Akinyi's Holographic Symphette

[kyres1]

Byond Key: kyres1

Discord Key: noodle_buster#1934

Item Name: holo-symphette

Item Description:

A cheap, collapsible musical instrument which utilizes holographic projections to generate a rough noise. It's shaped like a small harp, and seems to be able to be tuned to mimic several old stringed Solarian instruments with some distorted audio. It's still got its price tag sticker on it.

Item Appearance:

The collapsed state is on the left, the expanded state on the right. In its collapsed state, it can be worn on the back slot as well. The sprite isn't seen here.

Why is your character carrying this item to work?:

Idowu is pretty much confined to the Aurora, and while a free shell, they have no place of residence and are essentially crawling along with the bare minimum. What little personal possessions they might have are stored on themselves, mostly being their two outfits and, of course, this little instrument.

How did your character obtain this item (1 Paragraph or more please):

I'll assume this is meant to cover exactly what led up to it being obtained, which is far more impactful than the act of getting it. In this case, the symphette was purchased from a gift shop on the Odin. Being an IPC they don't have much care for the intricate details of the instrument, merely what they can convey with it. It amplifies the performance - and a little plastic doesn't change how people view it in her arms as she's on stage.

Regardless, the events leading up to the purchase were a simple recommendation to sing. It was brought up that Idowu had zero qualifications whatsoever to a head of personnel (Thea Mariett- i mean Reeves), and the two pondered for all of ten seconds before Thea just said "You could sing." So I took it upon myself to get a bunch of radios, spread them, have them tuned to the entertainment channel, and sing songs. Idowu exploits the strangely advanced voice synthesizer their frame is equipped with from that point on, basically gambling to become a star. It's that, or an inevitable death if they continue on their current path.

Some stage time and a bunch of singing on the Aurora led her to put in more money in this dice roll of fate. With positive feedback from the crew, they spent the whole of fifty credits they had to spare after saving for months to purchase the cheap little symphette.

How does this impact your character or tell a story about them or express who they are? (2 Paragraphs here please):

From first glance it portrays what the Shell intends to be - an artist, something that must be separate from what it used to be. Some deduction recently had them thinking that they perhaps weren't the most friendly positronic before their memory wipe(s), and their "gamble" to excel artistically is seen as one of their only ways they can escape the past.

More concerning, the cheap nature of the instrument is analogous to the utterly horrible situation they're in by simply being synthetic. As mentioned before, they are free, and without an owner to maintain them, their situation isn't exactly the best. Memory wipes mean removal of much-needed knowledge, now forever lost to Idowu. At the same time, they will essentially cling to it, as it portrays what little hope they may have left.

How will you use this item to stimulate rp or improve interactions with crew?:

It's a nonfunctional musical instrument. What I mean by this is that it doesn't play audio like space violins or pianos. To work around this I intend to generally do what I normally do, while utilizing the symphette to fill in the gaps that are there normally during performances Idowu does. For example, since it's a magic fake sci-fi instrument that just copies other instruments, Idowu would play it like a harp during certain songs, and a lute in other circumstances. If it's a stringed instrument, this thing can technically replicate it, though not in comparable quality to the real thing. It would greatly help as a supporting element.

Additional Comments:

Mechanically, it has no function. When used in-hand, it toggles between two states ; retracted and expanded. When retracted, it is a normal sized item. When expanded, it is bulky. It can be worn on the back when retracted.

Also : the name is totally out of nowhere and was chosen by Jam. I love them.

Also also : This application was re-written over quite a bit to clarify things and might seem like gibberish, let me know if there's trouble reading it and I'll happily clarify what I mean.

Edited June 2, 2019 by kyres1

[KingOfThePing]

You put a lot of effort into this singer/entertainment thing, actively seeking out people, giving them radios (and very good coffee) and using the entertainment channel with this character. The first time I read all the lines of song you had ready for this character gimmick I was honestly baffled, you put a lot of effort in this and I think this request is very reasonable. We need more entertainers on board, more live acts and this is a very good idea to give it a nice touch. Really cool beans, nice name, nice sprite, I love it. Big +1

[Itanimulli]

ILY Kyres. I really do.

That being said. This is too much. This provides far too much room. The floodgates will open. What are admins supposed to say when this passes. It's an amazing request, it really is, but don't you think it's....too amazing? Imagine the amount of rp this could potentially provide. Far too much. Perhaps, even, way too much. The potential for this to inspire others to make similar items, because of the wonderful experiences they have had between you and your characters...I have to +1 this. It's really cool, and I can't wait to see what you do with it. Here's a cheekily worded post to make everyone read it to think I have gripes with it. I can't let it go with anything else. Unfortunately, Kyres, as much as you'd crave it...I can't-...

...-1 this.

[AmoryBlaine]

I like it, please add it. It's small, it's compact. It's cute. Just like you.

[Pratepresidenten]

Kywes my kywes. After some deliberation, we have decided to accept this due to the following reasons:

On 07/06/2019 at 21:25, AmoryBlaine said:

I like it, please add it. It's small, it's compact. It's cute. Just like you.

Pretty much.

Application accepted!