socialcapital | [ JACKSON HEART ]

He thinks about it, tilting his head slightly.

"Hmmm. Maybe? I can't imagine wanting to stop."

[haha..]

Well if you're gonna keep goin' I can't stick around for all of it, but the stuff so far's been great.

"I'm gonna keep practising... but where are you headed?"

Don't really know--I'm lookin' for somebody who's missin' a party he was supposed ta be at. Or maybe just somethin' from him as an RSVP if he's not gonna show... There was a dressing room around here I thought I'd check.

"Well... if you're on some sort of quest, then..."

He rummages around in his pockets and pulls out a guitar pick.

"Take this! It's lucky."

Oh--I'll be borrowin' your luck for a bit then, thanks.

"No problem! Come back sometime and listen when I've got new songs!"

You receive Guitar pick! It seems significant!

Sounds fun!

[Will let him get back to his work, pocketing the guitar pick and wandering stageward]

The ambient excitement fades the further you get from the area, but doesn't disappear entirely.

The backstage area has several security guards, although strangely they seem less concerned with you wandering in as they seem to be concerned with keeping someone from wandering out.

Near the door to the dressing room is a man in a suit, talking on the phone. He bears vague family resemblance to Jackson, and is arguing with someone on the other end of the call -

"No, you don't have to worry about it. Whatever it was you sent over last time shut him up for hours. ... Well, no, obviously we made sure it was safe. ... No, listen, we have medics on staff, we're not about to make pâté out of a goose's still layin', y'know? Yeah, yeah..."

- he's distracted, so you COULD sneak past him if you wanted.

[...]

[sneakin]

He doesn't notice you heading in.

Inside, the room is pretty dark. It smells like alcohol, like perhaps someone who is absolutely hammered drunk is in here.

Conscious, but not aware enough to even look up at you enter, is Totality - age 20, the absolute height of his fame - basically facedown in front of the dressing room vanity mirror, both hands tangled into his own hair like he is having a mental breakdown, which... well...

[Very oof to have this version and the kid he just met in the same corner of the mindscape... Looking around just to check if there's a schedule around so he can at least tell if there's time pressure contributing to this crashout]

It looks like he's set to go onstage in like, a few hours. He should probably be doing vocal warmups and stuff and not drinking himself most of the way unconscious.

[looking around for a moment to see if there's a long cord or scarf or something he can borrow in a minute before he turns his attention back to Totality]

Hey... ya want outta here for a bit?

There's probably like, a throw blanket on a couch.

Totality takes a moment to register that you exist at all, looks up blearily (like REALLY blearily, like it takes his eyes a while to actually focus on you), takes another moment to register that you talked to him. Does NOT register what you said.

"Wh-?"

[Hmm, throw blanket might work]

Ya wanna stay here or do ya feel like gettin' some air?

He stares blankly for a second, then seems to decide 'okay this isn't working' and does... something. Loren's seen Jackson use this Blessing only once, and the visual indicator is easy to miss, but in this case the way he goes from incapable of focusing and barely able to talk to upright, focused and alert indicates that he activated it just now.

"Oh. I'm on soon, so I... I really shouldn't leave. Do you work here? Have I seen you before?"

[oh... he does recall something about this one having some kind of kickback though]

You've seen me. I don't work here though.

I was just thinkin' I'd give everybody out there a lil' shock 'n have 'em run around for a bit. Ya wouldn't miss your show.

He looks around briefly, then shrugs.

"In that case, I absolutely feel like getting some air."

This is gonna look really stupid for a sec, but I've got a kinda invisibility, so we're just gonna open the door 'n let them come ta their own conclusions.

[Will just yank a loose tassel on this throw blanket until a yarn comes out and tie it to the knob with a quick release knot. Cloud Cadet nonsense. Waves for him to come stand close by, out of the way where people would be rushing around if their main act disappeared.]

Totality watches him do this, then - more out of curiosity and an interest in novelty out of really thinking anything is going to happen - heads over to stand near him.

[It's not anything fancy. He's just gonna hide them in his field and then yank the door open hard enough to bang and alert the nearest guard, pulling the string free in the same movement and into his hand]

The closest person to them is the man in the suit, who stomps in, annoyed.

"Tali, the fuck are you doing in here this time-?"

[Looks at Totality and shrugs, plugging his ears]

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Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]

Re: [ PAVEMENT ] [this is where the substance abuse stuff kicks in]