[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Baneful »

Image
The Fractured Pizzaplex

Image

"How good do you think you are at singing?" Will, dressed in an incredibly loud purple suit, looks the newcomers over. "Tonight is the Pizzaplex karaoke competition. The prizes are to die for. Will you be joining us?"

The West Arcade is the biggest arcade area of the Pizzaplex, with hundreds of retro-styled arcade machines. Along the side of the arcade machine area are rows of top-of-the-line karaoke rooms. These rooms allow many individuals to sing at once while allowing spectators to switch between them at whim.

The arcade sells intense energy drinks, multicoloured alcoholic and non-alcoholic slushes and all sorts of other drinks.

The area outside the soundproofed karaoke booths is loud, presided over by DJ Cracked Games, who blasts her music a little louder than is comfortable at times.

Mechanics

Roll a 1d100 to see how well you do with your song. 1 is the most terrible thing imaginable, 100 is the greatest song in the world.

Even if you are naturally a good singer, the fussy and glitchy karaoke machine can throw you a strange song without warning. Even the best performers can only do so much when they are served baby shark.
word count: 204
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Illusei »

Misted Lake rolls a 37.
Misted Lake | Vivian Lake

Everything about it was loud, maybe too loud. Vivian Lake had just arrived and already she felt her head throbbing. Was it a headache or just the music? She was not so sure.

Vivian was dressed down for the Pizzaplex, trading her pressed power suits for a simple white tee and jeans. Her hair, usually in a tight ponytail, flows naturally down her tall, lithe figure.

She had decided to come back to a childhood favorite after a long week of work, but it seemed a lot less wondrous than it had then when she was 8 years old. Instead, it now felt like a reminder of how little she had then.

But since she was here, she might as well try this karaoke competition. She had been told before that she can sing, and she needed to let off some steam.

She stepped into a karaoke booth. The machine looked just as it had two decades ago. Even before she could select a song, the machine started to whir and its screen changed from black to the title page of a song Misted Lake had only vaguely ever heard. Perhaps something someone had queued up and left.

"Hold on, I don't know the lyrics." Misted Lake protested. But already the first few notes were playing and words were on her screen. The beats of the EDM song filled her booth.

She grabbed the microphone and started to sing. She definitely did not know these words and the tempo of the song was fast. She soon also realized it was a duet.

As it turns out, the song was quite repetitive and she started to feel more confident as she went on. And anyway, she's certainly not winning, so she might as well have fun. Well, however much fun this can be.

And then it was over. She stepped out of the booth with relief. She has no idea how many people were listening, and she was happy to keep it that way. Time for an alcoholic slush.
Last edited by Illusei on Tue Jun 04, 2024 1:16 pm, edited 7 times in total. word count: 349
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Lutz »

Time Tells Tales wrinkled her nose slightly at the noise and the lights as she listened to the arcade owner give his pitch for the karaoke contest. She wasn't generally the type to sing in public but perhaps from the 'safety' of her own private booth she'd open up a little. She did enjoy singing, but just to herself.

The karaoke room was thankfully very soundproof and she sighed a bit in relief, her eardrums ringing slightly from the pounding music outside. Maybe she'd sing a few songs just to stay out of the noise beyond the door. This definitely wasn't the place she'd normally find herself but something had drawn her here tonight so she'd followed the whim despite the assault on her senses.

Time Tells Tales picked up the microphone and turned to the screen to tap through the song selection. She liked a fairly wide variety of music but her gentle voice didn't really lend itself well to some of the more intense and high energy options. There were some ballads that looked like they might be the right choice and she selected one that she felt fairly familiar with: she didn't know all the words but definitely knew the tune and the lyrics would be up on the screen so she should be fine.

Once the song began she took a step back and cleared her throat. The intro went by way too fast and she started a bit shaky, her voice too soft to be heard over the music. After a few moments she grew a little more comfortable and forgot that those outside could watch her. Her voice grew in confidence and strength and her sweet voice was...actually pretty good! She wasn't going to start a career as a singer but she could carry the tune well and her voice was pleasing to the ear.

By the end of her song she was smiling just a bit. Was she enjoying herself? In this quiet room by herself, yes. She'd have to sing another to stay in the peace and quiet for a bit longer before going out to face the noise once more.
Dice rolls
[65] = 65
1d100:  [
65
] = 65
word count: 370
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Baneful »



In this world, Deceiver had taken on the name Lawrence, and like many others, he worked at the Pizzaplex. Lawrence specialised in guest relations, wining and dining exclusive business visitors and dealing with VIP customers. His job was frankly rather cushy, and it meant that he was able to attend event nights like tonight without anyone minding at all.

He considered himself a good singer, but the song the karaoke foisted upon him was not one that aligned with his typical fare.

Watching him struggle through a fast-paced rap in front of a crowd was almost worth the entire price of admission.
Dice rolls
[29] = 29
1d100:  [
29
] = 29
word count: 103
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Lutz »

As the song wound down, Time Tells Tales smiled slightly. That had gone better than she'd expected and it emboldened her to try again. This time, however, when she selected another ballad, the song list glitched under her finger and a quick-paced rock song was selected instead. She froze for a moment before trying to exit out of the screen but it seemed the song was locked in.

She kind of felt like she knew the song so she did try, but apparently she'd heard a cover on the song. Once. By a country band. And her rendition was not great. Flushed with embarrassment but unwilling to give up, she continued as best she could. By the end of the song she felt like she had a grip on the chorus, but it had definitely been a decline in quality from her previous performance. Ugh...
Dice rolls
[30] = 30
1d100:  [
30
] = 30
word count: 148
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Illusei »

Misted Lake | Vivian Lake

Two drinks in and against her better judgement, Vivian decided to attempt the karaoke machine again. Surely, she could do better.

She stepped into the soundproof booth again. This time, she tried to be quicker than the machine, browsing through the songs for something she knew. Finding one she liked, she pressed the song. The machine came to life and...gave her a different song. The machines here really are old.

She knew this song even less than the one before. She sighed. Here she goes again. This song was a more interesting one, but she hardly knew the words. In fact, she was so unsure she decided just to improvise altogether. Might as well give the people a show, even if it won't be a good one.

Once she got to the chorus, she realized she did know the song and could sing parts of the chorus. Her singing became more energetic and confident, her natural vocals kicking in a little as she finds the tune. But then it ends and she found herself just as lost on the second verse. The bridge was even worse, sounding distinctly like a different song altogether. Now the chorus again. This she could do. She managed to end on a high note - literally - but felt herself not much improved. She blamed it on the machine though. Mildly peeved, she decided to get even more slushes. This is becoming a vicious cycle. She might as well have gone to a bar.

.
Dice rolls
[31] = 31
1d100:  [
31
] = 31
Last edited by Illusei on Mon Jun 03, 2024 11:02 pm, edited 2 times in total. word count: 253
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Baneful »



D O M I N A N T

Lysander Astoria had known that investing in Tedbear Entertainment was the right decision. It wasn’t that he was a shrewd investor or even that he really cared about investing in general. However, this money sink had come with lifetime access to the VIP suite at the Swamp Pizzaplex. Lysander loved the place; he’d been to hundreds of elegant, tedious little restaurants with pretentious chefs and tiny portions. At the Pizzaplex, he was able to eat as many chicken nuggets and greasy pizza slices as he wanted, and things were always entertaining.

Tonight, he’d arrived at the Pizzaplex for karaoke night because one of his favourite things to do was to heckle bad singers. He could essentially do whatever he wanted here so long as the money kept flowing. With Lysander’s family’s almost limitlessly deep pockets, he was more than happy to keep the wheels turning in his favour. Besides, they got back almost as much as they put in, the Pizzaplex was almost criminally profitable, and Tedbear had its fingers in all sorts of pies.

Dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, Lysander sprawled in a puddle on one of the couches in the karaoke rooms, his eyes trained on the screens as the participants stepped up to try their luck with the temperamental machines.

He picked up the microphone, which allowed him to speak across the booths. For a moment, his smug and smiling face appeared on the screens.

“The quality is quite horrible tonight. Do you think you could all put a little more effort into it?”
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Baneful »



F E E D

There was a lot of alcohol around on these event nights, and it got on Fred’s nerves. It was a relief his augmentations couldn’t really handle the stuff any longer, or the temptation might still have been too great to resist. Instead, he was technically working, attending to keep Lysander from getting killed by anyone or anything while attending the little event he was at.

The perk of being hired muscle for one of the richest families in the world was the augmentations. Fred had a state-of-the-art exo suit with a mask that kept him anonymous while he worked but also enhanced his vision and information on targets. If Pizzaplex had information on someone, he could see it, so anyone coming in from outside unauthorized stuck out like a sore thumb.

Lysander was being a prick to the people who were singing, and he rolled his eyes inside his mask. The guy was incapable of being pleasant, and because of his money, people simply wouldn’t make him.

“I don’t think they were all that bad, mate.” He said, taking a puff of his cigarette (because a man could still have vices)

“Think you could do better?”

Lysander shot him a look. “I only sing songs I like.” He said.

“Like them pony ones, right?” Fred said.

Lysander nodded.
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Illusei »

Misted Lake | Vivian Lake
This is enough Pizzaplex for me, Vivian thought as she finished yet another song she barely knew.

As a child, while her mother worked nights here as a server, the Pizzaplex had been her playground. At school, she sometimes went without lunch (her family was on a European diet and ate later in the day, she'd tell her friends). Here, she could eat as much as she wanted and do as she like, free of the carefully crafted lies she told to conceal the reality of her life. At the time, stray tokens found in dark corners were treasures to her. Now she could afford all the tokens she wanted, the music was too loud, and this karaoke machine is clearly broken.

Fine, the pizza was still good. Greasy, cheesy goodness she doesn't usually allow herself to have. Vivian gets to eat at the nicest of restaurants in town for her client meetings as a political consultant, but she hasn't had pizza in a long time.

She was just about to leave the booth when she heard a voice. "The quality is quite horrible tonight. Do you think you could all put a little more effort into it?"

She turned around to see the face of the voice on her screen. Even in her annoyance, she notices he's handsome and rich, just the type she liked to date for a few months. She walked out of the booth and immediately spotted the man, sticking out like a sore thumb among the others.

She reads people for a living and she guessed that he was an investor, by his expensive suit, his demeanor, and his comfort level in the space. Someone so wealthy would not frequent such an establishment often otherwise, at least not in a suit, and she remembers from her childhood the VIP suite (though she never went inside).

She really should walk away, go home, and sleep it all off so that she was ready for tomorrow's meeting with a client about a potential run for senator. And usually she would. She's no stranger to confrontation but she knows to walk away when it doesn't benefit her.

But perhaps it was all the cheap alcohol she had or that the Pizzaplex itself loosened her usual restraint - because instead she walked over, put on a polite smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, and said, "I would say it's your machines that are rather low-quality. Do you think you could put a little more effort into that?"
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Baneful »

Lysander inclined a brow at Vivian, he was sprawled in a chair, with long hair that seemed to flow around him, the kind of hair that would no doubt take constant maintainence and a highly sedentary lifestyle to maintain. He gave her a long, slow look, his dark eyes difficult to read, band then smiled.

"Oh the Pizzaplex is full of strange machines." he said. "They certainly aren't mine though. I might invest, but it's more out of a curiosity to see what will happen next, to see what will unfold around us. I'm the sort of wealthy where it doesn't matter what happens, I'll still be wealthy."

He gave her a slightly twisted smirk. "Its fun seeing what kind of weird people this place draws in."

He was not at all shy about letting her see him look her over.

"What kind of person are you?"
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Illusei »

Oh, so he was the kind of wealthy that Vivian found most annoying and most useful. Who knows? This man might even be a future client. The very wealthy do love to run, even with no experience at all. If it was weird people he liked to see, he should try politics. Although he didn't seem the type to make the effort.

She could see his eyes roam about her. She didn't mind. Vivian was very confident in how she looked; she knew herself to be conventionally attractive and she took very good care of herself. It pays - quite literally - to look good. People are shallow creatures after all, and she was in the business of people. She had put on her most casual outfit to blend in, but her nails stayed manicured and her figure slim and toned. She could see he took good care of himself as well, although she was more discreet.

Vivian generally looked at people in terms of what they could offer her. Even when her clients annoy her (and oh, they do), she was well-practiced at staying even-tempered because there was something to be gained in the relationship. She was good at being useful to those who will one day be useful to her. She was surprised this man got such a rise out of her and as she became more aware, she realized this was the first interaction in a while where she didn't have a plan or desired outcome. She came to the Pizzaplex to blow off some steam and since the karaoke machines only left her vaguely more frustrated, perhaps she can let herself let loose just a little.

"That would be too easy to tell you. And I think I already know what kind of person you are," Vivian said, the same insincere smile still on her lips. "But tell me this, isn't it very boring living the way you do?" A question she always wanted to ask when she meets someone like himself, but never do.

If he thought he could read her (she who never lets anyone know her), he's a cocky one indeed. He certainly can try.

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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Baneful »

Lysander smiled at her estimation of him.

"I'd be interested to know what you think about me." He propped up his chin on one hand.

"My life can be boring sometimes, certainly. When you have this much free time, you find yourself developing deviances just to keep yourself busy. It passes the time. I like to be entertained, and my boredom these days is like a bottomless tar pit."

Smirking he added. "Besides singing horribly, what consumes your time? It seems like you like to play games, like you think you know what you are dealing with. You think you've met men like me."

"But I think you proooobably haven't."
Illusei wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 1:27 am
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Illusei »

He was confident, she will give him that. And it was true that when she looked at him, she saw not only the man sprawled in front of him, but the unbridled wealth and privilege he had. She was not one to spout justice and equity; she had made the choice years ago to enter the world he lives in so easily for her own benefit. If you can't beat them, see how you can benefit from them, as they say. But that didn't mean she liked most of the wealthy she's met. Only a few she genuinely respected.

"Oh really, who am I dealing with? Now I'm curious to know. Tell me something that would surprise me."

She took a seat at the edge of a nearby couch. She might as well get comfortable since she was deciding to stay. She leaned forward, matching his stance.

"Let's just say that I help men like you find some purpose and I have been privy to many a man's...deviances, as you call it. As far as they go, heckling at a karaoke night at the Pizzaplex seems a little unambitious."
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Last edited by Illusei on Mon Jun 10, 2024 2:08 am, edited 2 times in total. word count: 198
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[ORP Shattered Pizzaplex] Karaoke Night

Post by Scaramouche Fandango »

Oblivious to everything going on around her, SC- she'd worn this name before once, maybe, once upon a time- took her time finding her way to a karaoke booth. She was having an incredible time looking at everything and taking in the ambience. The bright neons, the blacklight- all of it was sheer eye candy. But the animatronics- those were the best part. The whirring robotics and pumping servos, the candy-colored shells that shone in the neon glimmer. The character, the stylized designs- and that smell, that ozone and engine oil smell they put out! Well. Some of them. Others, maybe you didn't want to smell so closely, but the ones she was looking at seemed... fine. Safe. Not... not weird in any way, shape, or form.

But her favorite thing about them, though, was the way they blinked. There was something so fascinating about the way they moved, somehow both fluid and stilted at the same time, and she found herself appreciating them more and more. Reptiles moved that way when they were warming up- but nothing blinked like a robot. The way the hard plastic eyelids curved down over synthetic eyeballs was just endlessly fascinating. The little motors had to be so fine and so carefully calibrated to create something that straddled the line between an imitation of an organic process and something completely different. Nobody would ever confuse one of these animatronics for being alive, but that was kind of the point, wasn't it? The way they moved and functioned was so inhuman, and yet so familiar.

SC was at home in the uncanny valley, basically. While it might freak others out, it would be hard for her to actually be disturbed by a robot. At least when they had their casings on. Endoskeletons were... well, a little more scary, sometimes, but that was mostly because when you saw that machinery it was easier to think about getting your hand caught in it.

As she walked through the Pizzaplex, a slice of pepperoni oozing cheese in her hand, she thoughtfully looked at each of the animatronics. So much work, so much character, so much life in each one! She loved the amount of care that went into the Pizzaplex. It was an incredibly strange thing on paper- but in person, it was a ton of fun.

And so would karaoke be, too, probably. She'd never done it before. She wasn't actually all that much of a singer; her vocal range was pretty limited and her voice cracked like mad when she tried to hit high notes. But she was nothing if not a good sport! She flipped through the song list, a flicker of bafflement poking at the edges of her thoughts. How did she know the names of these songs? Had she ever actually heard them before, or was it a memory given to her by the space she was in? The song list seemed endless, and there were quite a few that she'd be pretty happy to perform. "Walk the Dinosaur," "Karma Chameleon," "Big Lizard In My Backyard," the list of potentials went on. Still, there was an obvious choice, and she took her sweet time looking for it.

Anyone who knew her well... or not well... or just met her five minutes ago and had made the mistake about asking her what kind of movies she liked might figure that somebody like SC only had one karaoke song. You know the one. It's the the one that started with drums like footsteps and a ponderous guitar riff that sounded like destruction. One might think that she would want to sing about a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound and spitting high tension wires getting pulled down. And you'd be right, because that, in this world, was her favorite song. She even knew the Japanese lyrics and what they meant. It was basically straight from the movie, after all, from the news broadcast across from the Ginza theater, the one where the... unfortunate thing happened to the news crew. And from the emergency broadcast that played as people fled. Make no mistake, no matter what universe, what realm you put her in, SC's main characteristics never, ever changed. She was fascinated by strange things and she loved giant lizards. (And small lizards. And snakes, tortoises, et cetera.) She was in every world a creature of habit.

But somehow, somehow the karaoke machine did not have "Godzilla." But that... well, that was actually ok, because there were other things she liked. Like robots. And while the Blue Oyster Cult selection was... weirdly low, did they also not have "Don't Fear The Reaper?" Weird! That was a classic!

Anyways, they had plenty of Styx, and that's what she was going to sing. The sparkly synth started the song, and then the electric drums kicked in, and she... completely mangled the Japanese introduction to "Mr. Roboto." She knew exactly Just absolutely could not get the words out, because she didn't know what they were and the screen put them in katakana. The first line, "Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto," was fine, but then the rest of it? Not a chance in hell anybody was going to understand that. Still, she soldiered on.

"I've got a secret I've been hiding under my skin!
My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain IBM!
So if you see me acting strangely, don't be surprised,
I'm just a man who needed someone, and somewhere to hide!"

Sure, she was a little off-tempo, but she was mostly on-key. It wasn't the worst cover of a Styx song anybody had ever heard, but it definitely wasn't the best. And at least the booths were soundproof so nobody heard her... right? Though it would have been nice if the animatronics had, since the song would probably definitely resonate with at least a few of them. Her song over, she popped back out of the booth to see some kind of altercation happening. Or maybe just a discussion. Or maybe flirting! She genuinely never knew with these things. People were confusing. Robots weren't. Maybe that's why she liked them. "I need control, we all need control," she hummed under her breath as she watched people coming in and out. That was a thing, it seemed, for the long-haired fella and the woman he was talking with. They wanted both wanted control over the situation. But who had it? Was it something they shared? These thoughts quickly left her head as an alligator-shaped animatronic walked by, giving her something else to fixate on.
Dice rolls
[34] = 34
1d100:  [
34
] = 34
word count: 1122
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