riverviewlogs | ♫ 2nd Solo ♫

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♫ 2nd Solo ♫

who: Mikumo and you!
what: Self-promotion is fun!
when: The entire month of August
where: Around the Quarantine
warnings: Nothing really, except for Mikumo being a troll

Ever since her announcement over the Quarantine's version of social media, Mikumo has been busy with her agent. In the past few weeks, she's been taking photos and meeting as many people as she can. There have been trips to venues, a baseball field, and certain stores to throw together a wardrobe worthy of Riverview's first idol.

In the week leading up to the River festival, posters for her appearances start popping up all over the place. (Samples are here: One, two, three, four, five, and six.) Dates and times are splashed across the posters, drawing attention to her best assets artistically. Of course, she is the one responsible for where they're all placed. She has final say on these sorts of things, agent or not.

After the festival, it's more performing in the clubs at night and plastering the town with her face.

When she's not out promoting herself, she's in her apartment, singing, writing and working on dance moves. To everyone on the third through fifth floors of the communal housing buildings, she's not sorry that her voice carries. However, she does take requests, so that's something.

However, she's so determined to get out there that she's not paying attention to where she's going. On more than one occasion, she bumps into a stranger and sends her papers flying. "Oh, I'm sorry! Are you hurt?"

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To be fair, it was entirely an accident, because Alex definitely isn't the sort of person who plows into people on a regular basis. At all, really, and she does look apologetic as she attempts to gather as many of the fliers as she can as well. Holding the posters carefully so that they didn't end up any more crinkled, she offered them to the girl.

"I can imagine. Flyer putting up is never fun." She remembers from when she was in college, actually. "A bag does normally help though." There's a beat and Alex looks at what the flyers are for with a little smile. "If you want, I work for the news network, and I can put a plug in for your show with the community stuff!" A smile comes before Alex adds: "to make up for some of the posters you lost because of me being in a rush!"

Well, never let it be said that Mikumo would hold anything against anyone. Because, honestly, she's not that girl. If it's not impeding her job, anyway. It's obvious it was an accident and neither is completely guilty.

When there are enough of the posters that only the few that are blowing away aren't much of a loss, the idol stands up. "Well, starting out isn't that easy, I'm finding. Even with being the only idol here, self-promotion is turning out to be more work than actual performance. So, I will gladly take you up on your offer."

She holds out her hand to shake the other woman's. "Mikumo Guynemer." Like her name isn't all over the posters....

Alex takes the girl's hand and gives her a broad smile. "Alex Reagan, nice to meet you." It's clear that Alex means it, even if Alex's gotta Alex and she couldn't stop herself from asking the question that was on the tip of her tongue. At least she'd managed to hold off on it until after the introduction, which wasn't something that Alex was normally good at doing. She was too much of a reporter for that.

"An idol? Is that like being a rock star from where you're from?" It certainly seemed like it to Alex, but given how different worlds could be here, it seemed like the best thing to do was to actually ask the question.

It's good that the other woman at least gave her her name before questioning Mikumo's profession. She's learning that not everyone is really familiar with it at all.

"Sort of? I sing. I dance. I act. I model. I make appearances on shows and things like that." And as a member of Walküre, she also fought in battles. She's sort of glad that she doesn't really have to worry about the Var here. She can just do the things she loves.

"Oh wow, that's cool. So it's kind of like just being an all around celebrity there?" Alex is thinking of some people like it back home, even if she's failing at putting her finger on exactly one of them. So, instead she just focused on the woman before her.

"So is that like what your show is going to be like? As for the acting, do you know Loki? He owns a theatre here, and maybe someone you want to talk to!"

"Yes, I suppose that's true. It's a great deal of work, but I think it's worth it." Idol culture demands that she do as much to cultivate fans as is humanly possible. So, if she can manage anything, she has to do it.

"My shows will mostly have singing and dancing, although I do like to interact with the crowds if I can. I'm still working on a new set of songs before my agent gets around to releasing an EP, but I'm also looking into songs from other worlds as well. In the meantime, Otabek Altin has been helping me schedule performances at a few of the establishments around here."

Alex just nodded along as the other woman explained. If nothing else, Alex got the gist of it. Working for a small public radio station that somehow suddenly makes it big has given her a bit of insight on how you need to cultivate and grow small things into larger ones. It makes sense that Mikumo needed to do something similar in a new place.

At the mention of the name, Alex just shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't know them. But I'm definitely glad that they're able to help. So are the new songs about here?" It would make sense if they were, but they would also make sense if they weren't. This place was funny like that, honestly. Everyone was a mix of two things: here and at home, and at various times one or the other ended up winning.

Mikumo has never been afraid of work. Work is what gives one purpose, after all.

"He's a nice person. Very organized. It makes things a million times easier to arrange gigs." Imagine being assigned someone to help you do your job and you dislike them: That's Mikumo's current position. "The new songs are about everything, but there are a few about what I've seen her." She offers a half-smile of embarrassment. "I never realized how hard it was to write love songs until now. It's not exactly my forte."

Alex is more than a little bit of a workaholic, so she gets it. It's only being here and being on a sort of working vacation that has allowed her to settle down into enjoying life a little more. Riverview's a lot of things, but it's missing the Apocalyptic sense of urgency that her Seattle had.

"Sounds like a friend of mine, he was my producer so organization was definitely his thing and not mine." Which was understating it a little bit. "I can imagine writing love songs is hard as hell. I mean, I'm even in a relationship and I don't think that I could do it, honestly. And I do write!"

Well.... It doesn't have the constant threat of Var or the Wind Knights of Windermere, so it's more of a vacation than Mikumo wants. And without really knowing anyone well enough yet, she can't even give anyone a hard time easily.

It's not all that great. So work is what she does.

"He is better prepared to help me than my agent. I'm almost ready to fire the assigned man and offer Otabek the obligatory 20% of the gigs I get because of him." Because being useful is so much better in her opinion.

"It's harder when you've never been in a relationship." Although, thinking about it, she's had some ideas from watching Kaname and Messer over the years. Wasted potential.

Alex just nodded for a minute, because she didn't know all that much about having an agent, but she understood enough about people not doing their jobs. Anyone who wasn't doing their job should be replaced and all of that. So she was all for this other person doing it, even if Alex didn't have the slightest idea who he happened to be. Trusting that Mikumo was aware enough to know what she was doing, even if she struck Alex as being young (but Alex found everyone being young these days. She's going to entirely blame Richard for that. It's all his fault.) she just added, "I would. Change I mean."

But. The girl seemed like she should have been old enough to at least have a crush. Probably. Maybe? Who knows, there were other things then romantic preferences. So, Alex is just going to settle into a sort of softball question that was sort of leading without actually assuming. "Is that something that you would want here? To find a relationship or something?"

Mikumo's age is....complicated. It's enough to know that she looks like she's in her early twenties. However, that doesn't keep her from being serious about her job. "That's the plan. Once I'm sure that I don't need him at all. Or only for making albums. He seems to be decent for that at least."

And, you have to have a personal life to have a crush, right? Then, no.

"I haven't really given it any thought. I don't really have much time to date here. Or anyone that I know well enough to want to date."

"I didn't realize that people who weren't natives could release albums here, actually! That's something that I'm going to need to look up when I get to work later." She had actually been listening to some local music and liked it, picking up music at various assorted songs from the festival that had occured not that long ago. But she was always glad to listen to music from new places as well.

The new places, people and things were one of the best parts about being here in Riverview for their 'vacation.'

"Hey, that's definitely okay. I mean love songs don't have to be ballads to another person you know. It would be awesome if there was just like.. a love song to yourself, I guess? Like some sort of song like Brave or something."

"Well, I don't think anyone else who isn't native has tried to be honest. I'm the only singer going around that's working professionally, so that might be a big part of things.

The music released by the natives is fine, but she is a little vain and wants her name to be known by everyone.

"I suppose that's true. I could try something about my friends... It doesn't necessarily have to be romantic." She gives the other woman a warm smile. "Thank you for that suggestion, Alex."

There's something sad about the transient nature of this place, because Alex remembers someone who definitely was doing her own music. She was gone though, along with so many other people who had been given their out and taken it. So, she's just going to nod quickly in order to agree with the girl. Yeah, the other woman had sold her music, but she hadn't done it in the form of albums, not like this or with this level of professionalism. No, her type had been more coffee shops than anything else

"It definitely doesn't have to be romantic! Some of my favorite songs are just anthems about loving yourself and accepting all that goes along with it. But I'll definitely be keeping an ear out for your stuff. If nothing else, we'll do an interview for you when it's officially coming out. How's that?"

Well, that's what happens when you are allowed to pretty much come and go when you want from this world. However, Mikumo is all about doing what needs to be done to be the best she can be. And being the best means close to the fame she enjoyed with Walküre. Besides, albums can be played when Mikumo is gone, if she leaves.

"I would appreciate it. I already seem to have attracted a few fans and I do a lot of live performances, but recording is every musician's dream. You only get so far with live shows after all. But I'd love to do an interview. It might save me on trying to contact everyone on the networks myself."

Oh, Alex is all about leaving. Well, perhaps all about it is strong words, because she knows what's waiting for them when they return. Geneva, and everything that it represents and all of the questions and answers and not dead wives and not dead fathers are there, with the possible end of the world. So for now, she's just going to let them be happy and live and hope that Simon at least decides to stay considering everything.

"That can definitely be arranged once you've got a date. It works better when you have solid things to promote rather than just random dates where you're playing I think. Or at least that's the way it worked in Seattle and at PNWS."

The idol has no idea what she wants to do. Back home, the Windermeres have been defeated but Heinz still exists. Roid might be dead, but the Wind Singer is alive. Of course, the Protoculture ruin complexes are destroyed, so she can't be used against her will. It doesn't mean she wants to take the chance that the small king might try to exert whatever control he thinks he's entitled to have over her.

No, she's safer here. There are no Windermereans or Xaos or NUNs or Lady M. She's her own woman.

"Oh, I have solid dates lined up at the clubs for a month in advance, but the album is not yet finished. But the first single is going to be released next month, during some sort of love festival?"

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♫ 2nd Solo ♫

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