⇨ SHOW'S OVER

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone who DIDN’T get caught up in CY-Ren’s music, D13-D14.
When: D13-D15
Where: Wismuth, the Carnival
What: Recovering, taking stock, and trying to figure out where to go from here.
Warnings: ? ? ?

FALLEN STARS↴ ► AFTERMATH: After the culmination of the confrontation between Noa and CY-Ren — as much as it can be called one, since it ends with the Guardian being flung off the stage — the arena returns to darkness. After a few seconds of silence, the backup lighting sputters on, but instead of music a loudspeaker begins to blare loudly: ATTENTION, FANTASIA FESTIVAL ATTENDANTS. DUE TO AN EMERGENCY, WE WILL BE EVACUATING THE VENUE. PLEASE FOLLOW STAFF DIRECTIONS AND PROCEED TO THE NEAREST EXIT. THANK YOU. The pleasant, automated woman’s voice begins to play on loop as the concertgoers, snapped out of their trance, look at each other in confusion. The Void creatures that had come out at CY-Ren’s command are nowhere to be seen now, and neither is the singer herself. Wismuth police officers, though they look as uncertain and dazed as half the audience seems to be, break up the crowd and directing them to file out of the Fantasia Festival’s exits. It’s easy enough for Carnival members to slip away, though as they go through the crowd they’ll hear the festivalgoers discussing anything but the sight of Guardian and Harbinger in combat, much less people being dragged into shadows… “Right in the middle of CY-Ren’s set, too! Aren’t they supposed to check the wiring on these things?” “I paid to go to a concert, not a fire drill! I’d better get a refund!” “They didn’t have to shut the whole place down—" In the chaos and flow of people, it’ll be hard for Carnival workers to keep track of each other, but one thing is clear: they can’t stay here. ► HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN: The would-be saboteurs and those who’ve stayed behind have a chance to meet up again once they get back to the Carnival’s grounds. However, what exactly happened back there is unclear — and the one who might have answers is still unconscious from her brief altercation with the Harbinger. Still, there’s no shortage of things to do: after all, once they get back, it’s obvious there are more than a few missing faces. ► HEADLINES: Anyone who ventures to Wismuth in the days after the festival will find something peculiar: all news about the incident at the festival has been written off as a freak fire from some faulty wiring or a potential incendiary device, which reporters say police are ‘investigating the cause of’ and which some of the more sensational news sites are already having a field day with (based on rumors and hearsay the venue may have received a bomb threat). Most entertainment sites and social media coverage of the event only include blurry clips with captions like ‘tmw you fucked up the only vid you have of cy-ren’s concert 😭fml' and generally agree that it's a pity she never got past a second song.

Comments

[whattaprick]

"Fuck," Lambert and Celandine swear, in unison. The daemon turns, a paw knocking the beaker over hard enough to scatter the contents onto the table surface. Without hesitation, Lambert breathes fire over them, crisping the seeds to charcoal and leaving a scotch mark on its surface. For good measure, Celandine stomps on the charred husks with her paws, not seeming to heed the temperature as she grinds the remnants of the seeds to dust.

"Burn that," he orders Rita sharply, teeth gritted. "Should've known that bitch was up to something..."

[anti_nonsense]

Rita doesn't need to be told twice. She sweeps a hand over the dish, incinerating the seed with a small but focused flame. When it stops burning, there's only a tiny pile of ash left.

Without waiting for further instruction, Rita picks up the amulet and scans the ash-piles carefully. Several tense seconds pass in silence, as she tries to be thorough.

"...The signal's gone," she finally announces, breathing a sigh of relief. But the relief only lasts a moment before her mind starts considering what else could go wrong, and she turns to Lambert, grabs his wrist, and holds the amulet over his injured arm to see. She needs to be sure that they got them all.

"Did she attack anyone else?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert approves of the thoroughness, though he doesn't say as much.

"Not as far as I know." For a wonder, Lambert lets Rita grab his wrist and pull it to her with no protest, even if it tugs at recent stitches uncomfortably. His arm's still covered with a thin layer of bandages, but at least to Rita's eyes, there aren't any more traces of Nightshade's magic -- just lingering traces of the spirit healing that Solas used.

"She was talking to Gongenzaka before I showed up, but he didn't look poisoned."

[anti_nonsense]

Finding no more signs of the seeds, Rita lets go of the arm and steps back, though it's not until she's had a few extra seconds to process his answer that she finally relaxes and breathes again. "Okay... good." She didn't even notice until now that she'd been holding her breath.

"Right, so... now that that's dealt with," she begins, folding her arms as she looks up to Lambert, "what happened with Nightshade, exactly? Aside from poisoning and planting those on you... Was she doing anything? Did she say anything?"

[whattaprick]

"Nothing important." Lambert scowls. "Gongenzaka got to her first, during the concert -- she was up in the stands. I didn't realize who he was yelling at, at first. Thought it was one of her flunkies." He trails off, frowning more, then shakes his head.

"Anyway, she knocked me down, stuck those seeds in me and tried to step on my face a few times, then threw me off the building." You know, like that happens every day. "I don't know what she was doing here."