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

[twibeast]

...Not that any of it was a full song though...

[phantasmagorial]

[ Oh. Oh of course -- given her reaction to the... messy way she ended up disposing of Kotori, it's an obvious sore spot for them to needle. It has a good chance of throwing Esme off her game. But... ]

Would... it really be okay for us to use her music like that? It's something she worked so hard on, after all. It wouldn't be like us taking it away from her, would it?

[twibeast]

[ He puts the sheet music back in the bag. ]

If you see it that way then perhaps, but tell me: do you see me playing Orpheus' music as "taking it away from her"?

[ He readjusts his grip on her so he's holding her up with both arms again. ]

Orpheus... actually taught me harp in the first place because she was scared... scared of her music dying with her. Since she knew I would outlive her she wanted me to continue playing it.

So I personally think... it would more than likely make Lady Kotori very happy if she knew her music managed to carry on in some way. Especially if it would help us at all in taking down the one who tried to destroy her and her work.

[phantasmagorial]

Ah, of course not...! [ It's almost hilarious how immediate the look of guilt on her face is, but now's probably not the time for yucks. ] It's just... after she did such horrible things to Kotori, she deserves to have her songs remembered. And I wouldn't want to steal that...

[ But when he frames it like that, it makes her feel... well, like Not a thief, at least. Even if they couldn't save Kotori, at least this way they could ensure that her songs wouldn't be forgotten permanently. ]

But if we do it this way... do you think we can make sure no one will forget her?

[twibeast]

[ At that he frowns. ]

I would like to hope so but unfortunately I can’t say for sure. So much of it seems to be gone now... there were other things I found but again these are all just pieces. Whatever we do with them will still ultimately be a new song.

But it’s the most we’ve got to work with so far and we’re running out of time. I feel if there’s even the slightest chance of it jogging their memories of her more then it’s worth doing.

[phantasmagorial]

[ Rei thinks on that, for a moment longer... and then she nods firmly, her lips pulled tight into a determined line. ]

I think it's worth trying, at the very least. We've all been working hard and I think this could be the thing we really need to give us an edge.

If Esme won't play fair, then neither should we.

[twibeast]

[ And now he's grinning again. ]

That's the spirit.

There'll still be some work you and the others will have to do though - lyrics were much harder to find. I can help with them, but I do feel that's something you should work on yourself.

At least once the melody is taken care of though, they should come a lot easier.

[phantasmagorial]

Yes, of course. We can't leave all the hard work to you.

[ She regards him quietly for a moment, and then she gives him a little smile. ]

... thank you, Beast. I don't think we'd have much chance at this withour your help.