lostcarnival | ⇨ SHOW'S OVER

Entry tags:

⇨ SHOW'S OVER

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.

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Midway through CY-Ren’s second song, the lights go out -- but from the way the performance goes on, it’s as though nothing was affected at all. The sound in the air is no longer amplified by speakers, but magic, and the spotlights that shine on the stage are powered by her magic as well as she weaves her magic around the crowd. The barrier around the stage continues to absorb the attacks levied against it, and CY-Ren continues to sing, weaving her spell around the crowd.

“That’s enough!” The panicked cry is almost drowned out by the noise of the song and the stadium, hardly audible except for those with ears sharp enough to listen and the attention to spare. Harder to miss, however, is the spinning, glowing sphere of pale yellow light that appears out of nowhere, launching itself at the barrier surrounding the stage and impacting it with a sound almost like a bell being struck. The force of striking the barrier is enough to make it ricochet, revealing Noa -- now in full Star Guardian form -- using her arms and leg to suspend her body in a large ring that seems to be made of that golden light.

From the point of view of anyone watching the stage, the effect is like watching tension snap across water in slow motion. Ripples form, distorting its shape as it shudders, but it’s not quite broken, not yet. With a yell, Noa throws her weight forward to send the wheel spinning to hit the barrier again.

This time, it shatters like a bubble popped, and Noa drops onto the stage. The wheel vanishes, the golden light disappearing and reforming into a long, trailing ribbon she grips tightly with both hands as she stares the Harbinger down.

All the while, CY-Ren never stops singing, a change starting to come over her as well. She reaches her fingers deep into her own chest, pulling out a long violin bow, glowing a violent shade of blue. She then draws the bow across her torsa, seeming to tear her body open and spill out a miasma of depthless void, swirling around her like singing violin strings and transforming her into an entirely new ensemble.

She doesn’t miss a beat, and the crowd can’t seem to tell the difference.

“Me and you, you and me… Why don’t we see who is better?” she purrs, gently coaxing out notes to match her backup vocals from the magical violin she’s summoned to match. “We don’t have to be one in the same thing…”

“What’s so wrong with a little competition?
I’m rising up and nailing this audition.”

With the rising swell of that stanza, she draws the bow violently across the violin, unleashing searing slashmarks of magical energy through the air, shredding everything that stands in their way. As the blasts -- from her magic and the Carnival members aiming for the stage alike -- break and shatter the stage beneath them, Guardian and Harbinger leap into the air, briefly suspended for a long, fragile moment. And then--

Then, they fight. Although there aren’t any conventional weapons involved, it’s violent, CY-Ren’s music picking up in tempo and volume while Noa dances to its beat, steps light and quick. Yet it’s obvious from the beginning why she’d been afraid of a direct confrontation, even as she flings out the ribbon to block another barrage of magic from crashing into the front row of the audience, or brings it up to avoid getting cut to pieces: she can’t catch her breath enough to do more than defend. The pace CY-Ren dictates is grueling, and all she can do is try to match it.

It isn’t enough. It’s hard to keep track of how long the strange, surreal performance goes on, but sooner rather than later, there’s a missed beat. Noa missteps, and her eyes widen as she stumbles forward, which is all the opportunity CY-Ren needs. She smirks, and her magically amplified voice echoes for everyone else to hear.

“Sorry to say, but you’re just not the right fit for the job.”

And with a contemptuous flick of her fingers, a blast of discordant music slams into Noa and hurls her off the stage to crash into sound equipment.

With that, CY-Ren is gone.

The stage was never meant to hold up to any serious damage, meaning it looks distinctely worst for the wear. Pieces of it lie everywhere, and parts of it are still smoking.

Smoking, too, is the pile of sound equipment and speakers that Noa was thrown into, the golden glow that she carried with her dimming into nothing. As the seconds tick by, there’s no hint of movement there, either. For now, at least, concert staff and security are too busy herding people out to investigate.

There's a kind of tingling you feel in a situation like this - like the threat of death is close, even if it never comes. Lucky for them, it seems, those warning bells never come to pass - whether it's because of his actions or anyone else's, Sans can never be sure. It's not like he'd have any idea where to take a lost soul if he found one, anyway. Mostly, he was just busy using his magic to get anyone and everyone out of the way.

The paths of destiny aren't as clear outside of Portland, and it's been a while since he felt the pings of a fated death at all.

Anyway, Sans arrives on top of the pile of wreckage in record time. He's not really strong enough to lift this stuff with his hands, but he does cast some anti-gravity over the debris, which will make it easier to push out of the way.

"Hey, you dead?" He knows she's not.

Under the broken electronics, Noa's sprawled on her back, dressed in the same clothes she was wearing when she met the rest of the Carnival members at the park earlier -- shorts and a hoodie over a loose-fitting shirt. There's no trace of the golden light she was wielding earlier. At the sound of Sans's voice, she stirs slightly, eyes blinking open. It's a testament to how tired she is, probably, that the sight of someone wavering between a skeleton and a man over her doesn't even make her scream.

"Think I might be," she tells him, seriously, still winded from her fall. She tries to move to sit up, and she sucks in a sharp breath when she puts weight on one hand, quickly switching to the other (and nearly clunking her head on a piece of speaker).

"Where... where's CY-Ren?"

Edited 2018-02-06 05:19 (UTC)

Alphys knows exactly what she just witnessed. Magical girl fight. When Noa goes flying, she takes off with complete disregard for her own safety. Something went wrong- the magical girl isn't supposed to lose!

"Noa! Noa!!" She yelps as she arrives at the mess of sound equipment. She has no strength of her own, but fortunately Sans is here to levitate stuff out of the way. With no other real way to assist, she gets down and tries to help Noa to her feet.

"I d-dunno, it's like she disappeared!" She stammers. "I really hope she's not still around."

[A]

Yuya exits the stadium with the rest of the crowd, largely getting squished between proper concert goers who seem... strangely unaffected by all the commotion he's certain he witnessed. Was this part of CY-Ren's spell?

He could ask, but it's not the most important thing on his mind right now. He knows quite a few carnival members were helping the attack, and he knows at least one was kidnapped. There's a pit in his stomach, because he knows there's probably more, so immediately once he's out of the stadium he's running around and waving his hands high, trying to find as many people as he can. CY-Ren is gone, but it doesn't make him less worried that someone might slip through the cracks between then and now, and they'll lose track of someone else.

[B]

Yuya makes his way back to the carnival much the same time everyone else does. Noa was right about CY-Ren being dangerous, but that... well, it was significantly less effective and helpful than he'd expected. He doesn't want to regret helping, but there's bitterness mixed in his dejected expression as he sits by the lake, cheek propped against his hand. It doesn't exactly make him feel better, watching the water barely rippling. He's no more calm, but it's like putting his feelings in a void where nothing else pokes at his tender heart.

It's becoming a habit, but that wouldn't be the first time.

"Yuya!"

Blast it all, Yuzu felt so helpless. She could offer anything really helpful to aid in stopping CY-Ren's spell, everything went pear-shaped quickly and she got left behind. Again. She spotted Yuya's hands after escaping from the stadium and quickly making her way over to him.

"Yuya, are you alright?"

"Yuzu!" Oh thank goodness she's okay. There's at least some relief in this, and he carefully pushes around people to get to her. Thankfully the crowds are dispersing, so it's much easier to get between them than in the venue. "Yuzu, I'm okay! What about you?"

He gives her a quick once-over, but she doesn't look injured.

Physically, she's fine. Bruised ego, maybe, though...

"I'm fine, just... I hate being helpless like this!" Yuzu declared. "What just happened?! It went so fast!"

Yuya winces. It's a sentiment he shares--it seems like they're always outmatched somewhere.

"I think Noa lost the fight." What exactly the fight was he couldn't say. Things were chaotic, and when parts of the building started to crumble and fall like shrapnel, Yuya had dedicated himself to using his shield to protect the innocent concert-goers. "There's someone--no, probably people missing. I think CY-Ren took them."

"What?!"

Oh, as if things couldn't get any worse. She doesn't want to believe that it's the same thing with the Prince all over again, but her mind is starting to lean into that direction again. "It... this... if this is one of the Ringmaster's little plans...! I-I mean, I know it couldn't be, but...!"

People kidnapped by an evil figure that seemed good? Yep, she's thinking in that direction.

"Definitely not!" Yuya waves his hands quickly, trying to deflect that thought currently. "I don't think she wanted to get involved, but..." But, well, the carnival is a bunch of bleeding hearts. "But Noa really needed to help. If this is what CY-Ren always does, she has to be hurting a lot of people."

But now people from the carnival were going to suffer for it, so does it really justify their involvement? Could they not have done this a better way? "You know we won't leave them. And--and this time we can stop it from being as bad as the Prince."

"We'd better, Yuya. I... I don't want to kill anyone else." Yuzu admitted. That's what probably hurt her the most right there, being forced to hurt her friends.

Yuya's shoulders tense and he's frozen for a moment. But just a moment, before he reaches out to pull her into a tight hug, his chin falling over her shoulder.

"We won't." He lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Gongenzaka wasn't taken. He's still here with us."

It's an awful memory for Yuya, and he's trying hard not to think about it. It's easy, at least, with the assurance that he was just with Gongenzaka before they were all pushed out of the stadium, after CY-Ren and her monsters already left.

"I won't let anyone disappear, okay?" It's a bigger claim than he should be making, but Yuya's made his resolve up. He doesn't care what he has to do, for as long as they're here he won't lose any of his precious friends. He won't let them by taken from the people waiting for them to go home as well.

Yuzu gasped slightly at Yuya hugging her, surprised at this. She does recover, though, accepting the affection and hugging him back.

"No, we won't." Yuzu said, slightly correcting him. She wasn't going to just hang back and let Yuya have all the fun. Where was the fun in that? Besides, she was going to make sure everything went right here.

Of course Yuzu wouldn't hold back when her friends are in danger, too. For both of them, those people were so important. But Yuya's already almost lost her once (twice, no more--) and there's a part of him that doesn't want her to. It isn't fair, and she doesn't know, so he doesn't say it.

But his grip does get a little stronger, squeezing for a second. "Yeah."

It's all he has to say at first, standing there in silence as he tucks those emotions a little deeper. Once he's sure he can, he pulls back just enough to offer her a smile. "I think we need to talk to Noa again."

They were woefully unprepared for just what they were up against. Now they have to be involved, and that means they need a better understanding from Noa. He just hopes she can provide it.

Tamaki hadn't gone to the concert, because he'd doubted he would be much help. Considering how gloomy those returning seem, it hadn't gone well, and Tamaki knows he wouldn't have been the one to turn the tide. He's not a fighter, after all.

He knows Yuya went, probably because Yuya is one of those people who can't help himself. He's glad to see his roommate made it back safely, at least, when he comes across him at the lake.

He walks over, hands in his pockets. He's quiet for a minute, watching the water, before finally speaking.

"Didn't go well, huh?"

"No," Yuya's entire tone is dour as his gaze slides sideways to peer at Tamaki. "I guess it could have gone worse, but CY-Ren still got away, and she took Yugo."

He really needs to keep a better eye on his world (group?) mates. "You weren't there, right? We didn't help much anyway..."

"Yeah, and she's not the only one." If Sans sounds angry, it's because he is. As opposed to Alphys more frantic and sympathetic approach, Sans is interested in exactly one thing right now.

"Where would she take people?" he asks Noa directly, his eyes narrowed and impatient. "We've got people missing. Something in that music was affecting our people's brains, and now they're gone."

It might not be fair to blame Noa, but it kind of sounds like he does right now.

The tone isn't lost on Noa, even as disoriented as she is. With Alphys' help, she gets to her feet -- though it produces another wince as she stumbles, face going white with pain.

Still, though her voice is shaky, but she gets the words out clearly enough, though she has to raise her voice to be heard over the announcement calling for an evacuation. "I don't ... her penthouse, maybe? Her studio? She's never taken people before," she says, trying to think it through. She doesn't understand if this is what Creation was warning against, and she's trying to quell her own rising sense of panic.

"We have to find them." She knows that much for sure, even without being told. But when she tries to take a step forward, her leg almost buckles out from under her, and she has to steady herself on Alphys quickly.

Jinx walks by, hands behind her head with both Shiro and Kuro staying close by. She doesn't look happy, or angry, or sad. Honestly she looks rather indifferent, or maybe even bored. Truth is she actually is annoyed.

This wasn't supposed to be how it turned out.

And what was up with people bailing like that?

Anyways, she makes it out of the stadium, noticing the flailing arms.

"Look at that. Nice to know you decided to stick around."

Alphys props up Noa the best she can (one of the few perks of being short) and shoots Sans a Look- this is hardly the magical girl's fault in her opinion. From the sound of it, this was something CY-Ren had never done before.

That was most likely not a good thing.

"Guh!" She lets out a yelp as Noa falls on her. "Y-you can't fight, you're too hurt! We'll go! We'll find them!"

Sans catches that look from Alphys, and it reminds him to tone it down a little - not because he feels bad about his accusations, but because he generally makes a point of not clenching quite so hard in front people. It feels more intimate than he wants to be, more than anything else.

He gestures, brushing a few last pieces of rubble out of the way, before letting them drop. It's the sense that 'we didn't even have to be here' that's really killing him at the moment.

"Fine," he says, terse by his own standards. There's no point in demanding information from someone who is obviously clueless.

If they hadn't been here, would CY-Ren's song never have worked? Or would she just have taken even more people, if her song hadn't been interrupted? Noa doesn't have the answers to that. But she knows she owes it to the people who promised to help even when they didn't have to, to figure out what CY-Ren wants with them and how to get them back.

"I ... I need to tell the Ringmaster what happened," she shakes off her confusion, lifting her chin a little, then glances between Alphys and Sans. She knows at least Alphys said she wasn't much of a fighter, but Sans ... looks like someone who's more capable, anyway. "Will you stay here and keep looking?"

Alphys is plenty grateful that Noa is looking at Sans. When she said 'we'll find them' she of course meant the carnival as a whole... she's nervous at the thought of facing CY-Ren again.

And with the Ringmaster involved... that's it!

"Sans! You can get us back to the carnival, right?" She pleads with him. "We'll get the Ringmaster, she'll know what to do!"

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⇨ SHOW'S OVER

(frozen comment) GUARDIAN vs. HARBINGER

⇨ RIGHT AFTER THE CONCERT (2 character limit)

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