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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SKETCHING PLANS

Frankly, between that radio chatter and the travel over here, not a whole lot of collaborative planning happened. At least not that Papyrus was around for. But if all else fails, he can lean on the skills he used as a sentry back in the day; building entertaining obstacles to slow people down.

At the least, he can offer helping give people a lift into the stadium.

DRAWN IN

The concert's about to start, and so far everyone's efforts... haven't panned out.

Plenty of concert goers are in the enormous stadium, cheering in anticipation of the show's beginning. At this point, it seems like the only thing that could stop the concert is pulling CY-Ren herself away from the stadium... or if the equipment went down.

Wasn't somebody saying something like that, before? That they could mess with the stage lights, the speakers, that sort of thing? It's not exactly his know-how, but he's out of ideas, and they could probably use his help!

So Papyrus begins toward the stage even before the first song begins, weaving around enthusiastic fans in hopes of finding familiar faces. As the music starts, he loses focus on the why. He stops checking the crowd, pushes forward with unthinking purpose, and shakes off anyone who might try to stop him.

Sans didn't come in with much of a plan. He didn't see himself as much of an active party in this dispute - just someone to keep an eye on the parties involved and try to make sure they all got out okay. Of course, his main focus in that has been his brother, and despite his marked abilities to get around, it's been a bit difficult to spread his attention between multiple parties.

It's hard to tell that anything is wrong, from a distance. Seeing Papyrus move through the crowd towards the stage is probably part of the plan, right? Or, at least, that's how Helvetica interprets it.

She comes back down from the air above the crowd, landing on Sans's head and relating Papyrus's location to him. Pretty much everyone here is taller than Sans, which is making life a bit difficult.

"He seems to be closing in on the stage - did he discuss this tactic? I don't think he did," she explains. Sans is already feeling a bit tense and that doesn't help.

"Dunno..." he says, and then gestures for her to take off again. "Show me which way to go, kay? Can't see squat from down here."

Thankfully, Papyrus isn't already outside of her range. She gets close before Sans can.

"Papyrus?" she calls down to him, visible as a shimmer of blue and a fair of small glowing angel wings in the air above. "What are your intentions?"

There's so many people, bodies jostling and moving and getting in his way. So many voices cheering along with the music, but none of that noise and movement can crowd out the way the song echoes deep in his bones. With every step he takes forward, it's more clear which way he needs to go.

When he hears his name in a familiar voice, a confused frown crosses his face, and there's a couple seconds delay before he glances up at the daemon.

"Intentions...?" he echoes, looking only vaguely in her direction before continuing to make his way through the crowd. "I... Need to get to the stage."

Distantly, he knows that's not enough of an answer. Not for... Sans, Helvetica.

"Nothing else... worked," he adds from the shrinking part of him that cares.

But the real question is, why wasn't he already at the stage? What has he been wasting his time doing? Nothing worthwhile. Maybe this will be enough.

That answer is more than enough for Helvetica to know that something is wrong, and her ill ease makes it's way to Sans instantly. Still, she decides to probe for more information, knowing that Sans will be quick to follow her.

"What are you hoping to do at the stage?" she prompts. Helvetica is not one to show a great deal of emotion, but there is something a little bit nervous and urgent to her words. They've been compromised enough times that any odd behavior must be taken seriously.

"I want to help you. You don't have to do it alone," she says. Meanwhile, Sans is shoving and teleporting his way through the crowd, but it's extremely difficult to calculate his moves with this many variables.

Edited 2018-01-31 06:47 (UTC)

"Oh," Papyrus says, a little confused. It's a strange reassurance, coming from a part of Sans, he thinks.

The crowds keep moving, keep pushing up so he has to duck and weave to get through, he hardly manages to notice the urgency of her voice. It's hard to understand what she's so urgent about. Hard even to guess, to think long enough to draw conclusions about anything. Something about not being alone.

But... there was... a question? And the offer, and those were good. Especially when there's a staircase ahead, so close to having a straight shot down, but so congested he'll need to push and push to get through.

"Help... help would help. Yes. Thank you," he finally acknowledges, politely. "What did you ask?"

Edited 2018-01-31 07:46 (UTC)

This isn't working, and Sans needs more time. Helvetica considers the situation for a moment, then buzzes downward to place herself right in Papyrus's face, intending to stop him from moving forward.

Being touched by him would be unpleasant. Would he go that far, if she stays in his way?

"Papyrus, wait. Something isn't right."

Her sudden imposition is enough for him to hesitate, at least. He pauses midstep, wavering on one foot, pulling his head back enough to look at her again.

That's not a question or help. Why is his sibling always lying and getting in the way?

"What? This isn't help." He scowls at her, tensing up. "If you won't help, get out of my way."

He closes his eyes, waits a beat, and steps forward. Terrible raw contact or no. He needs to keep going.

It was an experiment and one that was not a success.

Helvetica weaves in the air, making sure to stay in front of him, hoping that with his own understanding of how a daemon feels he'd know that this is crossing a line. Hoping that whatever's got a hold on him could be shaken if he had a chance to realize what he was doing. It doesn't work.

Instead, Papyrus thwacks right into her, something that would hurt on a physical level if it wasn't instantly outweighed by the spiritual upheaval it causes between her and Sans. Further back in the crowd Sans stumbles, grabbing at his sternum in utter shock and crumpling to the ground. Helvetica's wings flutter clumsily, pushing her out of the way, confused and hurt.

"Papyrus!" she says. "What is happening to you?"

But she doesn't necessarily expect and answer. She tries to get in his way again, but then looses her nerve, anticipating the same torment to happen again. She flutters up into the air, the face of a beetle expressionless despite her total dismay. This won't work. Sans needs her.

"Please, listen..."

He shudders at their collision, the jarring wrongness of souls too painfully exposed, too close. Shudders, slouches, but keeps pushing forward through the crowd.

Somehow, painful and nauseating as that was, it wasn't as bad as he'd feared. Everything feels so wrong, it almost doesn't stand out. Stopping, talking, thinking, caring... All of it, everything everything except moving toward the stage. Everything except the music, getting to the source of the music. He needs to soak in it like it's the only warm thing in a frozen world.

"I... have to," he says, almost an apology. "Down, to the stage. That's... the only..."

Midway through the sentence he trails off. Not quite forgetting why he's trying to answer, but why answering would matter. The answer doesn't matter. That awful collision, or their hurts, or her fears, don't matter.

"You don't have to do anything," Helvetica insists, though she relents soon after. No, that's not what she seems to be observing at all, is it? It's a mind effect again, some enchantment spell... probably caused by the music itself. That would fit together easily with what they'd been told, but why is it working on Papyrus and not Sans...?

"Something is affecting your mind," she says, matter-of-factly. "I'm going to get Sans."

In the past, physical force has been the only way to stop this. If Sans can get to Papyrus in time, then he can hopefully teleport them both away from here. Wings leaving a trail of light, she flutters back into the crowd.

Edited 2018-02-02 04:51 (UTC)

Papyrus doesn't really acknowledge her words and worries, saying nothing in reply, barely glancing after her as she flies away. He just pushes ahead, stoic and determined, frustrated that there must be a faster way to do this and struggling to think of what.

Her words itch in his skull a little while after. Sans. Sans would... get in the way, wouldn't he? Even worse than Helvetica, so curious and so ineffectually small. Might jump to conclusions, force a fight. But Papyrus doesn't want to hurt anybody, not like Sans described wanting back at the Manor, so, so, this isn't anything like that. This is just... he needs to fix things, he needs to... needs to...

Anghel is slowly pushing his way through the crowds when he somehow ends up near Papyrus.

He's excited to see someone he recognizes. "You are here to stop the coming Calamity? Allow me to fight alongside you." The only thing Anghel is carrying is a pen, but he holds in as though he's prepared to jab it at someone. He casts a furtive look around to be sure no enemies are nearby.

It wouldn't seem there's any enemies nearby; security is clustered nearer to the stage, and CY-Ren hasn't appeared on stage just yet, though the volume of the cheering masses implies she should appear any minute.

Papyrus brightens up as well, having been traveling through the crowd alone for a bit. And, with trying to keep a low profile, his usual approach of jump over them isn't an option.. "Oh, I'm not planning to fight! Unless, breaking sound equipment is a fight?"

The lighting of the stadium changes, and the cheers double in volume. They're too late to completely stop things; it's showtime.

"It would disrupt the foul plans of the Dark Messengers and is a mission of grave importance." Anghel replies. Which means that it is a part of the fight, even if it isn't as direct as Anghel would prefer.

He looks alarmed when the lighting changes. "Ruler of the Nightly Realm! We must hurry to prevent the Malignant Portal of opening!"

He stands behind Papyrus. Anghel isn't very good at pushing through the crowd.

"Yeah! We have to... do that thing! Whatever it is." Not understanding Anghel's meaning doesn't stop Papyrus from cheering and moving forward.

Unfortunately, he isn't terribly great at pushing through the crowd, himself. Bones just don't have the muscle to make people move, and he's not very practiced at pushing people around. Usually he'd just jump over the people in the way. But jumping high - or directly fighting with bones - are just too flashy and obvious for trying to lay low.

So he catches himself, a few times, going stiff and still rather than jumping up. And then the music starts up, and his movements change. He begins pushing forward even when it means walking into people, as long as it's forward.

Anghel follows at first, reasoning that this will help them reach their goal more quickly. When it happens one too many times, he decides to speak up.

"We must not draw unnecessary attention to ourselves! The enemy with discover our location and all will be lost!" Anghel warns over the music.

The music thrums and throbs, the sound echoing down into his marrow. He's never heard anything like this, and it's overwhelming enough that it's an effort to recognize Anghel's words. Papyrus' response comes with a little delay and a subdued tone that barely carries over the sound.

"It... It's fine, we just need to get to the stage."

"Even the slightest misstep may spell disaster!" Anghel warns. "We cannot accomplish our goal if the battles we must face grow too numerous."

And Anghel isn't sure even the two of them will prevail if too many enemies attack them at once. They must use stealth for this mission!

"Battles...?" Papyrus echoes, uncertain about Anghel's words, even as he becomes more certain about pushing forward despite them. "There's... nobody's fighting, we're all... the music?"

It's difficult to arrange the words he needs to describe his meaning. The audience around them churns with dancing strangers who hardly respond to the shoving, they're so into the power of this first song. Some turn and scowl, not quite entranced, but... fewer than there normally would be.

Anghel's beginning to realize that something's wrong. Malevolent threads are weaving themselves among the crowd.

He tugs on Papyrus to stop the skeleton in case drawing closer to the source makes the spell more powerful. Anghel does not wish to fall victim to it himself. "There is danger here! We must retreat!"

It's hard to say who's heavier, much less stronger; an unusually large bird, or a rock-riddled skeleton who works out? But Papyrus doesn't stop to consider the question. He just pulls forward, as if he's the rope in a game of tug-of-war Anghel's begun to play with those malevolent threads.

"No, we... have to help. Can't give up." In another tone, in another context, it might be reassuring words for inspiring confidence. Instead, it's more of a zombie's drone.

"Grnk!" Anghel digs his feet into the ground in his effort to stop Papyrus. "The enemy has founds us! If we continue now, we shall be ensnared and those we are meant to help shall fall into the darkest despair!"

He can't see anything else he could use to stop Papyrus. His next action is to attempt to snap Papyrus back to normal by bopping him on the head.

With how he's moving forward, inattentive to obstacles, absolutely nothing stops Anghel from bopping Papyrus' skull. He's knocked forward, stumbling briefly, before twisting to frown at the bird.

"Ow?" Papyrus asks more than says. "Why? This is no time for... fighting, each other." Or maybe for fighting at all. It's the time to get to the stage.

"I cannot allow you to bring yourself into the enemy's clutches." Anghel repeats desperately. "We must find another path."

He looks for any sign that Papyrus listening to him.

Papyrus stares back, frowning even more deeply, but not really responding to the urgency of Anghel's voice. The only urgency is the music, and the main sign that he hears anything is a ping of blue as a row of bones form between them.

"Do what you like, I... I have to go."

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⇨ THE FANTASIA FESTIVAL

PAPYRUS | OTA

DRAWN IN

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Drawn in

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sorry for the late tag! rl stuff happened for a couple weeks.

No problem! :)

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