kaisou | JUNE EVENT LOG

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JUNE EVENT LOG

June Event
Dominant Element: Light
Waning Element: Shadow

Full Moon: June 21st - June 23rd

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Summer is here! Gone are the dark nights of May, with the daylight hours stretching until pretty late. The weather is hot, but not unbearably so. This is the kind of weather that one would call "idyllic summer". Those who have lived in Kaisou awhile will know June is the summer month with the best weather, so it's best to enjoy it while you can. And if you are out after the sun has finally set, they will get to enjoy the Spirit Vein at it's most dazzling. The dominance of light element causes the vein to glow brilliantly with all sorts of colors on the visible spectrum, making it appear like an ever changing rainbow that lights up the night.

Kaisou Pride

♪- I Wanna Dance With Somebody

As is the case every June, Kaisou goes all out with its Pride celebrations. Almost every street corner flies rainbow flags, with fliers advertising street parties and meetups all month. As always, capitalism can't resist getting its claws into this- stores all over the city offer speciality drinks, apparel or treats, trying to entice people in with how progressive they are. How legitimate these efforts are or not are mixed, but if you ever really wanted to try a rainbow boba, now's your chance!

In the middle of June, Kaisou has a massive pride parade, snaking a vast pathway through various districts in the city. Vendors can be found dotted around the route, selling every kind of pride flag you can imagine, along with noisemakers and bubble wands. Rainbow cupcakes and drinks can also be found to keep you fed and hydrated while you enjoy the parade. You can even take part, if you so wish- sign-ups can be found throughout the start of the month- so if you want to strut your stuff in front of the whole city, you can!

The Kitsune are not about to let what is clearly a great business opportunity pass them by! This month, for the price of a secret, they're offering rainbow candy, promising it will help give some energy for extra partying. What they actually do is encourage you to divulge any secrets you have with little to no prompting. They're trying to get a little extra gossip, the sneaks! You might want to get these off the market before more dangerous tea is spilt than if you think your friend looks fat in hats. Find and destroy the rainbow candy to the best of your ability- and if you find someone afflicted by them, be a good smartian and get them out of sight until the candy wears off in a hour or two.

Fabulous Season

♪- Pride Anthem Dance Mix

Never, ever to be outdone or outshone by the city itself, The Vogue Theatre goes as all out as it possibly can. The place is often bedecked with pride flags, but it has gone into overdrive for June. The bar has had tables shifted to allow for more congregating and dancing, with every evening promising parties with bright lights and every pride song under the rainbow blaring through the speakers. The bar has a new mix of speciality pride-themed cocktails and mocktails- with a note on the bar stating that the total drinks sales for June would be divided among various queer support charities in the city- so you are doing GOOD by having a night out here this month. If you're brave enough, you can also try the Vogue's annual Drink the Progress Flag Challenge- an 11-drink-strong competition, if you win, you get to have your picture put up behind the bar. After what is only called "the Venti incident" by staff, anyone taking part in the competition needs to give an emergency contact number for someone who can drag your drunk ass home.

The theatre itself has exclusively queer-centric performances this month. This year's selection is A Strange Loop, La Cage Aux Folles, and Falsettos. During the day, you can also find classes in designing and sewing fabulous drag outfits- along with makeup tutorials and choreography lessons. Anyone is welcome to take part, either as an instructor or as a student, which will be needed because...

The last weekend of June hosts "Fabulous Season" - a drag competition! Drag queens and kings alike are encouraged to enter, with the promise of a $5,000 prize for winning. The dressing rooms in the theatre are decked out and ready for the contestants to use to prepare. Established drag kings and queens from the city are around to provide support and advice- though they are encouraged to help each other, too. While contestants are welcome to duck out of challenges they don't want to do, they will be awarded "Fabulous Points" for everything they take part in and score highly in. Challenges include such things as a lip-sync battle, best drag competition, snatch game (impersonating a celebrity of their choice) and a choreography battle. The winner of the show is the drag act who has garnered the highest number of Fabulous Points at the end of the competition. After the drag race is over, there will be one last big blow-out party to see Pride Month out. The Vogue will be closed for the first week of July, so the staff take a well-earned break so enjoy yourself while you can!

Pink Goes With Everything!

♪- Barbie Girl

ALERT: SPIRIT REALM ANOMALY DETECTED
Element Classification: Light
Danger Level: Low
Designation: Barbie Land
Zodiac has detected a Spirit Gate at Kaisou Beach. We have been reached out to by a resident of the gate for a request of assistance concerning a complex matter. Please visit the Zodiac offices for more information.

The Zodiac offices are bustling as always - they will not comment on what happened last month, if you ask. It turns out Jarry was honest when he told you all that Zodiac doesn't know what happened. Regardless, they have bigger fish to fry, currently. You'll find The Professor (Fuzzy) is still on sabbatical, so one of the interns has been trying to handle things and they're honestly on edge about it. They explain another envoy has come out of the latest Spirit Gate to enlist the help of the app users of Kaisou. Zodiac employees seem a little perturbed by this one, and when you head off to meet her, you can see why.

Waiting for you is a woman who looks like someone who's been Through It. She introduces herself as Weird Barbie- yes, she insists, exactly like the doll. She explains she comes from Barbie Land- Mattel's biggest secret. Her world is where all the Barbies and Kens live their perfect plastic lives, powered by the imagination of the children who own them. She, herself, was the Barbie of someone who "played too hard" with her- which explains her... everything and probably why she keeps doing the splits everywhere. She tells you that the "membrane" between the Real World and Barbie Land is getting thin again. Last time this happened things got "hinky". The Barbies and Kens affected by this need to be snapped out of their existential crises before it spreads to all of Barbie Land. Again.

Weird Barbie tells you to lessen the damage of "Real World Junk" leaking through, you need to blend into Barbie Land. This means you need to be assigned as either a "Barbie" or a "Ken" and live that role to the best of your abilities as you try and fix the existential dolls dotted around the Land. Weird Barbie will tell you the assignments will be regardless of gender or lack thereof- no one cares. All that matters is if you are a Barbie or a Ken.

Barbies: Are amazing, talented and beautiful. You can be ANYTHING you want to be! Literally any job ever. Astronaut? Doctor? President? The world is your oyster! Everyone LOVES you! You live in a Dreamhouse- which you understand is some kind of mansion. It's like the world revolves around you- because it does. You have a fabulous wardrobe at all times. Your feet are permanently on tip-toes, ready for your glamourous high-heels. Your hair is always perfect.
Kens: Basically exist only to simp for Barbies. You get weird, pointless, nonsensical jobs like "beach" or "sword" or "ice cream". These seem more like hobbies than actual jobs, but everyone in Barbie Land act as if "beach" is a legitimate career choice. People tend to forget about you after you've spoken, and if a Barbie is around? Forget about it. You do not live in a Dreamhouse. You live outside. Like a stray animal. You still have a great wardrobe though.

With your Barbie or Ken assigned role, you must now travel to Barbie Land. Unfortunately, once you step through the gate it is not as simple as just showing up in Barbie Land, oh no. You must traverse the needlessly complicated travel route to get there. First, you need to don your very plastic, very YELLOW rollerblades, then you ride a pink snowmobile, drive in a pink campervan, then ride a pink tandem bike, after than you must ride a pink rocketship, sail in a pink boat and finally drive a pink convertible which will FINALLY bring you to Barbie Land. If you want to go back to Kaisou at any point, you must do the same... just in reverse. Why? They don't know, that's just how it is. Real weapons are not allowed in Barbie Land- so any weapons you might have on you will turn into plastic variants. You will also find your powers no longer working.

Life In Plastic

♪- Pink

When you finally make it to Barbie Land, the first thing you're bound to notice is that everything is plastic. Everything. The second thing you'll notice is how pink everything is. Every shade of pink there is! While other colours certainly exist in Barbie Land, it's hard to deny that pink is the most dominant colour palette. The world is dominated by Barbies and Kens, all living their perfect, happy lives. There are a couple of Skippers- Barbie's tween sister and a few Midges - Barbie's pregnant friend. There is also Allan. There are no multiples of Allan. There is only Allan. If you ask him about it, he explains the other Allans escaped into the Real World to form *NSYNC. He's the only one aside from Weird Barbie who seems to be fully aware of what's actually happening. You will be referred to as either Barbie or Ken no matter how many times you remind the citizens of Barbie Land what your name actually is (often with an obnoxious "Hi Barbie!" or "Hi Ken!!"). Allan will remember your real name. Allan is a bro.

If you are blessed enough to be a Barbie, you will be ushered to your very own Dreamhouse. This is a two-storey home, with everything a Barbie could ever wish for. Like everything else in Barbie Land, the whole home is plastic. The walls are see-through, this is so you can see all the other Barbies in their own Dreamhouses and wave at them. And be waved at. Privacy does not exist in Barbie Land. Barbies own a luxurious bed- with a slide that goes right down from your bedroom to the pool. The pool has no water in it- you can stand on it- it's just a sticker decal. In fact, NO actual water seems to exist in Barbie Land at all. You stand under a waterless shower and while you can feel the perfect-temperature water, no water seems to exist at all. It's weird. Barbies will find a fabulous wardrobe waiting for them. You don't even have to physically get dressed! All you need to do is stand in front of it, give a little twirl, and magically the outfit will be on you! While your powers may be nerfed, both Barbies and Kens will find they can just float around- as if picked up by invisible hands and moved from one place to the next.

Regardless of if you are a Barbie or a Ken, you will still feel like flesh and blood, but you will find you no longer need basic things such as food, water or warmth to survive. Which is probably a good thing because there's none of that. The fridge in the Dreamhouse only has fake plastic food which you can mime eating- you can almost TASTE it like it's real though. You can pour yourself a glass of juice, and while no juice comes out and nothing is there to drink, you can swear you're drinking a fresh glass of OJ. The oven in the Dreamhouse is just a decal sticker- so no cooking of any kind can actually go on. Given there's no fire in Barbie Land, that's probably for the best.

Kens, of course, get none of the "luxury" of the Dreamhouse. Kens seem to congregate on the beach, in packs. They have no dwelling of any kind, they just hang around, waiting for Barbie to start her day and bless them with her presence. You can try and sleep in a Dreamhouse if you find a Barbie willing to put up with it- but the other Barbies in the area will find it really weird- that's not where Kens go!!! Despite this, Kens always have a perfect outfit on, though where the outfits come from is anyone's guess. The Kens sure don't know! They just magically appear on them.

Finally, the beach is the most popular place to be! Like everything else in Barbie Land, it's plastic. The sand is one single plastic sheet with ridges cut into it to mimic sand banks. The ocean, similarly, is one sheet of blue plastic, with the occasional raised faux-wave sitting in the middle. Weirdly, sometimes Mer-Babies and Kens will pop up out of... somewhere in that ocean to wave hi to you. Don't think about it too hard. Barbies and Kens alike spent time lounging on sunbeds or playing exciting games of volleyball. Sometimes, Kens get overexcited and threaten to "beach" each other off. It's not quite clear what that is- no one seems to want to ask.

Life's A Beach

♪- Barbie Dreams

And so you settle into your new Barbie/Ken life. If you're a Barbie, you wake up with your perfect hair, go to your perfect job and then spend time on the beach. Kens are just always on the beach. Waiting for their Barbies. Nights are often filled with Dreamhouse parties, with perfectly choreographed dance numbers. The temperature is always perfect, it never rains. Every day is absolutely perfect- and every single day is exactly the same. Forever. You can start to see where there might be a problem here.

You'll soon come across why you were brought here in the first place. Barbies and Kens have started to feel the influence of the Real World. They have started to feel existential dread, and you can often find them standing or sitting around Barbie Land, looking horrified and quietly asking you if you ever think about death. Barbies start to get flat feet, bad breath and worst of all- cellulite! Kens meanwhile start to get increasingly self-conscious about their dependency on Barbie and feel a need to sing their "favourite song" (Matchbox 20's "Push") while staring intently and uncomfortably at a Barbie. It's all pretty... unnerving. This seems to be a contagious problem- when an infected Ken or Barbie spends too much time with another, talking about how freaked they are by the weight of existence- it can spread to the unwitting companion. This is something you need to fix before every Ken and Barbie in Barbie Land is an anxious, depressed mess- this isn't the Real World, after all!

You head up to Weird Barbie's Dreamhouse atop the highest hill in Barbie Land. She lives there with all the discontinued Barbies and Kens- such as Barbie Video Girl (she has a video in her back, who WANTS that?), Earring Magic Ken (it's magic!) and Growing Up Skipper (don't press her arm!). They explain that the last time the membrane between Barbie Land and the Real World was so thin, the Kens tried to bring The Patrichary into Barbie Land and brainwashed a bunch of Barbies into doing their bidding. It was a miserable time and they don't want to deal with it again. Weird Barbie tells you that you need to help the infected Barbies and Kens work through their feelings. Then, they need to decide if they want to go back to their perfect plastic lives or if they want to keep living it rough as humans in the Real World- which means bringing them back to Kaisou with you. She warns anything you do regardless will have an effect on toys in the Real World, so try not to make too big a mess of things, huh? Kids still need Barbies and Kens to be able to enjoy their imagination without the horrors of existence pressing in on them.

What Was I Made For?

♪- I'm Just Ken

So now you have the tricky tasks of trying to help doll-people who have no real experience with reality learn to understand what it is and how to cope with all the feelings they're being bombarded with. It would be wise to team up with another app user to try and figure this out. There are countless options you can pick to help here- perhaps you will show a Barbie/Ken a movie on your phone, something to move them. Perhaps you'll give them a fun day of distractions from The Terrors. Maybe you can sit and tell them stories of your own life. Maybe one of you will try some armchair therapy. Whatever you feel best, go for it- it probably can't mess them up more than they already are. Probably. Maybe while you're at it, you can suggest better living conditions for the Kens, too! What's to stop them from having their own Dreamhouse? Maybe even... a beach house?!

Weird Barbie's words were true. Whatever you do to the Barbies and Kens does have an effect on the Real World too. Those in Kaisou (or those who go back to visit while the realm is active) will find toys mimicking their work in you stores all over the city. You told a Barbie about the time you went to Atlantis? Submarine Barbies are flying off the shelves! Suddenly, Ken's Beach House can be found on sale despite never having existed before. This means some of your... less pleasant memories and stories can appear too if you shared them with a Barbie or Ken. Who is Demon Fighter Barbie really for? No one knows, but they're on sale now!

It turns out the membrane making Kens and Barbie act more alive also works the other way. You might start to believe you really are Ken or Barbie. That this fake plastic life you have, with your fake plastic job (or non-job) is completely real. You start to forget your real name, your real past, your real life. You start to embrace this wonderful, plastic life where nothing is ever sad or complicated. Unlike the Barbies and Kens who might pick the Real World, you really can't stay behind in Barbie Land. It is up to your friends to reprogram you and remind you of who you really are. Luckily most of the tactics you can use on the Barbies and Kens to calm them down do wonders in bringing an infected app user back to reality.

And so you spend your month trying to fix a pile of various existential crises both from doll people and people-people. Eventually, you are able to get things to a decent equilibrium again. Some of the infected Barbies and Kens do decide that they want to continue existing as real people- even if it can be ugly and painful at times, because it has so much wonder too! Others decide that they'd rather sink back into their plastic wonderful lives and forget all about that Thinking About Death nonsense. Either way, the disaster has been averted and Barbie Land is saved!

Aftermath

With Barbie Land restored to normal you can sit and enjoy the plastic perfection for a little while longer- though do try not to be sucked too deep into the world, lest someone has to snap you out of it. You can also go into Kaisou proper to help the Barbies and Kens who chose humanity over the doll life adjust to their new existence. Like most city dwellers, they have no access to the app, but they do remember those they met in their old world- they still won't use your actual name. One of the Barbies even has multiple qualifications and even a Nobel Prize in physics! She takes on a job in Zodiac- covering The Professor (Fuzzy) while he is still on sabbatical. The Professor (Barbie) will be handling your Zodiac missions for the foreseeable- fun! She lives in the Zodiac building with her best friend, Ken.

OOC plotting post can be found here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fabulous Season

[Naturally, Zulius can be found all around the Vogue this month. It's his territory after all, and he has to make sure everything runs perfectly. Anything less is just not acceptable. He certainly isn't giving himself much time to rest on the busiest month for his business. He can be found trotting around the place- checking on actors backstage before the performances, or schmoosing around the bar. While the party is in full swing, there's a good chance he'll head your way. Most nights he's wearing some variation of a MLM patterned shirt, and more often than not he goes the extra mile to use body paint on his stripes to make them a literal rainbow pattern. His butterfly wings really make everything POP, too. He'll come skipping over to you with a grin.]

Haaaaaaaaaaay Sweetie! You having a good time? Spoilers, the only answer you can give is "yes" and if it's anything else, I'm gonna have to know how to fix that STAT.

[During the drag competition, Zulius doesn't take part - that would RATHER ruin the whole point of the competition if one of the best queens EVER (his opinion) was taking part in it, obvi. But he can be found backstage, helping queens and kings get their wigs, outfits and acts together and generally be a positive force for the entire endeavour. After all, if he's slamming down five thousand buckaroos, he wants this to be a DAMN GOOD show. Most of the time, Zulius will even show up in drag too, to set a good EXAMPLE.]

Okay, Babe, how are you doing? You got the hair to work right now? How about those dance moves? You need to run through anything?

Life's A Beach

[Zulius is incredibly busy with Fabulous Season- but like hell is he going to miss out on a chance to go to BARBIE Land. He had so many Barbies as a kid- he's got to live out his childhood joys here- he didn't have many of them, after all. Naturally, he's a Barbie- what else could he be? He delights in his little Dreamhouse- not even bothered by the lack of walls- it just means more people can see his FABULOUS self. He's also loving all the outfits that come from his magical wardrobe. Sure, walking on the tips of his hooves was tricky, but he learned to WORK it.

Naturally, he's adoring his role as Showgirl Barbie. It's a DREAM come TRUE, honestly- it's been a while since he performed on stage himself and he has a blast every night, shaking his little feathered touchie. He even takes some time to relax on the beach. Regardless of where you fund him during his stay in Barbie Land, he's clearly delighted. ]

Oh my GOOSE, six-year-old me would be so jelly of us right now. This is the best gate we've had for a while. What did you get?

What Was I Made For?

[Oh boy, existential crises were not something Zulius was planning on dealing with on his super fun Barbie adventure. He's pretty tired from all the work at the Vogue and then coming and having fun here, too. But there's a sad little Ken asking for his help and not understanding why he's living in Barbie's shadow and he has been there, so he does what he does best.

He gives a catty-ass pep talk. ]

Okay, so what you NEED to do is grab life with your gorgeous hands and say NO! Say I'M just as important as ANY Barbie! If I wanna wear pretty pink dresses and sashay on a cat walk, I can DO that! I shouldn't let anyone step on my dreams of being my own fabulous self. [He turns to look at you. For backup.] RIGHT?!

Wildcard: Want anything else? Yell at me! Will match style.

Edited 2024-06-04 21:31 (UTC)

[Noctis freezes in place, having just come back from dropping a Barbie’s pet cat off at their place. It’s weird—he doesn’t actually feel all that tired, or hungry, except he still would really, really like to simply sleep or fish all day. That would be great.

And now here he is being asked to back someone up on a pep talk. He looks at Ken, then shrugs.]

Yeah. [A pause.] Or, you know. If your dream is just to not support a Barbie all the time, you can just leave and figure the rest out afterward.

[Noct is being dragged into this madness if he wants to be or not. There is no escape. Zulius nods. ]

See? You can just BE Ken! That's all okay! You can figure out who Ken is first. No one needs their shit together right from the get-go!

[The Ken is looking... pretty confused. ]

But it's always ~and Ken?~ CAN I be JUST Ken? Is that such a thing?

Of COURSE it is. We're all just us. Ah, well, no I'm not just anything, I'm flunking amazing, but you can work on that!

[This is reminding him, a little bit, of Caleb’s Shadow and the issues that whole mess had brought out. Granted, that had been a lot more complicated than this, but he can hear the echoes just fine.]

I’m just Noct, really. [Well, not quite.] It doesn’t have to be and Ken. You’re enough on your own.

[Kenough. Heh.]

Who that is—you, Ken, as yourself—is really up to you to figure out. Nobody can tell you what you are, not even Barbie.

[ It's so like dealing with the shadows. Expect with more pink. ]

See? He knows what he's talking about! Noct speaks wise words and you should totes listen to them!

[ The Ken seems to be taking these words to heart, that he can, in fact, be kenough. ]

Not even Barbie?

[Zulius pats a hand on his shoulder. ]

Babe, not even Barbie.

[ The Ken looks, wide eyed, between them both.]

Wow! I've never done ANYTHING without Barbie before!

It’s not wisdom, really, it’s just—experience. [Zulius is so fabulous and pink, and in comparison Noctis is horribly awkward in a veterinarian’s coat with his usual black clothes underneath it. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, clearly not quite comfortable.]

Well. No time like the present to figure out what you like doing without Barbie around.

[Wait, do they count as Barbie? He looks to Zulius and leans in a little closer to whisper urgently:] We should probably go, if he’s supposed to figure out how to be Ken on his own.

Zulius | Centaurworld | OTA

what was i made for?

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vogue

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Life's a Beach!

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I should not have laughed as hard as I did,

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Fabulous

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