| 6 |
| CHA |
| 19 |
| +1 |
[Persuasion] Clean (+1) affects your roll. You roll a 19 +1 (required 10). Success!
You take a look around, then skeptically ask Dirt Flaxen if working on a farm is his idea of a vacation.
Dirt Flaxen: "Uh, yeah, sure. Manual labour gets the creative juices flowing, y'know?"
While you admit that he knows more about that than you do, you can't help but wonder why the musician decided to work here of all places. After all, it is harvest season over in Equestria, where the cool mid-autumn weather is far more pleasant.
Dirt Flaxen: "Heh, yeah, this place's got the heat, but you get used to it. And besides, it gives me some time to appreciate the culture here, get inspired by new experiences. Didn't really have time for that while I was on tour, you get me?"
Sensing that his creative mind might quickly outpace your reasoning, you decide to change tactics. You mention that you have met his friends from Halfpipe Avenue, and remark that even they were left in the dark. This seems to catch him off-guard.
Dirt Flaxen: "Uh... yeah... well hey, you can tell 'em! Just say that I'm fine; just taking some time for myself."
Since he has mentioned it twice already, you think to ask Dirt Flaxen directly: is he really fine? At that, he hesitates.
Dirt Flaxen: "Y-yeah! Why wouldn't I be? I'm just taking some time to wind down after the tour, that's all."
Curious, you ask him how the tour went. The thought of it immediately puts a smile on his face.
Dirt Flaxen: "Oh, man. It was great! I mean, at first I was kinda nervous about the language barrier, but the music shattered right through it. Ponies were dancing and having fun — I think I even saw some other creatures in there.
And you should've seen it; the moment a performance started, the crowd lit up their horns, and started bouncing and swaying with the song. Sometimes, they even took turns flashing their horns on beat by colour. It looked like a whole light show from up on stage."
Moonflower: "Ooh, that sounds cool!"
You agree, but question why the pop star would then put his career on the line for a so-called vacation. After all, you figure that he may not get other opportunities like this should he break his contract. He deflates a bit at the thought.
Dirt Flaxen: "I uh, yeah... I mean, yeah... I know."
Having seemingly caught him in his lie, you ask him if that is what is he trying to do.
Dirt Flaxen: "No, of course not. I mean... well, not really?"
You remark that he seems conflicted, and tell him that you are here to lend a neutral ear should he wish to share his thoughts.
Dirt Flaxen: "Yeah... yeah, maybe that's what I need. And if you've met the gang, then you're probably alright. You promise to keep this between us, though, right?"
You promise, and your friends nod in turn.
Dirt Flaxen: "Alright. So... when I said I was taking a vacation, I wasn't entirely lying; thing is, I don't need a break from music. I need a break from Equestria.
I didn't realize it at first, but ever since I got here, I've been having this weird feeling. The way these Kirin move right along after a concert, the way they pass me by in the street without a second glance, the way I can just... y'know, come here and work in a field?
Maybe you can't relate, but this is wild to me. I completely forgot what it's like to be treated like this. Like, y'know, a pony."
You ask Dirt Flaxen if the ponies in Equestria treat him any differently.
Dirt Flaxen: "Man... it's crazy. I'm at the top of the charts; everypony knows my name. I can't walk around town without security all around in case I get recognized and it causes a stampede. Can't play at my favourite club anymore. Can't even do my own shopping. My every move has to be planned in advance by management.
It's gotten so bad, I've had ponies scream or even faint at the sight of me. Thing is, most of 'em don't even know who I am; I'm just the famous guy on the posters to them. Like, come on, man — it doesn't even make sense anymore. Sorry, I'm ranting."
You sympathize with the pop star, and ask if he feels happier here in the Kirin Empire.
Dirt Flaxen: "I dunno. I mean, I miss my friends, and I feel bad for my manager. And to be real with you, I hate letting my fans down, but I guess that's where I'm at.
And yeah, touring the world and playing for so many ponies is a dream come true, y'know? But on the flip side, I miss the old days of skating free around the city, or making noise at a neighbour's party.
Can't go back, though; good or bad, fame's not something you can just shake off. Well, not in Equestria anyway. So I thought I'd get away from it for a bit; enjoy being a normal pony again while I can."
Enter a comment
But it's his choice, of course. If he prefers to stick with what's working for him now, we'll simply report that he's safe, he'll return when he's ready, and we're not going to report any more detail.
However, we also need to give a report to our guild. We are willing to lie and tell them that we didn't found you but that won't stop the Manehatten Music Management from just sending another group. So if he doesn't have any suggestions we're just going to tell them that he decided to take a spontaneous vacation but will return eventually.
If we do that, I would also rather not explicitly lie, because it could catch up to us (and doesn't feel great). I would rather lie by omission by simply not writing a report. I want to say there is no requirement to give periodic reports but it could've been one of the rules in the agreement we signed in 2023-10-23.
The least risky thing for us that still lets us avoid lying is to say that we found him and convinced him to come back, but not say why he stayed in our actual report so that Dirt can explain it himself however he likes. That's what I was thinking of when I suggested keeping it vague. And I mean, we agreed to keep his reasons in confidence, so I feel good about that.
- We'll need to report on our progress. Since we agreed to listen in confidence, we can omit your exact motivations.
- You have a window to return while we're here — do want to return eventually?
- Could contract (re)negotiations help? They paid ~1000 bits to look for you instead of immediately cutting you loose, so you must have at least a little leverage.
- Maybe there's some disguise spell out there that would let you be more anonymous.
Today is October 6 and Nightmare Night is October 28. So maybe a bit under three weeks would be considered a reasonable amount of time spent searching for him. And we have to return in one moon.
In terms of our interest, I feel like just sitting around waiting for him isn't ideal, but the narrative would probably speed up/skip time if we decide to just relax in a town or something.
We can pat ourselves on the back for our interrogation/questioning work! Socializing does have its uses, dear Honourshine.
Still, we have some personal business to take care of. So once we're done talking to Dirt we should check up with the crew, tell them we finished our job and ask them if they would mind staying another day or two so that we can do some stuff in the Empire that is important to us.