Coming soon to Invidia TV...

[cancrymods]

Thanks to the Idol-ON girls doing their darnedest to overtake Esme in popularity and the Dad Squad doing their best to just flat out cancel her, things have been going well for the Executors. There's been no overnight explosion of popularity but thanks to Autumn and Clocks' guidance on this whole celebrity social media thing, things are ticking along quite nicely.

Which is why it's so out of the blue when, one day, the Idol-ON Caw just kind of... explodes. Notifications pour in from people saying they "heard the news" and they're so excited and they can't wait to see how it all goes and blah blah blah. Which is a little confusing because none of you have announced anything. But there's some talk of a announcement on TV... so what could it be?

Things unfortunately become clear once you tune into any of the screens in Invidia. Sure enough, it's not long before a flashy advertisement pops up declaring the start of a little show called Invidia Idol-Off! which will be a light hearted competition between everyone's beloved Esme (introduced with a string of lovingly filmed shots of Esme basically just sitting around and looking pretty) and the cute newcomers Idol-ON (who are introduced with a few supercut shots from a few of their videos, introducing each off the girls in turn). The winner will get to take her place at the top of Invidia and the losers... Well, they'll get to stay on the bottom. That's how a competition works after all.

The advertisement continues hyping this up for a bit before ending on a decisive "More information coming soon!" and the usual stream of Esme content continuing like normal.

This is all well and good but... well, I don't need to tell you that no one signed up to or agreed to this. So just what could be going on?

Comments

executor chat

[crypddyd]

I missed the plan to do a direct contest...

[ And once it's explained that no Lion, this was not planned ]

We must assume this is a trap- but there are a few of us who were not there during the poisoning- including some that were not even Executors at the time. People she would not notice are missing. I suggest we plan a counter-ambush.

@beast

[twibeast]

[ ... ]

You were training people before, correct?

[crypddyd]

I was holding training sessions, yes. Though it was less as a teacher and more as an organizer.

[ he DID give some polearm tips here and there tho ]

[twibeast]

I see.

I avoided them at the time because I am not much of a fighter and my weapon is rather unorthodox.

[ And also he's... sloth. Not that he knows that explicitly but point is there's an issue here with avoiding things. ]

But I'm starting to feel like that may have been a mistake and I should have partook.

[crypddyd]

I see. While I personally find the martial arts enjoyable, I expect not everyone will. We would be quite useless if all of us were just weapon swinging brutes.

A few weapon swinging brutes should be more than enough.

[ Lion stop trying to tell jokes ]

Of course if you wish to learn I don't mind teaching- or depending on your weapon helping to find someone sutible. But please don't feel like you must be a front line fighter.

[twibeast]

I would appreciate it, even if it's just a little bit of guidance.

[ There's a long pause and it seems like he might be done but suddenly, as if he was debating sending it at all: ]

I don't want to fail to protect the girls this time.

[crypddyd]

[ fail to protect... even with his limited memories, it's enough to make Lion ache with empathy ]

I understand. If there is anything I can do to assist, please, rely on me.

[twibeast]

Thank you. I am in your debt.

regarding my weapon: it seems capable of long range attacks, along with the songs it plays. Yet it is not a bow, which is why I find at myself at a loss with it at times.

@Phoenix

[discutio]

So long as she has sway over Invidia's populace, we surely can not beat her in an outright contest.

She clearly prefers underhanded methods, so I say we meet her on her own field and sabotage this competition in our favor however possible.

[crypddyd]

Ah, perhaps cheat on the voting or bribe or replace the judges? Depending on how it is decided.

[discutio]

I was thinking more to the tune of breaking her power at its base. Set her up to fail, or better yet make her lash out and show her true face to those who idolize her.

Serves the purpose of winning at her own game, and more importantly it makes her possible to defeat.

[crypddyd]

Sabatoge her performace perhaps?

[discutio]

That was indeed my first thought. Perhaps sneak backstage and switch around a few wires, manipulate the sound or lighting, something like that. Something to frustrate her and throw her off, that either her performance suffers or she snaps.

This is, of course, all not yet taking into consideration whatever she might have planned for us in turn.

[crypddyd]

Having her fumble on stage would mean she can not hide it... even if she lost the contest directly if it was done 'off-screen' it may not matter as much as we would like.

I see. Yes, that would be better. If she did plan for this though all the more reason to have countermeasures. If she has secondary equipment we destroy it. If she has doubles we capture or distract them. We know her goals and we have the numbers- so we can defeat her, I'm sure of it.

[discutio]

I don't want to sink to her level by any means; no collateral damage that can't be repaired and no injuries so long as we can help it. This definitely requires a touch of more subtle defamation to show those who adore her the truth of their idol.

@outclassy

[heir_to_ruin]

Where the hell would we even do something like that. It's not like we can just go wherever we want.

[Lion this is his chance to Be Seen with that bitch so he can talk shit about her being a horrible lay. Don't take this from him, bro.]

[crypddyd]

Ideally it would be someone with stealth skills. I... would not be good for such a task. You may have better luck since you seem more comfortable with people- but we have other options as well.

[heir_to_ruin]

The guards might remember me, though, I'm not sure how good I'd be at getting us in anywhere...

Unless we disguised ourselves as staff?

[crypddyd]

Do you think that would work?

[heir_to_ruin]

Don't see why not. Especially if this is going down on that rooftop stage area. Just dress down like mall staff, tell 'em we're doing stage prep, handling lighting or sound checks or something?

[crypddyd]

Perhaps even access the food and-

['use a simple poison' he was thinking- an ironic counter to what she did to her former rivals. Nothing nearly so painful and dangerous of course, maybe something that would make her ill on stage. Medic could certainly do it.

But such an idea seems so foreign to him, he certainly didn't think of it himself. Who... who has he heard of doing that before? He almost drops his phone, fingers flying before giving up utterly]

claud-dsalk;fvm

[Sorry Ruin, he'd DC'd]

[heir_to_ruin]

Oh that's a good idea. Make her sick mid-performance.

[Uuuh what the hell is that supposed to mean?]

You okay man?

@kingslayer

[pioailurophobia]

...

I'm not exactly the best at espionage or whatever, but I'm pretty sure Esme doesn't know about me.

If I can find a way to mingle with the crowd, I might be able to stop any sabotage (or assassination) attempts.

Not a lot else I can do.

[crypddyd]

[ he's not sure he should even respond- they are still mad at each other, aren't they? But if Kingslayer is willing to speak to him even just over text, he will do the same ]

If she loses and decides to attack it would put you in a prime position as well.

[pioailurophobia]

My bet is that she's going to start with more indirect sabotage once the band starts getting the advantage. Not much I can do about that, unfortunately. It's only if they get through all of her stupid tricks that she'll try to go for something more in-your-face nasty.

And I'll be there to protect them when that happens.