Scenario:Auld Lanxiety - Chapter 5: Fandom Furor - Episode 1

Auld Lanxiety - Chapter 5: Fandom Furor - Episode 1

The frustrated Joya distills a host of Kleshas into their most potent form and pours them into the charismatic Aoidos. With his music as a vehicle, negative emotions spread throughout the skies.

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Joya: Gong...
Gooong...

The Kleshas which rained down on the skies have vanished.

Joya: Gong...
Gooong...

Try though the Joya might to flood the world with negative emotions, somehow balance persists.

The bell's designs to lure skydwellers down the path of self-destruction remain unrealized.

Joya: Gong...
Gooong...

The Joya ruminates. How to foil these fools who stand in its way?

What it needs is a patsy. Someone with the ability to spread the negativity the Joya has stored far and wide to the four corners of the skies.

Joya: Gong...
Gooong...

Joya: Gooong...
Gooooong!

Joya: Gooong...
Goooong...

Passion that borders on madness. The roar of a crowd whose screams of appreciation could as easily be taken for agony or rage.

The source of this maelstrom of adulation stands at its center.

The musician's fingers fly furiously over his instrument.

Aoidos: ...

Fangirl: Aoidoooos!

Fanboy: Haven! Haven! Haven!

Aoidos's music swirls around his audience, seizing them in its current, whipping them into his orbit.

Joya: Gong...
Gooong...

As the Joya observes, it begins to condense the Kleshas it has gathered from all over the skies.

It distills them into the purest, most potent negativity imaginable...

And pours it down on Aoidos.

Aoidos: Ahhhh!

Sound is the perfect medium to spread the Joya's message. And what better mouthpiece could there be than this charismatic musician who holds so many souls in his sway?

Aoidos's voice rises over the heads of the crowd. It swells until the air vibrates, until the very ground trembles beneath their feet.

Woman: Hm... He's usually home by now... Where could he be?

Woman: What... What's that sound?

Woman: !

Woman: He's cheating on me, isn't he, gong!

Woman: If he thinks he can play me, he's got another thing gonging! I'll wring his scrawny neck!

Apprentice: Is this right?

Senior Apprentice: Hey, watch it! You gotta hold it like this, see? I'm always tellin' ya—

Senior Apprentice: Hey. Do you hear music?

Senior Apprentice: ...!

Apprentice: !

Senior Apprentice: Are you listening to me, you little screwup? How many times are you gonna waste my time like this, gong!

Apprentice: If I'm a screwup, it's because you're a lousy teacher!

Senior Apprentice: Say that again an' I'll gong you into next week!

Apprentice: Gimme your best shot! I've been wanting to smack the smug off you since we met!

Joya: Gong...
Gooong...

Aoidos's song draws all who hear it into chaos. As it rumbles through the skies, the storm of Kleshas leaves mayhem in its wake.