⇨ A SONG IN THE SILENCE

[ringleaders]

Who: The Harbingers
When: Just after midnight, Day 13
Where: ????
What: The new Harbingers have an out of body experience.
Warnings: Ego death. Some generally upsetting content, most likely.

ONE WAY OUT↴ You don't fall unconscious so much as you find yourself completely slipping out of this reality, the meaning of everything you left behind becoming increasingly abstract and hard to hold on to. You're lost in a void, surrounded by whispers that fall just out of range of hearing, in the presence of something so vast that you feel crushed by its presence. On, in this case, lack of presence. Like they say: the abyss stares back. It isn't someone, it is an emptiness, and everything about you feels like it bleeds away in the face of it. A hole that has no bottom. Every attempt to pull yourself together makes this vertigo feel worse, until existence itself feels terrifying or reprehensible. How precisely this existential crisis manifests will depends on the individual, tailored to your own unfulfilled desires, disappointments, frustrations. You find yourself faced with all of the things about reality that fill you with despair and disgust, and while you can attempt to fight it with thoughts of the things you hold dear, it feels unrelenting. Eventually you will break under the weight of it. It's only then, when you find yourself desperate for any kind of escape, that you are finally given the opportunity. The void speaks to you without words, but instead with a simple understanding. It can give you what you need to take control of this despair, of this heartbreaking necessity. Of every lost soul in this world, you are the one that has been given the chance to be the one to end it, to take control in the universe's final days. You will be creation's judge and executioner - and having witnessed this evidence, you know what you must do. This can't go on. This can't be fixed. The only hope left is for the end, but it will be an end at your hand. For once, the power is yours. Only when you are willing to accept this gift will you awaken. You find yourself in your body again, your senses painfully acute, as if you've been reborn. Is this the first time you've truly lived? Every pain, every worry you had prior to this moment seems so small in comparison. The path ahead is clear and unburdened by complication. You are in a dark space, surrounding by the specters of creatures you can't quite make out, like things just barely forgotten. You find that you aren't alone, as others have awoken in the same space. In front of you, floating above your chest, you will find a black light, like a small inverted sun. You know it's a part of you, but that it wasn't like this before. Though fear and a distant sense of disquiet may linger, you can't bring yourself to distrust your new location, or the change in your Spark. You have reassurance, now. It will all be over soon.

Comments

[starseedling]

"We're... we're supposed to do this together though, right?" Steven says, sounding a bit like he's grasping for a foothold. "You, or, uh... the Void chose us for a reason, didn't it?"

As eager as he is to take this chance to control his life, even now, he can't help but crave companionship. The immediate conflict is stressing him out a bit. Why can't they just do this together?

[bananaspeedrider]

"Wiping out existence is probably gonna take more than blasting everything into bits anyway."

Because breaking a single world into multiple dimensions is hard enough and not a feat under Zarc's accomplishments.

[npcarnival]

"I do have a plan, and it's one you'll be brief on soon," CY-Ren says. "However, before any of that, I have a more information question: where did you come from? I can tell all of you aren't native to this place. You've got something else in you."

She quirks a brow.

"And a lot of things going on outside of you, too." Y'all are a bunch of mutants.

[scientificist]

"Elsewhere," says Herbert. He's still standing off to the side, shoulders angled slightly away from the group, both hands at his chest now. "Wh-hy does it matter, if we're destroying everything anyway--surely individual places don't hold that much. Weight."

[tacosgay]

"Where I'm from technically doesn't exist anymore, so, uh... oops."

Though the words are spoken fairly lightly, there's a sharp undertone to them, a darkness that has been greatly enhanced and drawn out since his recent awakening there in the dark.

[npcarnival]

Her eyes narrow at Herbert, unimpressed.

"Because it's a question I don't have an answer to. This planet was untampered with until tonight, and now suddenly there's a gang of what I can only assume are aliens... aliens who were helping my enemies, no less."

Her gaze is momentarily suspicious and searching.

"I know you weren't the only ones. For whatever reason, you opened to the Void before any of my fans. In fact, you were the only ones to react to my spell as intended."

[fourthscribe]

It is curious that only those from the carnival were ensnared--Tanyuu had entertained for a few moments that they had been targeted specifically, but if CY-Ren hadn't known they were even here...curious.

"We are all from different worlds, but the way we arrived here is the same. We were in service to a powerful Fae, and the Star Guardian you fought happened to appeal to her for assistance."

[motivenotfound]

"Oh, were you hoping for fans? Sorry!" Mari chirps, but doesn't actually wait for an answer.

"It's fae magic either way. There's a fae carnival we're all signed onto, and we just happened to be touring the area. Guess your timing sucks!"

She's fully aware she's one of the biggest weirdos here, and she kind of enjoys that. It's even literal; inevitably, she's taller than anyone else in the room.

[bananaspeedrider]

"Also a lot of us started off as just human, if you really need to know about that part so bad..."

Yugo pauses in thought about that bit about the spell.

"But heck if I have any idea why your magic got us and only us."

[worldlyafflictions]

Shima could make the observation that everybody here is probably more intense than most and more likely to make better world-ending material. But that seems like a useful thing to do, and only theory besides.

So instead, he goes, "Hey, I'm totally a fan after today!"

Seriously, is Shima even distinguishable from your average concert-goer yet?

[scientificist]

"'Enemies'," Herbert chuckles, "it's just one girl." He steps a little bit closer, though he keeps himself protectively angled away. "Don't blame your mistake on us. Shouldn't we be doing something more, constructive than answering everything you happen not to understand?"

[spaghettimonster]

Papyrus hangs back quietly, wanting to get the gauge of who's who and what's the plan. The plan itself is obvious, but there's so much in the details to trip all over... At least, they might trip each other up if they're not as acrobatic and adaptable as he is.

But Steven brings up one question - why can't they just work together - and CY-Ren brings up another - where are they all from. Which seem connected, because he remembers - the carnival. The others from the carnival.

"Hey! Anyway! We all need to work together... or, else, the others who didn't come along, are going to be a problem? Everybody's really stubborn about living. So..."

He glances at Steven, Carly, and a few of the others who seem eager to work together, instead of showing off how cool and aloof they are. (Admittedly very cool, to the point of cold.)

"I think, some of us should work to distract them! Unless," he specifically addresses CY-Ren, "is there anyway to get the others to understand?"

[tacosgay]

Taako, who had previously gone quiet to listen and see what everyone else here has to offer, speaks up again-- though, this time, it's not with a challenge, but a request.

"Yeah, uh... is there any way we could get just a second back home before we seal the deal here? J-just to... tie up loose ends, as it were."

To say goodbye. To see his sister at least somewhat-alive one last time.

[dirthena]

Lavellan spent most of this time hanging onto the edges and listening — there are a thousand questions she wants to ask, but most everyone seems to have the right of it. And while her new purpose is something she’s going to cling to now that she has it, sometimes it’s better to sit and learn. She’ll have a moment, later — and spends most of it using the double ended glaive her Spark became as something to lean on. Something about the spell, however, has her curious.

They had a warning about possible fae, after all. And she doesn’t understand fae magic like she’d like, but there’s no point in wishing for more time.

“You said we were the only ones to respond as planned. The magic that brought us to this world — could something similar have interfered with your magic?” After all, it wouldn’t have been the first time something didn’t go as planned because of magic.

[npcarnival]

CY-Ren listens to the information given by the others, mostly just nodding and silently taking it in. At Herbert's words, however, she moves forward - and unless Herbert runs away, he's going to end up with that violin bow placed gently at his neck. This challenge means that the other requests are momentarily going unheard.

"Big words, with so little to back them up," she says smoothly. "Would you like to try that again?"

[scientificist]

She's... threatening him with a stick. A blue glowing stick, certainly, but a stick nonetheless. He doesn't run away, or do much more than look at the bow down his nose then back up at CY-Ren.

"Try what?" he asks. "You're wasting time waving that at everyone you feel... threatened by instead of moving on to what we're really here for."

[npcarnival]

"Threatened?" she says, with brief, melodic laugh. "What could you do to me, Herbert? Science, research... it isn't the most spontaneous of arts. It takes time. Analysis. It's not so good at... sudden movements."

With those last words, she jerks her wrist, bringing the strings of the bow against the skin near his throat. It will cut the skin there as easily as a spinning blade, making the sharp note of a violin as it goes. It's far enough to draw blood, but not enough to risk being lethal. At least, not yet.

Do you ever get the funny feeling that there is background music winding up? It feels a bit like that right now.

[scientificist]

Herbert's chin, already tilted back, tilts a bit further back as he huffs out through his nose in mainly surprise, hands lowering, eyes widening slightly. It hadn't seemed sharp.

He hadn't meant threatening physically either, but it appears, of course, that CY-Ren has taken that as his meaning. He'd intended to call attention to how she obviously can't cope with being called on her mistakes, that she thinks authority is about not taking input and being the only one to propose ideas, even when others might be more intelligent.

Still, she's threatening him and he doesn't know how far she'll go. He steps back, stiffly saying, "what is this...posturing meant to prove?"

[atouts]

"That she's in charge and could likely wipe the floor with you," Childermass finally speaks up from where he stands, a little apart from the rest of the group gathered around CY-ren (and Herbert, if only due to CY-ren being in the midst of threatening the man). "Do you always run your mouth so senselessly or is this a special occasion?"

Yeah, he's getting tired of everyone trying to size everyone else up. Move it along, children.

[npcarnival]

Wow, she likes this guy. CY-Ren is just going to hold her bow in position and leave it for Herbert to answer that question. It's a good one, after all, and she smiles slyly.

[scientificist]

"I'm rambling senselessly?!" says Herbert, brows furrowing, offended. He's speaking quickly, though, anxious to get all of his words out before being cut off.

"Iiiif she's in charge she should, prove it--not! Through threats but through her plans, moving forward with our true cause. This--" and he gestures his chin down slightly at the bow still menacing him, "--proves nothing."

[atouts]

"Something she would get to if not for your huffing and puffing about, Dr. West," Childermass replies, about as unmoved by Herbert's offense as he is by, well, virtually anything, so business as usual for him. "Or perhaps we should send you out to face that 'one girl' alone and see how you feel about that afterward."

[starseedling]

Oh, Steven doesn't like this at all. At the sight of blood, he immediately wants to use his healing powers to fix it... but he also doesn't want to get in the way of CY-Ren right now.

"Guys, come on..." he pleads. "We wouldn't even know this stuff if it wasn't for her! We can work together..."

[npcarnival]

"Shhh," CY-Ren hushes gently, waving off Steven's concerns and Childermass's defenses.

It's then, as promised by the energy in the room, that music will begin to seep in through the cracks, filling the space ambiently like a soft glowing light. It's a languidly paced beat, and her hips sway to it as she moves in close to Herbert, just a breath away from touching.

"When I want you," she purrs, "I don't have to raise my voice." She raises her hand to his chin, still not quite touching his face, but somehow still forcing him to turn his head in her direction, as she pleases. "When I call you... You know you haven't got a choice. When you hear me... you better come without delay. Hear me calling... honey, won't you come and play?"

She smoothly flows her hands down his body, still not quite touching, and as she does... despite himself, Herbert will find that he desperately wants her to. Even if he's completely unaccustomed to it, there is something subtly arousing about the music, in a way he may have never experienced before.

"Cooome ooon..."

And then she pulls away, lazily spinning in a perfectly executed dance move, and bringing her bow against her own body. She slices her torso wide open, but all that comes out is Void - Void that swirls like water, forming the material of her Harbinger form.

"Succumb, surrender to me," she sings, the music growing heavier. But now instead of just targeting Herbert, it's resonating into everyone around her - though to a lesser degree. The way it will manifest will depend from person to person. It may be sexual desire, or adoration, or the unquenchable thirst to serve her needs. Whatever it is, her song will spark these feelings within all of them, in some form or another, as she dances through the crowd.

"Throw yourself into my sea...
I'm waiting here with my arms open wide...
Come to me, darling..."

She waves one of her arms, opening a rift in the Void, leading to somewhere filled with light. She beckons towards Herbert, and he will feel absolutely compelled to come towards her, as requested. Despite his protests, all of this seems suddenly reasonable - desirable, even.

"Come inside."

that was the plan. to give you a boner. and you got one.

[scientificist]

Herbert starts out looking around sharply, for the source of the music, but his eyes are drawn back to CY-Ren in no time, watching her move towards him. He feels torn for a moment, between moving away from her again and staying still but he doesn't move in the end, wetting his lips with his tongue and looking vaguely dismayed, blood still trailing slowly down his neck. This is... strange? Uncomfortable. Herbert doesn't have much of a personal space bubble but women don't generally invade it to begin with, outside of nurses, obviously.

His mouth opens slightly, eyes widening as she presses more into his mind, moves her hands down him a breath away from actually touching and he looks stricken, almost unhappy. Obviously he's conflicted, but increasingly equally obviously (unfortunately for everyone in the area, honestly) he's turned on.

The music is barely audible to him near the end: it might as well be static. He's watching CY-Ren, her body, her lips. He's never thought of a woman directly before like this, outside of anatomically. It's like his work, in that he'd do anything she required, anything it--she, asked of him. Finally, his hands lower entirely, falling to his sides, only one of them still clutching the large green syringe of his Spark. Only the fact that CY-Ren beckons to him stops him from falling onto suddenly weak knees.

All the same, he staggers when he starts to walk over. There's nothing he can think of needing more.