⇨ THE FANTASIA FESTIVAL

[ringleaders]

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.

Comments

[dressedtothe]

If he's quite honest, 9S is almost as lost as Childermass is on what everything back stage is; he's never been to a concert before and what view records he's seen of them show the stage, not what's behind it.

Once again, Pod 153 has been left behind at the Carnival for being too obviously out of place. Even with the glamour, there aren't many hovering things in this world that wouldn't unusual.

Keeping his voice low, 9S replies back, "Of course! I mean, it's not like we're fighting."

Yet.

[atouts]

More like under it, in this case, with how the stage has been set out in the middle of a field like it is. That doesn't change much of how it works, though, gears and cables and lights plugged in everywhere.

"No, that is true," Childermass has to agree. Only Noa made CY-ren sound dangerous. One might think a performer wouldn't be dangerous, but considering some of the people the carnival has on their own performance team... well. "But I am unsure what everyone else has planned. That alone could cause enough danger."

i'm great at reading comprehension at night rip

[dressedtothe]

9S laughs, even as his gaze is on his surroundings, trying to scope out the place. "We're not very good at keeping out of trouble, huh?"

Frustratingly, he doesn't really know what half of the things in front of him do, other than they're all part of the performance. Some of it he recognises as being similar to what's set up for the Carnival's performers but.... despite being on the Engineering team, 9S actively shirks his duties.

He's really regretting it now!!

He's just going to have to do it the way he normally does back home. "Are you going to be sticking around? Or are you heading back?"

lol nah i didn't realize it would have to be under until staring real hard at the picture

[atouts]

"I'll be amazed if we ever pass through a world without causing some sort of trouble," he answers with a sardonic sort of snort. He may not even believe it if that ever does happen but it matters little now, right here, as they stride right back into danger yet again.

And being entirely unaware that 9S is, in fact, terrible at this job, Childermass will just carry on assuming it should be fine. Mostly fine. Besides, in case it isn't fine—

"I'll be back here, waiting, for when we all need to depart again. It wouldn't do to offer a way in and then abandon you, now would it?"

Only he won't be but, hey, they don't know that yet.

[dressedtothe]

9S hasn't been around for long, but he's getting that impression from the Carnival members and their entire run in with the Prince, based on everyone's reactions over the radios before their departure for his manor.

9S lets out a quiet laugh at that comment. Humans really are so different from androids, aren't they? If Childermass was anything like YoRHa, he would've been left to fend for himself after being transported in.

After all, they were disposable.

"Alright." If he wants to get into the source of power, then he's going to need to leave Childermass. "I'll rendezvous with you later."

[atouts]

"Do try to stay safe," is all Childermass has left to say, then. What happens after that is up to 9S, especially once the android gets back to the rendezvous point and finds his ride out of here is unexpectedly missing.