lostcarnival | ⇨ THE FANTASIA FESTIVAL

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⇨ THE FANTASIA FESTIVAL

Who: Everyone who decides to come!
When: Day 12
Where: Wismuth's Fantasia Festival
What: CY-Ren's performance in Wismuth's biggest music festival finally arrives, and those willing to help Noa the Star Guardian show up to intervene.
Warnings: It doesn't go super well.

SONG OF THE CY-REN↴

CY-Ren's arena is the biggest stage in the festival by far, but it isn't the only one. Several big acts have assembled in the surrounding area, all with a lovely view of the ocean and with Wismuth's skyline in the background. Though she isn't explicitly the main attraction at the festival, everyone knows she's the real reason so many people have showed up. The amount of star power she has is overwhelming, and there are plenty of fans that would get violent on her behalf.

► GROUP UP: Noa will ask everyone to meet her in a park area near the festival stage, so that you can discuss plans briefly before putting them into action. The key is to try to stop the concert before CY-Ren's plans can come to fruition - whatever they may specifically be. How you go about this is up to you, but with how many people are present, it's bound to be a challenge.

► INFILTRATE: After speaking with Noa and determining what everyone will be doing, it will be time for everyone to break into the performance arena. No one has tickets for this, unless they've forged them, as they sold out a while ago. Any means of getting inside is fine, whether that be teleporting, passing through walls, or jumping in by wing. Once you've gotten into the crowd, it's up to you to get close enough to the stage to disrupt the proceedings.

► UNDER HER SPELL: It only takes her first song for things to start going wrong. The impact of the music will strike each individual differently - for most it will only feel strange, but for some it will be completely transfixing, like something that reaches deep into their soul. Those people, the ones slated to become Harbingers, will react to the the song strongly - upon hearing it, they will gradually completely lose their sense of agency, sluggishly moving towards the stage by whatever means available to them. If someone tries to stop them, they will go as far as physically, or even violently, resisting.

"Blindsided by the beat
Clapping your hands, stomping your feet
You didn't know that you fell
Now you've fallen under my spell"
Obviously, if you want to participate in the Harbinger plot, you'll have to arrange it so that they manage to follow through with their hypnotized objectives. They will feel somehow empty during this time, as like they need to follow the music in order to achieve any chance at fulfillment. If you are not becoming a Harbinger, you can still have your character be affected by this to a lesser degree and then stopped by another carnival member, or as a feat of self control.

► BATTLE: By the time she switches to the next song, things will have started to get real. Any blatant, long distance attacks made early on will be mysteriously blocked by some kind of magical force field surrounding the stage, which will take some time to penetrate - at least until Noa gets involved. Body guards will storm anyone who tries to get onto the stage, and ostensibly said guards are not at all human. Instead, they appear to be horrible looking shadow amalgamation in suits, and while their attacks are mostly just physical, they can move with unnatural quickness, can't be pinned, and strike very hard. They can be NPC'd by anyone, and only have vaguely humanoid thought processes.

"Me and you, you and me
Why don't we see who is better?
We don't have to be one and the same thing
Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?
Are you afraid of failing the audition?"
By the end of the second song, the hypnotized carnival members will have been snatched up by CY-Ren's void agents and disappeared. This can manifest as them being grabbed and escorted off, or possibly disappearing into shadows alongside one of the bodyguards. The guards will be trying to work stealthily, ideally sneaking away anyone being affected by the song without anyone around them noticing, but they won't let secrecy get in the way of their objectives, either. The audience will be able to realistically notice if things start exploding in their faces, but the song will distract them from anything less obvious.

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[Grouping Up]

Jinx was there and still dressed in casual attire, joined by Shiro and Kuro. She frankly didn't plan on staying very long. Who needed to plan for anything when she could just fly in and blow stuff up? Heck, the only reason she was sticking around to begin with was because Noa was a Star Guardian too and had nicely asked for some help. Though she figured she could join in if someone came up with a plan that was actually worthwhile. What Jinx considered to be "worthwhile" was strictly tied to how likely she'd be able to shoot things.

Anyways, she just kept pacing around until finally asking to herself, or anyone who could hear her.

"Is it time to leave yet? I wanna get to the good part, already!"

[Battle]

It wasn't until things started to go wrong that Jinx got her chance. In uniform and ready for action, this was always her favorite part of being a Star Guardian, as she began to grin and laugh rather maniacally. She... really was supposed to be a Star Guardian, right? A hero for peace and justice?

"Alright Shiro, Kuro. Which one of you wants it more?" Kuro let out some aggressive noises and squeaks whereas Shiro just stared blankly. "Just kidding! Everybody gets to come out and play today!" Her heart was racing and the adrenaline had fully set in at this point.

Shiro started off first and changed into mini-gun form.

"Step right up! Got enough bullets for all you clowns!"

Yuya's usually somewhere in between 'we need a plan' and 'let's wing it'. But he's not in charge in this affair, and other people definitely had better ideas how to disrupt the concert than he did. At least if this all goes horribly the Ringmaster won't really let them be arrested, right?

He can't believe he's really sabotaging a concert, but fate of the world or something..

Jinx's pacing is a little distracting, but while she moves about Yuya's a little more curious about her familiars. He sticks a finger out, just short of poking one while he absently answers her. "We can't really wait for too long. Everyone just wants to be ready."

Shiro's the less active one, and sort of just lets the poke come. Heck, they could be poked again and it would be about the same. Just a brief squeak as they continue to float about. Kuro, on the other hand, begins to approach Yuya. Who is this person, and why are they not giving attention to both of them.

"I'm ready to go right now!" Just say the word and she'll take off.

Or she might just take off regardless.

Yuya's attention drifts to Kuro as he approaches. He takes that as a friendly gesture, and smiles as he reaches to pet Kuro atop the head. He's not sure whay they are, but they're pretty cute.

"Uh--" he gives Jinx a bemused look. Her voice is familiar... she's one of the new people from the radio, right? "Yeah, but we all have to be ready."

He pauses a moment. "You're... Jinx, right?"

"Your one and only!" Jinx declared with no shortage of confidence.

"But seriously, who cares about that? We just gotta go in and make sure we stop whatever she's up to. How hard can it be?" If only Jinx realized the way she sounded right now.

"Especially when you're already a Star Guardian!"

"Do you really think it'll be that easy...?" Yuya has his doubts. There's no way if CY-Ren and Noa have clashed before that she won't expect some interference.

What she says next takes a moment for him, but then he stops mid-pet and does a double take. "Wait, you're a Star Guardian too?! So you know about the Void and Creation too?"

He says it a little uncertainly, only because the concepts aren't something on a magical and tangible level he's familiar with. But he wants to know more, to get a better idea just what's being fought for besides people's safety.

"Pfft, come on. What could possibly go wrong? We just gotta go in, smash things up and save the day." It must've been nice to live a life as simply as Jinx did, who was already so utterly sure of herself.

"Never heard about this 'Creation' before, but I know all about the Void. Full of uglies, if you ask me. First star says we're supposed to fight against it because they want to do all kinds of bad stuff to our universe or whatever." She didn't sound to concerned about what she'd just said, really. Jinx was a Star Guardian in both name and power, that much as certain.

But in taking her job seriously, though? Not so much.

"I'm just here for the part where I get to play with my guns, you know?"

Well, that confirms Noa's perspective of the void, anyway. Two Star Guardians adds some weight to the situation, even if Jinx isn't familiar with CY-Ren.

He's not terribly placated by the rest of what she says, however. "W-well, I think we're supposed to be subtle, and it's going to be full of people! We can't hurt them."

That, that's one of many things Yuya can imagine going wrong here. They're kind of mostly blind.

"Subtle, schmubtle, it's not like I haven't done this before!" Well, heading into an arena full of people to take down some lame pop singer was a first. Most of the time she just fought against monsters from the Void before calling it a day.

She just laughed off his concerned and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry, okay? Star Guardians got this!"

All two of them.

Cole doesn't know much about guns. As such, the mini-gun form doesn't really explain much for him. What he does know is that Jinx's laughter combined with that bullets for all you clowns bit makes him worried.

He doesn't want people to get hurt. Not unless they have to be. This seems like it has potential to go badly rather fast, but Cole knows he needs to learn more before he can judge.

"What are you doing?" he asks, a hint of sternness in his voice.

"What's it look like?" Seemed pretty self-explanatory to Jinx.

"Whats-her-name wants me to stop this concert, and these guns aren't about to shoot themselves." Both guns already talked to her, and that was enough.

One of the guards began to approach, then another, which only made her all the more excited.

"That's right, don't be shy. Got enough mayhem to go around!"

Mr. Fantasy Canon over here hasn't really seen a gun before. So as Jinx asks what it looks like, Cole just gives her a blank look in response. He has absolutely no idea how to answer that question.

Those guards are approaching, however, and Cole can tell that they're dangerous and that they're going to try and hurt him and Jinx. Reaching to his pockets, Cole pulls out two small, retractable daggers. Flipping them open, he takes a combat stance as he looks at the guards, talking to Jinx all the while.

"But what does it do? I can't help you if you hurt the audience."

Was this really a conversation they were going to have right when a fight was about to break out? Ugh, fine.

"Okay listen real carefully because I'm only gonna explain this once." Was she sounding condescending? Yes she was.

"I take this end..." She pointed her finger to the big star on her white gun. "And point it the bad guys. I shoot them, and then they fall over and die."

Easy, right?

"And if they don't, then momma's got bigger toys to play with."

Cole's got even more questions. Shoot them with what? With an arrow? With a spell? Why's it so big? But, he's able to pick up the fact that Jinx doesn't really want to talk about this and doesn't want him to ask questions about this (which is annoying Cole more than he wants to admit because dammit, he wants to ask questions about this!)

Still, there's one thing he's got to ask. "Bigger how?"

"I'm glad you asked! My other gun is a kind of a rocket launcher and..." Oh right, simple words for this guy. "Okay, imagine something that I mount on my shoulder, similar to this white gun, but black instead."

Following her so far?

"And it shoots these, uh, miniature explosions wherever I am at. That's the kind of 'bigger' I'm talking about."

Yeah, he doesn't know what a rocket launcher is. Jinx's description helps as Cole looks over at her and her guns with a frown. He doesn't know what a rocket launcher is, but he knows 'miniature explosion' is not something he wants to hear.

"Cramped and crowded in a small space. Be careful," he insists again. Explosions of any kind won't be good in a concert arena.

"You worry too much. I'm a pro at this." Not the best choice of words to instill confidence, really. "So just lay off and let me do what I do best."

And would you look at that? Plenty of guards still around for a demonstration.

"Watch and learn!" Jinx declared, as she opened fire.

...okay what. This is possibly the first time Cole's introduced to the concept of automatic weapons and he's just looking at Jinx's guns with absolute confusion and slight horror. He doesn't think he likes these. They aren't really precise, are they.

"They should be smaller," he decides, though what exactly the 'they' he's talking about is. However, his focus on Jinx's weapons is shattered as something moves out of the corner of his eye. "Stay put."

One of the guards starts approaching them, from the other side of where Jinx is shooting. Cole's got this one. As he grips his blades in his hands, he stealthily weaves through the crowd before approaching the void guard and slitting it's throat. It's pretty obvious what rpg class Cole is. When the throat slitting only seems to moderately phase it, Cole quickly uses his other dagger to stab somewhere near the heart.

Everyone's got something they're good at, and Jinx's talents just happened to be with firearms and explosives. It wouldn't be so bad if she had the discipline and self-control to user her guns carefully and responsibly.

Unfortunately, she didn't.

She'd try to avoid shooting the Not Bad Guys, mostly because she didn't want First Star to find out out or people nagging at her about it.

"Not bad. You got some cool moves over there!"

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⇨ THE FANTASIA FESTIVAL

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Group Up

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battle

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