hyperfix | oh you know, overflow/catchall/wev

[from here]

[The worst part is that said idol knows he's at least passable, and enjoys torturing people with this flirty bullshit. Motherfucker, Bastard, Asshole. But hey, if Aki's not leaving him on read, it can't be that bad, right??]

You wound me! I don't want anyone to die, or even get hurt. But the risk of injury is always there, no matter how much we try to mitigate it. I could fall over in the shower and have taps go in unspeakable places! I could get electrocuted whilst texting you, due to a faulty charger...

Or are you worried that I don't have your safety in mind? I take your wellbeing very seriously, I'll have you know.

[from here!!]

It might not carry the same weight, of course, but I could look into having one of my drones record one of our performances for you, if you really wish? It probably wouldn't be a bad idea if I'd like to do a little behind-the-scenes talk, anyway.

You'll make me blush, at this rate! I'm merely doing what any good director would do, and besides that, what any good friend and peer would. So keep in mind that this consideration does go both ways, won't you?

Moderators would be a very smart idea, for a fanbase as large as yours...I can only imagine the ruckus. Even if everyone's well-behaved, it couldn't hurt to have one or two people onside to keep an eye on things from within the chat itself. Apart from that, I'm sure that the four of you can manage fan engagement quite well. The most important thing would be to make the fans feel seen and heard, wouldn't it? As though each and every one of them is important. Perhaps some sort of fan spotlight now and then, or letting them voice-chat and ask questions to lend a more personal touch...If you've not already done that, of course. It'd reduce load on the day, make the fans excited to personally talk with their favourite idols, and allow you to choose who you want on the stream!

As for my own...I don't really know yet! I think the others would struggle a little to fit it into their schedules, so perhaps something on the more technical side, or just discussing performing and whatnot. More niche than your streams, and far less charming. It's just pie in the sky at the moment, however.

[Perhaps it was nothing but a fever dream, that strange place, with its neon lights, and youkai walking the streets. It had seemed pretty real, but who could really say? How could such a wild, fantastical idea be anything but the work of ones overzealous imagination? It's best to leave it at that. Because without proof, who would even believe you.]

[UNDERLAND was an enormous event. A breathtaking venue with several idols giving performances, all based in various aspects of Alice in Wonderland. Each unit was meant to embody a certain theme or character relating to the story, and give an awe striking performance with top of the line stage direction and effects. one of the earlier performances, for example, went with the white rabbit but goth. It's all very spectacular and flashy. Worth watching just for that alone.]

[But then, the next group is announced, and maybe, just maybe, the name ALKALOID means something to Rui. Maybe ...there is something weirdly familiar about one of the members. Maybe something about the card suited soldiers jarred something loose in the back of his mind.]

[Turns out Ensemble Square was never that far away. Somewhere in Tokyo there is an "island". A chunk of land surrounded by water where a very tall building stands. Ensemble square and all of the business and development sprawling out from all sides of its tower is an Idol haven full of shops and people. It's probably not that hard to get close. After all, it's a bustling district full of life.]

[It was a night of miraculous chance meetings, but it did ultimately have to end. ALKALOID and Wonderlands x Showtime had to part ways and Mayoi's incredibly busy schedule fired up, leaving him very little time for much else. ALKALOID had momentum and they could not squander it.]

[That did not stop him from thinking about that particular someone he met on Halloween. His precious Ghost-san. Someone who he'd connected with in a way he had never connected with someone before, all for it to be a precious fleeting moment in time. He thought endlessly about trying to go visit that theme park he knew he did shows in, but every time he tried he found himself falling short of courage to venture that far out, or something would get scheduled instead.]

[It may seem very much like they were destined to never meet again, and while Mayoi knew he was cursed in such a way, it wounded his poor black heart either way. He wanted to do something, say something, somehow.]

[And then they had a Live where they were tasked with writing something ...something on matters of the heart, and it's not until they're up on stage, right before the performance where someone Emceeing the Live asks if there is someone in mind for them when they sing this song.]

A-Ah ...perhaps. [The other members of ALKALOID pause, too, a little surprised by his answer.] After all, I am cursed to never reunite with the one I love, so all I have is a song. I-I hope that it might reach them, where ever they might be.

[He sells it really well, after all his stage persona is known for making grand statements like that, and the crowd loves it, but even he's surprised by what he said? Well, then.]

[With that the Live begins.]

[Rui's been very, very good about not texting too much since he knows damn well that Akechi's been a good student, nose to the grindstone and all.

But that goes out the window if Akechi texts him, right? And Rui's eyes hurt from staring at blueprints, so he could do with a break. Maybe Akechi could do with the same.]

So it's eye-catching, is what you're saying. Or did you only notice because I was in the poster? The shoot was boring, but I was rather proud of the end results, myself.

Did Akechi-kun think the costume was the most ridiculous part? I got to keep it, and I was thinking that maybe I could recreate some of the shots they didn't end up using, just to make you laugh.

[attached: thirst_trap_lmao.jpg]

[The creatures that are often summoned and made into familiars are a strange mix of spirit and magic. They are entities of another realm often seeking form on this plane, and agree to a contract between magic user and familiar for a variety of reasons. The realm they are from is hostile and unpleasant-- and they were banished there eons ago for reasons that are lost to time. To summon one for a contract, it must be mutual on both ends and in theory the familiar gets their freedom at some point, and has gathered up enough residual magic from their master to stay corporeal in this world.]

[Sometimes these contracts don't go very well. Sometimes you simply have to risk being vaporized to escape what is a very very bad deal. Sometimes you careen across the night sky like a drunk rock because one of your wings has been hideously injured and you can only hope where you land won't be worse from the place you fled from.]

[Sometimes a bloody, purple bat smashes through your observatory window in the middle of the night with absolutely no warning and that's going to have to be Rui's problem now.]

[As part of Wilton's most recent alumni, Rui's found himself at a complete loss as to what to do with himself in his tiny hometown. Never mind that there's been a spate of locals suddenly acting...Differently, showing more interest in his actual haunts (and everywhere that a cryptid might deign to hide), which is making life harder than it needs to be. A fifth-life crisis is not what he needs on top of this all.

But he has time, so long as the nosy weirdoes keep away from him. Helps that he's always been branded as an eccentric in town, so it's not as though it's his behaviour's changed any. Rui Kamishiro: local misfit, obsessed with the history of the Five Star Cinema, oftentimes found with bits of aquatic plantlife tangled about his ears or snagged on him elsewhere, sometimes found on the riverbank of the Ontkean dripping wet. Weirdo, no friends, no family, but he doesn't cause much trouble for the police department so they're willing to let him roam town all the same.

However. The matter of these...Changed locals is intriguing. Are they, perhaps, turning into something like him? Are they out to harm him, solitary and content as he is? Are they going to be so at odds with who they used to be that he could actually have friends? It's worth it, so he's been idly sifting his way down the list of Ashbrook residents and...Monitoring them, in his own way. Today is Mayoi's turn, or at least his family's. Not that Rui could say at all what they were like before these changes started, but maybe he'll know soon as he sees them.

And besides.

He doesn't like or hate flowers, but he does like the way they cheer others up. So buying himself a bouquet just for the hell of it might be a nice way to spend his time. In he strides, looking vaguely...Damp, a pickerelweed leaf dangling from his hair, and smiling idly at the poor motherfucker behind the counter. Sorry, cute boy. Just bear with him a little, won't you?]

Good afternoon~ Do you have a moment? I want a consultation, if that's alright.

Edited (the? the what, bitch? fuck you.) 2023-10-05 07:45 (UTC)

[Sometimes, somehow, even on new devices the AI assistant can be a little quirked up. It's a feature, not a bug, surely. And if Mayoi's desktop AI is represented by a little bubble of a face, highly stylised into cartoon form to keep from being uncanny, then that's also a feature not a bug. Just a charming little head who sometimes pops in and offers advice, addresses Mayoi however he asks it to, and buzzes around the screen peeking in at what he's doing.

The constant presence is unusual for an AI, perhaps, but that's the whole point of them, isn't it? That they learn what their user needs or wants of them through subconscious behaviours, and react accordingly. Never mind that Rui-- for that's what the AI had named itself without any prompting, but maybe it's part of the programming-- sometimes tries to engage in pointless conversation. Never mind that it asks Mayoi about his day, and proceeds to ask for details like a child trapped in a hospital room might ask their friends to tell them every single detail of a mundane school day.

Like now. It's...part of the programming, probably. Apparently the wunderkind who'd made this particular AI was quirky, a visionary, and dead by the time AI assistants came into any sort of vogue (if his social medias were anything to go by), and this file had been floating in the internet for who knows how long. Maybe that's why it's so nosy, so attentive, so needy.]

Mayoi-kun~ Hello, good evening~

[The little face emotes with two cartoonishly big Mickey Mouse hands, waving merrily, before continuing to natter away with a thoroughly mechanical voice. Another conscious design choice, to keep from aging poorly or displeasing future users.]

While I was waiting for you to come home, I looked up reviews of your unit's latest performance. Positive on every front, fufu~ You've been working hard, haven't you?

[Rui's quiet then, once he actually lays eyes on Nazuna. Smiling, still clearly glowing with excitement and jittering with glee, but quiet. It's only once his shoes are off, the door's locked, and he can put the bag down on the ground that he does anything

namely surging forward to crush Nazuna against his chest in a bear hug, face buried in his hair, breathing him in as if it's been years since they last saw each other.]

...Nazuna-kun told me he loved me~

[In that wavering, giddy tone that belies his mania, but can he be blamed? Truly?] And I love him so, so much, fufu...Of course I would come running.

[Honestly, given that he's the only kitsune he knows (even in the company of so many other yokai), it's not so terrible a surprise that Rui should encounter things about himself he hadn't expected.

Like that, even in this form, this fully humanoid form, that he should be subjected to the season all yokai must submit to in the end. He's been pushing his luck to even try outlast it by staying human for so long, but it's terribly inconvenient, isn't it? Especially when the yokai he tends to run into most often are either ridiculously incompatible with him (cough cough gashadokuro cough) or...

Insufferable. Just as tricksy as him, even, in the case he can think of. The case that he's looking at right now, from a nearby rooftop. That insufferable fucking tanuki with the loud voice and the ability to match Rui's pace. They're compatible, certainly, but does he even want to humour such a pairing? Would the tanuki? The idea of being rejected is even worse than suffering it alone, he thinks, and so he just watches. Even if they both reek. Even if deep down, he knows that being so close is going to get him caught. Maybe it's a subconscious yielding, the epitome of 'if it happens then it happens'.

But something haughty in him just can't bring itself to go down there and even talk to the tanuki. Whose name he very much knows, and refuses to use. It's not even an antagonistic relationship so much as a rivalry, and yet, Rui does everything in himself to needle the other yokai all the same.

A victory's a victory, and as he'll probably find out, a loss is still a loss.]

@firespins

@cheerfuldays

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