who: Risette, all the people who signed up to help or sing, and EVERYONE!
Where: 0048 Stage! With a brief bit back at Junes.
Summary: Big benefit concert by the Visitors!
Warnings: Video-heavy, Gas Chamber is terrible

Surprising no one, everything had come down to the wire. After barely two weeks of preparation, a concert thought up by a 16 year old semi-retired idol singer was being put on in a theater that had magically appeared last night.

Some days, Rise really effing loved this town.

In the afternoon, Rise was in front of Junes, dodging the crowds of people outside her demographic talking about their books to put up flyers and occasionally do her megaphone thing to let everyone know about the change in plans:

"Attention everyone! Tonight's Benefit Concert featuring our Visitor musicians has been MOVED! It'll be taking place at the brand-new 0048 Stage in the Aries District! It's the big sparkly tower theater, you can't miss it!"

Just in case, she handed out quickly printed flyers with directions to the theater to anyone who didn't immediately shove their hands in their pockets, with a smile and a "See you there!" or a "Please come by and see! Free admission!" delivered individually depending on the potential audience member's mood.

---

The hours to the concert ticked down to minutes, Rise doing everything in her power to make sure everything and everyone was set up for a 7:00 start while preparing to get out on stage again herself. She hadn't done anything like this in months, or anything this serious in longer, and she was running entirely on bottled water and adrenaline at this point.

People - visitor and native alike, whoever she could get to volunteer or accept pay out of donations ("It's a benefit concert, after all!") scrambled to make sure the stage was hooked up, safe, and ready for performances, to make sure guests were seated, and to make sure the performers were ready. Rise was one of the ones scrambling, manically (but happily) doing her own job of remembering lyrics and not throwing up along with her old manager's job of supervising.

"Okay, everyone ready? Oh! We better be, show starts in fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes, guys!"

Yeah she really needed to hire a new manager.

When the time came, the house was full, and they were ready to start. Rise took a deep breath and headed out to kick things off.

((Alright! This post is going to have several subthreads/prompts with instructions in each, but in general, mingle and have fun!))

((Comments are open, tag away!!))

Comments

[ghost_shield]

One of the volunteers has a booth set up nearby as well, advertising something else. The Visitor/Native Alliance? Really? That's different. He seems to be helping with questions about the concert as well, but you have to wonder what that business is about.

[demifemme]

Curious, Shura gets closer to greet her friend and see what's up. She's looking better than last time Nick saw her, at least.

[ghost_shield]

"Shura! Hey!" Nick waves cheerfully from where he is. "You're looking great! How're you feeling?"

[demifemme]

"Better, thanks," she says as she gets closer, a small smile on her lips. "I don't have nightmares about it so much anymore. What have you been up to?"

[ghost_shield]

"Primarily? This." He indicates the booth. "I've decided to start a group to try and improve the relations between the so-called "Visitors" and the city's natives. Hopefully that way we can become less of a wedge issue and start doing some good where good really needs to be done."

[demifemme]

Shura nods. "Wow, you've been busy! I hope it works. I like to not get stones thrown at me when I go out to run."

[ghost_shield]

He sighs. "I hope so too. It's becoming increasingly obvious the only ones we can trust to inform the public are ourselves." His eyes darken for a moment, and then brighten. "Anyway, I think we can help some of the less well off folks in town, AND it's finally a chance for me to do something proactive around here."

[demifemme]

"That's... both good and not so good to hear. I've been reading the COMP network a lot when I couldn't sleep and it's getting a bit scary. But I'm glad you found something to do. I might have a job now, too."

[ghost_shield]

He grins. "Why Shura! You wouldn't by any chance be offering to join up, would you? I THINK we can make room in our oh so huge organization. Maybe." Ha ha ha who is he kidding, of course there's room.

[demifemme]

Shura scratches the back of her head, embarrassed. She had almost worked up the courage to tell him about the bouncer job in a sex club, but it was escaping fast. "Aaah... I'm not sure I'm a good candidate for your organization..."

[ghost_shield]

Sometimes, misunderstandings lead to interesting situations.

He adjusts his glasses. "Well, that's all right too. Although even if you're not really the talky type, we could always use a bit of raw labor sometimes. There's probably going to be some physical work involved in helping people out. It's up to you though."

[demifemme]

That immediately brightens Shura's expression. "I'm available for physical work!" She might be on the fence about humanity, even here, but Nick was a friend.

[imthegoodguy]

To say that Ben felt out of place here... Well. He was older than most people here, and he was fairly certain the music being played here wouldn't be to his liking. But the intent of the concert had caught his attention. If he didn't derive any entertainment from the concert, he might derive some information.

Thankfully, one of the first things he sees once he walks through the doors is Nick's booth.

"Now this is interesting," he says, approaching the booth. "Got any pamphlets?"

[ghost_shield]

"Yes sir." He passes one over, giving him some time to look it over. "You new around here? Or maybe one of the residents? We cater to everybody, but we can especially use the help of any visitors who want to try and improve the public relations between us and the citizens."

[imthegoodguy]

Ben wants to ask 'Does it look like I come from here?' but restricts it to amused lift of his eyebrows.

"Yes, I'm new." He takes the pamphlet, digging into one of his pockets to pull out a pair of circular glasses he dons to peruse the pamphlet. "What happened that we need a PR department?"

[ghost_shield]

He sighs. "Long story short: we have a city which is theoretically the last one around, a lack of resources, and a sudden influx of newcomers who need both shelter and food. It's your basic immigrant story, but a lot more complicated." He scratches his head. "Anyway, the natives are beginning to get annoyed at our 'special treatment,' so I figure we need to make ourselves more familiar in places other than the gossip pages."

[imthegoodguy]

It seems like the more information Ben gets, the more questions he has. He peers at the pamphlet with a half-frown; is this thing enough to answer all his questions?

"What sort of special treatment would that be?"

[ghost_shield]

"Getting 'freebies,' apparently. There's no denying the government here sees us as some sort of security lynchpin. The media, meanwhile, treats us like celebrities. There's a real lack of any sort of information on us as PEOPLE, and that's a problem." He shakes his head. "And that's not even getting into the fact that the local terrorist organization uses us as a wedge issue either by insinuating we're a burden or by making it look like we're aggravating them somehow."

[imthegoodguy]

"There's a terrorist organization, now?"

Obviously he doesn't mean a terrorist organization sprung up from the earth at the sound of Nick's words; but in the scope of the story as it unfolds before Ben, yes, the terrorist organization did kind of spring out of nowhere.

"No wonder we're introduced to this world in a dream. The subconscious can't read the fine text. Does the government help you out with this or are you flying solo?"

[ghost_shield]

He nods. "If you look it up on the network, you should be able to find info on it. Or what's available anyway." He lets that stand for what it is. "It's called the Anoli.

"As for whether they help us out, well..." He sighs. "I mean, they provide us room and board, and they sure kiss our asses, but it's hard to shake the idea they're hiding behind us to take care of their problems for them." He frowns.

[imthegoodguy]

"Because we have power they don't?"

[ghost_shield]

"I suppose. Although there are Persona users who live within the city itself. Why they feel like they needed to accumulate an extra surplus is beyond me."

Unless they were trying to get to them first...

[seasidecherry]

Nagisa, in full performance costume, had wandered out for just a moment to catch a glimpse of the crowd, to say welcome to a few people. She caught sight of the booth a moment later, approaching with a smile.

"Thank you so much for helping to organize things with the city. I really appreciate that. It's been such a huge help."

[ghost_shield]

He smiles cheerfully. "Anything I could do to help! This concert works to everybody's benefit, I think, and it fits in pretty well with our goals, so it only made sense to help." He looks sheepish. "I hope there weren't too many problems. I have to admit, this is the first time I've ever led something on this sort of a scale, and we still really only have a few people."

[genkibot]

[Tachikoma has come to take a look around before the concert starts and notices the booth.]

Oh neat! I didn't know you were planning on having a booth here! Do you have brochures or something to hand out?