[A voiceover of a monotonous sounding human man speaking in a rush can be heard: Attention, Starmourn sector. In case you have a short attention span and can't pay attention for an entire ad: Scatterfest is at Sync at the end of Giga, going into Tera 951 A.E." (// Thursday March 5th at 6pm CST/ midnight GMT/8am Fri AWST) The Space Rogues, K0NF3KTI0N, Orrin Omnifarious, /\ddixi()n and W'hoorn of Scrapston are playing. Be there and you will get free daka. You may now return to your regularly scheduled murder and mayhem. The rest of you, please stay tuned for the rest of the ad.]
[A vid begins. It shows a series of asteroids floating in space. Stars and black and grey. It is peaceful.]
[Very quietly the sound of thrash punk music can be heard, and it slowly increases in volume. The viewpoint begins to zoom in on one of the asteroids and you begin to make out the shape of Haven City. The music gets louder and you continue to zoom towards the city on the asteroid until you can make out buildings, then people.]
[You almost fly into the face of a Bushraki guy, who swats at you with a mechanized hand, then a young human girl who is so caught up in her mindsim she barely notices, then a tall Jin with long black hair who squints at you with all three eyes and a look of suspicious disdain. Then you're zooming down a tunnel and you see the entrance to Gravity.]
[Your view moves through the entrance and past a long, repurposed bulkhead that appears to be a bar. The music is LOUD.]
[A curvaceous human woman with a shock of shoulder-length red hair and flawless brown skin stands on a stage, illuminated by a spotlight. She's wearing tight, ripped black hardweave pants, big well-worn combat boots with buckles and a synleather halter top which accentuates her figure. She looks directly at you and gives a wry smile, showing her white teeth. Her dark eyes twinkle. She leans forward a little and grips a silver microphone in her fist. She shouts:]
"HEY, TREPLING! ARE YOU READY...?!!?!"
[She lifts a hand to her ear as though she's listening for your reply. She laughs a little.]
"...TO HAVE YOUR FLAKKING FACE ROCKED OFF?!?"
[She paces along the front of the stage, looking around as though addressing a bigger audience.
[Someone shouts "WE LOVE YOU GENNY!" from the audience, and Genny blows a kiss and carries on her shouted announcement.]
"TO DRINK COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF ALCOHOL IN AN ILL FATED ATTEMPT TO FORGET YOUR TROUBLES?!?... TO PROBABLY GET IN A BAR FIGHT WITH A PHIS'TOR... OR TWO?"
[She fixes someone out of view behind you with a stare, raising an eyebrow, and puts two fingers up in front of her eyes then points them both at whoever it is, then nods sternly.]
"TO SUBMIT TO PEER PRESSURE AND SNORT GLITTER OFF OF GRAVITY'S PERPETUALLY STICKY BARTOP?!"
[She raises a fist to shout.]
"TO PARTY LIKE IT'S 950 A.E?! ....OR WHATEVER YEAR IT IS, I DUNNO."
[She casually kicks a fist-sized rockhopper off the edge of the stage into the crowd.]
"WHAT'S THAT, YOU SAY, YOU'RE NOT READY?! WELL, TOO BAD! BECAUSE SCATTERFEST IS COMING FOR YOU!! ... OMNIFARIOUS PRODUCTIONS AND PHIS'TOR ARE BRINGING TO GRAVITY THE HOTTEST... THE WEIRDEST... THE MOST FAMOUS ACTS... IN ALL OF STARMOURN SECTOR! YEAH!!!!"
[Genny whips a blaster from her belt and fires it at an already-blasted-to-flakk ceiling, whooping in the rubble that falls down. The audience cheers and whistles.]
"Okay, I'm gonna let Orrin do this next part... I got daka to do."
[She drops the mic and strides offstage. Orrin, a tall W'hoorn with large, slightly tatty golden wings and a bemused, mischievous grin walks onto the stage wearing an old-looking Talking Tukkav t-shirt, grey duracloth pants and yellow sneakers. His face is covered with fluttering leaf tattoos, which seem to currently be a dark red. He claps a few times, watching Genny leave.]
"Yeah!! Thanks Genny! Okay... SO... The important daka..."
[Orrin fiddles with a datapad and at the back of the stage a huge hologram of a spacescape pops up with 5 asteroids.]
"The event is gonna start at Sync at the end of Giga, going into Tera 951 A.E." (// Thursday March 5th at 6pm CST/ midnight GMT/8am Fri AWST)
[The date pops up in jagged red writing, across the top of the backdrop hologram.]
"The lineup is as follows:" [As he announces the artists, their logo pops up across one of the asteroids on the hologram.]
K0NF3KTI0N! ("The three is silent, you know?")
Scatterhome's own: /\ddixi()n
W'hoorn of Scrapston
And of course me, Orrin Omnifarious!"
[Orrin bounces up and down excitedly.]
"I am also REEEALLY EXCITED to announce a super special and very rare appearance of one of the most popular bands in the sector!" [There's a squeal from the audience that sounds remarkably like Keiko.]
"SPACE ROGUES!!!"
[The band's logo appears in a poof on the largest asteroid at the top and for a few seconds your mindsim cuts to a moody black and white vid of a band playing in the ruins of an old space station. The music is recognisably one of Space Rogues' most famous hit 'Marks and Mayhem'. There is an option to watch the whole music vid.]
[If you select to watch the whole vid: The video begins with the slow and pretty intro to the song, with its haunting vocals. The visuals are extreme close-ups of a mature Krona man's face - especially his eyes - as he wanders along a dark and ruined hallway filled with capitalist-religious imagery trying to find the source of the music. He reaches the edge of a quad mezzanine and finds it as the song suddenly kicks in. The extreme close-ups of his facial micro-expressions become interspersed with chaotic and intense shots from the middle of the action: in amongst a band who are at the heart of a quickly collapsing building. A Jin, a Selassian, another Krona play instruments while the vocals seem to come from an undeterminable patch of dark undulating static that causes glitchy interference whenever the camera gets too close. The building seems to be being demolished by the power of their music. The Krona watches intently as he walks slowly around the ruined upstairs balcony, the carnage below perpetrated by his band-mates who play together at the centre of the building, explosions and blasts destroying more of their surroundings with every heavy beat. When the Krona man reaches the centre he joins in and, as though completing a puzzle, the image immediately goes white as the band and building disappear in a blast of white light. We are left to decide whether it is transcendental or detrimental.]
[The screen goes back to Orrin, on the stage at Gravity, who claps merrily at the vid and the announcement.]
"We're SO excited to have them here at Gravity!!
[The audience cheers wildly, then calms down.]
We have secured some amazing sponsorship deals with: JoyCo, the Ironbound Dynasty, Tajhan Echanini, F l i g h t., Ren, SH Internal Treasury, the d'Erebus Family and Stareater Industries, we will have PRIZES and GIFTS!"
[Orrin gestures as if to get the audience to join him in saying 'OooOOoohh'... they mainly heckle him. He laughs and waves them away.]
"So... PRIZES - Everyone who arrives before the end of the opening act, and stays until the end of the show will be entered into a prize draw."
"We have some AMAZING Prizes including:
A MAKEOVER with exclusive fashion house: Tajhan Echanini (prize includes: a personal style consultation, a bespoke outfit,jewelry and the option to be featured in their future promotional material.)
A ROOM MAKEOVER from F l i g h t. Space. (Includes all furniture, room overview, consultation and installation for one ship room.)
Atomic Matter Articulators!
Mildly Interesting Things!
Frost-cold Genevaults!
Autofeeders!
Bobbleheads!
Pets!
Cash!
... SO MUCH DAKA I HAVEN'T QUITE FIGURED OUT HOW TO DISTRIBUTE IT YET! ... But I will.
"Aaand GIFTS FOR AUDIENCE MEMBERS! I'm working with Genny to get some special EXCLUSIVE goodie bags made up for you all - made possible by our amazing sponsors! (Orrin puts his right forepaw to his cheek and stage-whispers,) Check out their shops and services y'all!"
"I think that's all..." (He scratches the patchy mane on his chin.)
"Oh... ARTISTS! Remember not to schedule a concert at least 20 hours before you need to book a slot at Gravity (remember you gotta be AT Gravity when you book) or you won't be able to play the fest (and if you don't, I can't pay you!) And if any other artists wanna play now the date's confirmed, let me know - I can probably squeeze one more in!"
"That's all from me! Any questions lemme know. I HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL THERE!"
[Orrin tips his imaginary hat at the audience and wanders off to the bar, smoking a leesa joint. He gestures and some holographic text pops up at the front of the stage:
Scatterfest is brought to you by Omnifarious Productions and Phi'stor.
It would not be possible without the generosity of:
JoyCo
The Ironbound Dynasty
Tajhan Echanini
F l i g h t.
Ren
SH Internal Treasury
The d'Erebus Family
Stareater Industries
And...
YOU!
Thanks Everybody!
See you at sync on Tera 951!