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Post by mugenginga on Sept 1, 2009 22:02:09 GMT -5
The crowd in the theater was respectable. For the time the Vocaloid had been on the island, it was actually pretty fair. Thing was, over half of the crowd were fans of some sort. Be they the dedicated groupie type that would have followed the girl to the edge of reality and back or the type still getting over the fact that she was a real person, it didn't really matter. But there were a few new faces littered among the old ones, and it was clear it wasn't just due to being an early afternoon matinee, either.
However, despite being real, the Vocaloid Hatsune Miku was still a computer program. Still subject to viruses and the like. Especially if said virus was sentient and having an "awful, no good, horrible, very bad day". After dealing with self-proclaimed geniuses, a clone, a teenager who seemed to think fists were the solution to everything, and still the whole issue of the island... he was out to cause trouble.
And what better place than a concert being put on by a computer program designed for singing? Really, it was more a matter of it being the first easily disruptable situation he came across as he was travelling through the island's network. But as Miku went into the line, "Sekai de watashi dake no ouji-sama," her audio output began to crackle and a rather high pitched sound well known to people who have had any experience whatsoever with microphones screeched through the theater....
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Sept 1, 2009 22:11:38 GMT -5
It had finally been time for Hatsune Miku's big reappearance concert. She had been taking what could be described as a break for a while, but it was good to see her loyal fans were still here. And so, she's started off with one of her most popular songs, "World is Mine," and intended to end with "Ievan Pollka", just for nostalgia's sake. Complete with leeks, too.
"Demo ne sukoshi kurai shikatte kure ta tte ii no yo? sekai de watashi dake no ouji sama..." And then there was feedback. Lots of it. Miku ended up having to turn off her headset because of the large amount of feedback she was getting. This had never happened before. With a wave of her hand, the microphone she'd been using disappeared.
"I'm sorry, everyone! This has never happened before!" Miku said, though it was hard to hear her over the lingering traces of feedback. As it was, something felt very wrong about this whole thing, and she shiverred, or rather, twitched like a bad TV monitor.
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Post by mugenginga on Sept 1, 2009 22:18:32 GMT -5
For those paying attention to Miku herself, the only oddity was the feedback. Oh lord the feedback. As in this author pities those with sensitive ears. She knows she writhes on the floor over this kind of noise for even half a second, let alone the now full minute it had occured. If said author was in the audience she would probably be trying to figure out how to reach the door by now.
Anyhow, for those paying attention to the multi-screen display Miku and not being blinded by the awful noise, there was something a little odder than feedback occuring. In that a flash of white passed the monitor, although too quickly to make much of anything out. What looked like an abnormally long ponytail was the last thing that could have been seen before the screens began hissing and sparking... and seconds after that the only thing displayed was a black screen with neon green binary. Well, more like monoary. As the only digit was a zero...
At least with the appearance of the zeroes the high pitched feedback had stopped. And it had yet to effect Miku herself, just the equipment...
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Post by Jilak on Sept 1, 2009 22:51:04 GMT -5
This was a rather interesting experience for one of the members of the crowd. A young boy, sporting a very familiar cowlick. It was the first time he'd been to a concert, let alone a 'Vocaloid' one. The term had been one the boy had no prior knowledge of, but he assumed it was going to be awesome. He wasn't prepared for the ear rape.
But we'll get to that later. No, first, his reaction prior must be delved into. His small fists were curled, shaking in rhythm with the rest of his body as he took various jumps. Bounces, you could call them. The point was, he was extremely giddy. A large smile could be seen behind his disproportionate retainer.
"Oh goody goody gumdrops!" An odd thing for even HIM to say, but it was obvious that his joy had reached it's bursting point. He was physically unable to be more happy.
But... again, he wasn't ready for the ear rape. His eyes watered over, his pale skin became even paler, his arms fell down to either side of his turquoise sweater. He sunk to his knees, forgetting to worry about dirtying his eggshell pants. And then came the screaming and putting his hands over his ears. Rather retroactive, really.
"WHY MUST YOU TORMENT MEEEEEE?!" Jimmy Botanist exclaimed, going into a fetal position. The yelling probably hurt his ears more than the high pitched blast of sound, which shall hereby be referred to as 'DEAR GOD OW', did. But he didn't have time to think about that. Had he thought about NOT panicking... well, that wouldn't have left time to panic, would it?
He wasn't even paying enough attention to notice the flash of white. Nor to worry about the fact that he'd probably STILL BE SCREAMING by the time the feedback ended...
...IF it ever did.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Sept 2, 2009 6:18:15 GMT -5
Once the feedback stopped, Miku looked back at the multi-screen display behind her, and then back at the crowd, or at least, anyone who stayed through the feedback. She looked a bit awkward, because, as it was, that never had happened before.
Since the feedback had stopped, she turned her headset back on and spoke into it. "Guys, let's just go into 'Love is War,'" she said to the tech guys on the other end. With a wave of her hand, the microphone reappeared. Miku waited for the music to start up again, and once it got to the correct point...
"Mou ikiba ga nai wa, kono koi wo netsuyou...
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Miku had just practically screamed into the microphone.
Which meant that she had just gone from some silly song about love into a screamo song (or not).
It certainly was an angry song that did not fit with how World is Mine had gone.
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Post by mugenginga on Sept 2, 2009 7:19:17 GMT -5
For whatever reason, Miku had apparently chosen to ignore the "code" on the screen behind her. Which had been quite the mistake. The poor NPC tech guys were waving their arms around, trying to mouth various apologies to Miku amidst their own panic. Further off stage, where Miku couldn't see, there was quite a visible spark. And then the sound of explosion.
This time said tech guys had enough sense to disconnect the sound completely before the feedback could occur. So the only one who got it was Miku and anyone directly connected to the feed. And that's what people get for trying to illegally splice into concerts. Aside from that though, it was pretty clear the whole situation had pretty much fallen apart.
And with her connections to data and her own past, even Miku may have been figuring things out at this point. Really, the only explanation was sabotage, and the way the screen behind her was wavering... well, a virus was the best (and most certainly correct) assumption. Said virus was not used to systems that gave form to data the way the Vocaloid ones did, either, so the screen behind Miku's distortion had formed something vaguely humanoid... although its exact form was still unclear. Seemed masculine, although it was rather in the "pretty boy" sense of the word Miku's friend Gakupo had than any truly "masculine" sense. Actually, the still unclear form had at least one overly long ponytail, as well....
The tech crew were trying to get their own messages through to Miku about the system doing everything but cooperating, but static was making most of the words unclear. At this point she'd be getting mainly staticy versions of "nani!?", "Hatsune-san" and "daijoubu!?"
(OOC: Nani and daijoubu are "casual" ways of saying what and are you okay/alright. Hatsune-san is simply a polite way of referring to her.
And I'm serious about drawing the comparisons here when you consider all you're getting is a distorted humanoid figure. Heck, combine the pieces of Gakupo's hair that hang in front of his ears with his ponytail, Zero's three ponytails, and the fact that they are both bishounen.... well, also, that you've only got a fuzzy silhouette to work from... the comparison really had to be made.
Its not cause I'm a bit of a Gakupo fangirl. No. Not at all. XDD)
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Post by Jilak on Sept 2, 2009 8:47:59 GMT -5
...in retrospect, this was probably the first and LAST concert the boy would ever visit. If this happened EVERY TIME... he didn't think his poor heart could take it! It was merely bad luck, really, that he'd chosen to get into music at this particular time. An omen of sorts.
None of that is really important, as much as his reaction to screamo. The boy had had a rather... bad experience with the music. It's... really the reason he'd never listened to/enjoyed music before. Because the first song he'd ever heard, other than lullabies his mother sung to him as an infant, just happened to be Screamo. So, needless information aside, he freaked. Again.
Well, not at first, mind you. No, 'Love is War' sounded like it was going to be a rather interesting song, actually. Until, y'know, Miku screamed.
In fact, it had come so seemingly out of nowhere, the change from the aforementioned silly song about love to the aforementioned screaming, that young Jimmy didn't have time to give one of his cries of pain and/or shock. No, instead, he had been too shocked to actual form the words.
...it was then that he chose to actually, y'know, open his eyes. And actually look at the screen behind Miku. Were Jimmy to know of Slender Man, he'd have noted how the display seemed eerily similar to a display on one of totheark's vids...
...fourth wall breaks aside, he was rather sure there was supposed to be a one in there somewhere. The spark followed by the explosion sound didn't help. At all.
"What in Sam Hill is going on here?" Jimmy mumbled to himself. Really, he didn't think his ears could take MORE abuse. Especially not self-induced.
And, y'know, the fuzzy, distorted, vaguely humanoid distortion wasn't helping much EITHER. In fact, it was a WONDER the boy hadn't yet wet his pants.
HOWEVER. Similar to the author, young Jimmy had never listened to a Vocaloid song. For all he knew, this could've been part of the act. Didn't help to ease his tension, but the possibility was there.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Sept 2, 2009 16:09:57 GMT -5
Miku pulled off her headphones. Between the feedback and the constant talking from the tech crew, she was getting a headache. Not only that, but the concert was definitely ruined. Which meant they were going to have to refund tickets. Lots of them.
To put things simply, Miku's manager was going to be pissed.
To put it in more detail, Miku's manager would be unable to say anything but angry grunts and do anything but twitch for the next fourty-eight hours.
And that wasn't counting how said manager was going to react when they found out about the new equipment that they needed to replace.
"Um... I'm sorry guys, but we're going to have to end this concert early... we'll refund your tickets and everything, though!" Miku said, though it was hard to hear her over the roar of the crowd. "Be sure to make it to my next concert at Bonsai Village in a week, though!"
Once people started to clear out, she turned to face the glitched up screen, and stared at the vaguely human figure. He looked familliar. Very familiar.
"Gakupo?" Miku asked the screen.
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Post by mugenginga on Sept 2, 2009 17:25:21 GMT -5
The fuzzy figure turned, jerking with surprise. A "tsk" noise was heard before several of the screens burst outwards, and the display of zeroes vanished along with any chance the screens would have of showing images without heavy repairs being done.
That wasn't the oddest occurance though. Well, in that small time frame. The oddest occurance was the girl-ish scream from the back where all the equipment was located. If anyone had the bravery to go back there as members of the tech team frantically ran out, they'd see an annoyed looking white haired bishounen in a white suit. Brushing off the jacket of said suit and muttering to himself.
One tech person was on the floor, looking up wide eyed at the man. He looked down at the person and scowled, "Bad day to suddenly forget how to run away," he said. He had a hand lifted when he realized he was being stared at. He paused and began turning towards whoever was staring.
Well, it wasn't Kamui, in any case. Voice was all wrong, for one. But it was a program... of some sort... didn't seem of the friendly attitude the Vocaloids were known for... and it was quite possible any other programs in the vicinity were having a fit roughly comparable to the onset of a cold just by being near him.
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Post by Jilak on Sept 2, 2009 17:59:45 GMT -5
So, to recap on all of the mistakes he'd made that day. First had been the choice to be semi-short. Not his choice, but it's listed here because it led to his 'downfall'. Second would be his decision to wear his shoes with the abnormally long shoelaces. Which were, in total, about an inch or so taller than the boy himself. No problem, considering how they were laced, HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR BAD DECISION NUMBER 3.
The decision to be a kid named Jimmy Botanist in a Vocaloid concert. Any concert in general, really, would've been a bad idea. But, to get to the point: He thrashed. A lot. Unlacing his shoes to the point that he was trapped in the laces. To the point that he couldn't inch out the door... or probably could have had he not been in full on panic mode.
Okay, so. Another explosion(or what Jimmy interpreted as one), a girlish scream, tech guys running, and some guy in a white suit. Well, at least, now he could be SURE it wasn't meant to be part of the act...
...which wasn't reassuring in the least. Luckily for him, however, he was terrified beyond his wits. To the point that he was lucky to still be able to BREATHE, let alone SPEAK.
Unless, of course, hyperventilating counts as breathing/speaking. Because he was doing QUITE A LOT of that. But hey, at least he wasn't a machine, right?
...and now his poor PDA would never live again.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Sept 2, 2009 18:20:45 GMT -5
It wasn't just the tech room screens that burst. The big screen behind Miku also shattered and littered glass all over the stage, and would have hit Miku if she hadn't run off the stage at that moment. Something felt very, very wrong. And suddenly, the events of the last video she'd done before coming to the island rang through her mind. It had been the "Disappearance of Hatsune Miku -DEAD END-" video.
And suddenly, she felt afraid. Hoping the tech crew's computers were still online, she ran back up and grabbed her headset, before putting it back on, as she ran for the tech area.
"What's going on?! Was that an explosion?" Miku asked into the headset. No response. All she was getting was static. Not good, not good...
Miku ran into the tech room, and suddenly felt like running back out. There was some guy in there who was DEFINITELY not on the tech crew, and was definitely not Gakupo.
And he was looking right at her.
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Post by mugenginga on Sept 2, 2009 18:29:25 GMT -5
I have had it up to here with sentient computer programs, Zero thought as the man he had been threatening scurried away. He scowled and took a few steps towards the teal haired Vocaloid.
"I'm not having a good day. I'm having a very bad day. So if you would kindly get out of my way I won't have to hurt you," he narrowed his eyes, "And if you're really a computer program, trust me, it won't be a pleasant experience."
Zero was literally growling. He held out a hand to show her what he meant. Digital distortions danced across his palm, and to a computer program the ability of said distoritions to damage and outright delete files would be painfully obvious. As for if she could pick up on their potential to delete non-data, as in "real" humans... well, it wouldn't be out of the question...
To reference the song she was thinking of... this was the kind of delete that wouldn't merely toss you in the trashcan. It held the potential, depite seeming "damaged", to burn a hole in a hard drive and completely destroy an entire operating system...
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Post by Jilak on Sept 2, 2009 18:38:55 GMT -5
"Alright, Jimmy, get your wits about you. This could be VERY bad, or very go-oh, who am I kidding, SARAAAAH!" The boy thought to himself, taking a pause. There was no response, no gust of wind, no NOTHING this time to reassure him.
He was, at this point, truly alone. And the beads of sweat falling down his face SHOWED it. At the very least, he found that he still had mobility. Now, any smart, not panicking person would have chosen to bounce out the door and pretend the entire night never happened. HOWEVER. He chose to bounce in the general direction of the tech room. WHY the tech room?
...to be honest, he was hoping it had awesome lasers or something. No such luck, unfortunately. And apparently, surrounding objects were not on his side. He couldn't have been sure whether he tripped over a bucket or a wire... which really explains how dazed he was when his face slammed into the floor, but NOT THE POINT. The point was, the bucket on his head(which, apparently, very well could have been a cable), just made his panic increase.
He was still SEMI okay, however the large 'thunk' his slam had made wasn't... too comforting. But hey, he had the power of expendable NPCs to save him! Maybe.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Sept 2, 2009 18:54:09 GMT -5
Miku was frozen in fear. Oh yeah. This guy was definitely a bad news. Bad news in the superbug kinda way. Not so much in the "Oh-hey-I'm-Conficker-and-I-haven't-done-crap" kinda way, more of the "Oh-hey-I'm-a-virus-you-get-from-watching-too-much-porn-and-I'm-gonna-royally-fuck-up-your-computer" kinda way.
Or, even better, "Oh-hey-I'm-the-virus-Chip-made-for-kicks-to-make-Mandark-go-twitchy-and-ended-up-destroying-the-island's-mainframe-in-the-process" kinda virus.
Only worse.
Someone tripping and landing behind Miku got her attention, and shook her out of her fear induced stupor.
"Ah! Get out of here, little boy! Run!" Miku said. She was panicking, and trying to help Jimmy to his feet. One tech guy looked at Miku, and then up at Zero, and jumped the virus.
To say that was probably a bad idea for the poor NPC would be the understatement of the year.
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Post by mugenginga on Sept 2, 2009 19:00:12 GMT -5
Understatement of the millenia more like. Zero whirled towards the "attacker", his ponytails doing that flutter thing only bishounen seem capable of and he held out his hand. It looked almost as if he were going to catch the technician.... at least until said technician burst into data before completely blinking out. The only thing that remained was his head piece. Nothing else. The head piece hit the ground and snapped in two. He turned towards Miku, his face contorted in a way that fell nothing short of rabid.
"Get. Out. Of. My. Way." he snarled. He wasn't sure he could pull another attack like that on a human. But a program? Oh sure. He could at least royally mess with it. And looking at the area, guess what the first thing he'd mess with would be? Oh yeah, Miku'd be hoarse for a minimum of a week if she didn't get the hell out of the way.
Zero was currently in such a rage mode that his human form was having trouble maintaining stability. The negative data seemed to be drifting off him in chunks and every step he took completely wiped the systems a few feet to either side of him. The last time he had been this pissed had been during the fight against the Legends and the PokeChosen. The entire island was damn lucky Zero was still weak compared to his original strength...
Damn lucky cause otherwise he would have probably been wiping systems for a radius of miles in any direction. As it were, the weaker systems for several miles were glitching... at least they'd recover... Miku's nose was probably bleeding from the proximity of the pissed virus....
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