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

[schardynfreude]

[POUT] But think of the drama!

[crosscutting]

I'm not aiming to look like the villain here, Chiron!

[phantasmagorial]

Mm, he's right though. We've been working too hard together for anyone to just turn around and stab the rest of us in the back.

It's a little strange that she could be so certain we would, though.

[schardynfreude]

Despite the unified front we tried to show her, the number of, shall we say, conflicting personalities might have led her to believe she could break us apart. She's had a very different experience, remember. She was part of a group, yes, but one in which she was looking out for herself alone, and she's been alone ever since.

As Mona might point out.

Now, there might be something else going on, of course, hm...

[phantasmagorial]

Something else?

[ She perks up with visible interest. ]

Do you have an idea?

[schardynfreude]

Not offhand, but I don't need to tell you ladies to be on your guard. If one plan backfires, she's sure to have something else up her sleeve, and so long as the people still love her, we can't touch her.

[phantasmagorial]

No matter how you put it, we're really the underdogs here. No wonder she's been able to keep such a tight hold on things for all this time.

[ It sure as hell can't be on talent! ]

At the very least, we've got time to prepare now.

[schardynfreude]

[Mm. Hm. He looks in troubled thought for a long moment, then kneels down. Puts a hand on Rei's should. Puts another on Autumn's don't think i've forgotten about you young lady]

I have every faith that we will succeed. We are all in this together. I worry that we will face worse and more difficult the lower we descend, and that this is but the first trial of many.

Please. Be careful. I do not know what I would do if something happened to any [more] of you.

[phantasmagorial]

You don't think we'll have to put on a performance next time, do you?

[ Haha! Jokes! ]

... we'll be careful, though. Now we know what she's willing to try, I don't think we'll be taking any more risks than we absolutely have to.

[schardynfreude]

I wish that you could speak so confidently for everyone. [This isn't a dig at Autumn for once, probably, because Just Look At Kingslayer.]

[phantasmagorial]

[ SHE IS LOOKING AWAY... ]

How about this? I promise none of us who are on stage will take any more risks than we absolutely have to.