#gr: stageverse

[raripuh]

WIP INTRO: EVERY STARS UNDER THE SEA

— first installment of the dreams of hearts and crowds series

genre ; literary, bildungsroman, drama

themes & tropes ; fame struggles, music and the music scene, band as a family, love at first sight, toxic relationship, crumbling friendship, isolation, enemies to lovers, road trip, reconnecting (with estranged friends and own culture)

status ; first draft, currently around 33k

synopsis ;

( Rama smiles, eyes glinting with sympathy. There's always a humorous side to an irony. Amusing. Yet pitiful. "Well, yeah. There's still a lot to fix in our country. In this world."

And it's not like Arya doesn't know that already. It's just that he's tired of screaming, of being unheard, of being silenced left and right and up and down. "People resist change whenever they can," he sighs. "I'd rather pick my battles carefully now. One way communication isn't the way to change the world." )

Rising rockstar Ambun Arya has become a sensation ever since he emerged to the global scene with his band, Zaman Reaksi. Cute, blunt, and passionate in his campaigns for many social issues, Arya doesn't shy away from showing his true colors to the world, gaining him loves and hates in every corner he turns to. He's a saint. He's a heretic. He's the fixation point of everyone's attention, good or bad. Whatever people say he is, Arya doesn't mind, especially not since he begins to date Rama, an unabashedly pan actor in their homophobic country. Life seems good enough: people cheer for him (or try to burn him down when they can get close to him), he gets to play music—his music, no less, to a stadium full of fans, and Rama just never stops stealing his heart again and again, no matter how turbulent their relationship has been. But it ends as abruptly as it began—the next time Arya blinks, he's lost everything; his band, his career, his chance to do the thing he loves everyday. Rama. All because their sex tape (which, seriously, Arya doesn't even know about) was leaked to the internet.

Lost and broken-hearted, Arya comes back to Indonesia, the homeland he once abandoned in favor of the glimmering jet-set life of Hollywood. He tries to pick himself up again, writing music even though he's not sure if people would still listen to him. And this is how he meets Anungrangin, the Twitter-famous digital artist, and also, Arya's biggest anti: an album cover art commission and a road trip, from Sumatra to Java.

characters ; intro on progress!

ambun arya. main character, rhythm guitarist and primary lyricist of zaman reaksi. a simp

st. baluka. frontman and lead guitarist of zaman reaksi. sometimes he doubles as the group's dukun/sorcerer

irfan ma'arif. ex-emo lead vocalist and clown of the band

sam the labas. bassist with a medical degree (but not practice license). plays doctor to his dumbass bandmates. an annoying musical kid

cakra wisarga. drummer, also the financial advisor of the band. she's the only sane one among her bandmates. jamet

rama tohpati. notorious actor, most famed for his role as the superhero muruy in mandala nusa cinematic universe

anungrangin. digital artist. dislikes zaman reaksi and often criticizes them (especially arya), sometimes bordering to a hate speech

referenced musicians ; merah bercerita, tool, queen, bob dylan, frank sinatra, van halen, my chemical romance. knowledge of these musicians are not necessary

content warnings ; stage gay, age gap (between adults), emotionally abusive relationship, substance abuse, violence, casual racism/homophobia/transphobia (and the discussion of it)

playlist | wip tag

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{ graphic is a loose reference to this album. }

#wip intro #wip: every stars under the sea #wip: stageverse #intro: stageverse #gr: stageverse #mine. #this was done in a frenzy it's actually better than this kdjskdj