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

Pre-Concert - Backstage

[celebrity_commentator]

[Anyone who volunteered to help out with backstage things like lightning, the sound system, or constructing the stage was told to come here early this morning, moved from the probably-doomed attempt at a makeshift stage in front of Junes to the 0048's theater. Anyone helping out would be here, and anyone planning to perform would be doing dress rehearsals earlier in the day, or in the dressing rooms preparing for curtain later on.]

Pre-Concert - Front of House

[celebrity_commentator]

[Doors opened an hour before the show started, letting everyone - Visitor or Native, Human or Demon - in to mingle and explore the 0048's amazing theater. Enterprising folks will probably start selling concessions in short order, and Rise has a few volunteers handing out programs to let people know what to expect.]

The Concert

[celebrity_commentator]

[The main event is here - a night of extremely varied music from Hinoto-Ri's extremely varied visitors. Enjoy!]

((Performers who signed up, ICly or OOCly, should start threads describing/linking their performances. Audience reactions can go below those or in their own threads.))

Aftermath

[celebrity_commentator]

[When all's said and done, everyone gets to go home. Or stay out all night and party in celebration of a great show. Up to you, really.]

Risette

[celebrity_commentator]

Spotlight. Deep breath. Walk out. No fear, just smiles.

Rise kicked the concert off personally, running out on stage to a small lightshow and the opening chords to her song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1MzEJgFKxI

It wasn't much, really. She'd sung it over a year ago by her count, but she frankly hadn't had time to practice a new number. She figured it would be okay, this being a new city and all. And besides, as much as this was inspired by her wanting to sing, what she had to say was more important.

"Thank you so much!" she called out as the applause died down. "Really, thank you all so much for coming tonight!"

With professional - for an idol - flourish, she started. "I've introduced myself as Rise Kujikawa before, but while I'm on stage, feel free to call me Risette! I guess you can call me your MC for this evening...although really, I'm just opening for some really great performers from all around the universe."

"We Visitors are from all over. And when I say that I mean all over space and time and everything else. What we've all got in common, though, is that we're all here in Hinoto-Ri, and we all love this city."

"That's why we came together tonight to put on this show for everyone, sharing our talents and our passion and our joy with you, in exchange for the wonderful hospitality we've been shown. At the same time, this concert is to benefit people who've been caught up in and harmed by the chaos that's happened to this city before. We stand together, regardless of where we're from, as residents of this beautiful city, so in addition to sharing our music, we'll also be donating whatever you, the audience, can find it in your hearts to give us to the victims of the Anoli attack on the arena championships earlier this year, on behalf of the Visitor/Native Alliance."

She breathed out heavily, careful not to do it in her microphone, and switched back from her serious to her more cheerful stage mood. "There's a lot more information in your programs, which I really hope you'll all read. But for now, I've talked enough. You guys all came here to see music, so here it is. Introducing your first act..."

[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."

Nagisa Motomiya - comment's now in the right place oops

[seasidecherry]

Backstage, Nagisa had been more than nervous. She'd been almost panicked, trying to make sure that things in the theater were okay, making sure the backing music she needed was there - suddenly changing songs once the theatre had appeared had been a risky decision, but it felt right. As she watched Rise from the wings, she murmured the familiar warm-up circle words to herself: "Always thankful, calm, kind, and just. Don't stop smiling, and be happy!"

And then there was her cue.

Nagisa smiled brightly as she stepped onto the stage, her little orange Kirara appearing and glowing beside her as she switched on her microphone.

"Thank you so much! My name is Nagisa Motomiya. I only came here a little while ago, but this place - this theater. It's a piece of my home world, and while I'm still an idol in training, it's such an honor to be able to stand here in front of you all, on this special stage, in this special place. It says a lot about the spirit of the people here that you would all come together like this, in a theater from one world, to help the natives of this place.

This song is called Shonichi, and it's about moving on when you feel like a trial is too much. It's a special one to me, and it seems only right to sing it at the first performance on this stage in Hinoto-Ri."

Chieri. Yuuka. Orine. Everyone...you're with me, too. I'm going to shine for all of you!

With that thought in mind, she moved into a modified version of the first position of the dance, the opening notes sounded, and she felt the opening words of her song come out with a new kind of confidence. That carried through the song, and her little sparkling friend seemed to illuminate her even more brightly than usual.

At the bridge, she hit a spot on the stage, and - there! The platforms had been finicky during dress rehearsals, but she was able to use one just fine during the actual show, floating out over the audience with a bright smile before coming back to the stage at the end of the song.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! Please enjoy the rest of the show, everyone!" With that, Nagisa took her bow, waving, then making way for the next performer.

[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.

Dress Rehearsal - onstage, let's play with floating platforms!

[seasidecherry]

"I can't believe this is actually happening!" Nagisa was in a rush, making sure that there was electricity where needed. One thing that needed to be checked was on the stage itself. One of the quirks of it was that it had floating platforms that a performer could use. Fly above the audience, float if you needed to, that kind of thing. Nagisa had trained on them, so she was perfectly fine, but now, her job was twofold: first, to make sure that the floating platforms were actually working, and second, to make sure that anyone who might need or want to use a floating platform would get a crash course in how to do it.

...she hoped the term "crash course" wouldn't be literal.

[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..."

[greaterdays]

Nanako can't do any of the heavy lifting required of the stagehands, but she can be the cutest program distributor around. Plus, showing people that some Visitors are just innocent kids can't hurt their cause at all.

[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."

Electronics testing

[second_destiny]

Asem was darting back and forth, making sure everything was in working order. He was the reason why there was the occasional flashing light, buzzing speaker, and a voice saying "Testing, testing" audible on the microphone.

[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.

[second_destiny]

Asem had a unique vantage point -- he was just offstage, standing by the control panel, making sure everything worked properly. Thanks to him, the lights changed on cue, and the speakers and microphone worked great.

That didn't mean he couldn't watch the performance, though. And when Rise finished her song, he applauded along with the rest of the audience.

[ghost_shield]

"Great! I knew I could count on you. I'll let you know when something comes up, then! Let's work together to make sure things go smoothly!" He definitely looks happy.

[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."