⇨ INVASION!

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone! But especially HARBINGERS!
When: S2:D16-22
Where: All over Wismuth!
What: As the Harbingers reveal themselves, those among the carnival that Creation has chosen will start to discover new powers within themselves. It's because they're magical girls, yo.
Warnings: Harbingers being assholes.

HARBINGERS OF VOID↴ On Day 16, the Harbingers begin revealing their new selves... in the form of wreaking havoc on the city! CY-Ren isn't looking for mass panic or serious structural damage - instead she wants constant annoyances and distractions, of the sort that will keep those that might be on her tail distracted from her true plans. However, when Creation is faced with the threat of twelve new Harbingers, it will have to fight in kind... ► HARBINGERS: Your job is to use your powers to create messes for other people to clean up! CY-Ren gives no specific instructions outside of a general framework... flex your powers! See what you can do. Don't destroy the city or anything, but give Creation a run for its money. She needs these civilians alive for her later plans. ► STAR GUARDIANS: Twelve members of the carnival have been chosen by Creation to fight in its name, even if they don't realize it yet. When confronted by the Harbinger's chaos, their Sparks will make themselves known in whatever form is appropriate to the character - and they will be asked if they are willing to use the power of their soul to fight the darkness. How this scene plays out can be flexible, but essentially they will find themselves faced with the question: are they willing to fight for the preservation of life? If they say yes, their Spark will emerge, and they will be able to trigger a magical girl transformation, as you do. ► CHARITY CONCERT: While everyone else is busy with the sudden rise of the Harbingers, CY-Ren's PR team is releasing a statement -- they will say that new information has revealed that there had been bomb threats made against the canceled concert, which are now being blamed for the damages. CY-Ren will make a personal statement, saying that in order to apologize for the failure of her previous performances, a new free to attend event is being planned for the near future - people who had tickets to the previous event and had to go home early get top priority!

Comments

lavellan | ota & then closed starters as needed.

[dirthena]

i.
( She spends her time at the beginning simply walking through crowds. Her appearance is enough to cause whispers in the most busy of public spaces -- short, with pointed ears and purple tattoos on her face, dressed in a black outfit that looks far more medieval than most. Yet like the other Harbingers, it is clearly black and dripping with the Void, rich purple highlights running along the seams and across the metal. But what she does causes more unease than anything else: whispers that people are lying, conversations about how the person sitting across from someone had been withholding something from their partner.

On her shoulder is a rather cruel looking, and rather large raven, who's eyes are trained not on her but on everyone passing by, and occasionally it caws when someone gets too close. The wicked looking double ended glaive strapped to her back doesn't help with any appearance of her aiming to do anything but cause, well. Subdued chaos. )

ii.
( And sometimes chaos needs to be a little more obvious. Just a little inconvenience.

After a point, when she sees that the work she's done hasn't erupted into people arguing each other but a general feeling of unease, she sighs. Would she always feel like the work she'd done wasn't enough? Not when they succeeded, however, and Lavellan uses that knowledge to call into the shadows and send out figures into the gathered crowds. Shadowy wolves to nip at the heels of the shemlen, wyvren running through crowds. They don't do anything but fade in and out and cause people to question if what they've seen is real, grabbing attention when they linger for more than a second. But then someone blinks, someone turns away, and they're gone. Some people huddle up, whispering to each other as the unease spreads -- some shemlen come closer, wanting to find the truth.

Lavellan grins from her position in the shadows, sending another bout of wolves to weave between people's legs before they're gone. Just what CY-Ren wanted, or so she hopes. )

iii.
[ WILDCARD. throw anything at me or contact me on plurk/discord to set something up! ]

1!

[hurtcomfort]

[ There is just an explosion of hurt, of pain and suffering. It's almost enough to overwhelm Cole. But he needs to find what this is and he needs to stop it. So he flits through the crowds, unseen and unnoticed as he tries to track just who caused all of this and try to find a way to stop them.

And man, Cole's heart is just crushed when he sees Lavellan in the center of it all. This shouldn't be happening. This isn't right. He's got to save her, got to help...but how? Whatever this magic is that changed her has changed her thoroughly.

Still, this is Cole. He's going to give it a shot. ]

You shouldn't be doing this, [ he simply says, as he appears about six or so feet away from Lavellan. He's not going to get near her (at least, not yet), but she needs to hear him. ] Someone who sought to save shouldn't destroy.

[dirthena]

( The voice is familiar -- it reaches into a part of her, the part before the Void showed her the truth -- and tugs on something deep. But it is only enough to get her to pause, and turn back towards the figure. The raven on her shoulder caws threateningly at Cole, flapping its wings as if in disgust and dislike for the spirit.

For a moment Lavellan doesn't say anything. But when she does it's with the conviction she had as Inquisitor, sure and strong. )

I have tried saving, Cole. This is what comes next.

( He understands that, doesn't he? That she tried and failed, and the Void -- the Void understands, CY-Ren understands, and she will do everything she can to help her. To end the world because it cannot be saved. )

[hurtcomfort]

No, [ Cole simply responds, shaking his head. If he talks, if he pleads, would Lavellan believe him? Would she listen? ]

You've succeeded at saving! Corypheus is gone. You've made things better.

[ And a new challenge rises in his place, as Solas's goals are revealed. But she can help stop that too, right? He hopes. The fact remains that Lavellan's made things better, made the world better, and for her to hurt everybody like this? It's just not right. ]

[dirthena]

( Once she would have. Cole has always been a symbol of what she struggled with, that reassuring voice that what she did mattered, that she could help. Once his words would have meant the world to her, but now-- now she just shakes her head at him. )

For how long? Everything keeps falling apart, and Thedas will never be satisfied. It will take and take, Cole, and it will never think that I have given it enough. CY-Ren ( And she gets a look on her face, one she has never had before, of the sort of reverence that some speaking of the Inquisitor had, near the end. ) has shown me a better way.

( And she will do what she will, for her. )

[hurtcomfort]

[ he knows that look. Other people give that to Lavellan, looking at her like she can save the world, she truly is the herald, we owe her so much. Seeing that look is worrying, seeing it about CY-Ren is the most worrying thing of all. ]

A person, not people. Thedas might not be satisfied but lonely people are. Those you save, those you helped. Would you abandon them for this?

[ the world would ask so much and yet you meet it anyway. Because it matters to individual people. ]

[dirthena]

What is the point of saving them if the world is only going to be cruel? It will take from them too, Cole. I am -- I can help them, in a new way.

( She can end their suffering, and know that she is doing it because it is better than the alternative. Better by her hands than by Solas's, or any other. Lavellan has to believe that or else she risks everything, and the Void has already-- already--

Shaking her head to clear her head, she stands her ground. )

Let me help them.

( For he has always wanted to help, always loved it when she did. )

2

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya figured that, if those kidnapped were turned to CY-Ren's same cause, their abilities would remain the same--or similar. So when he sees the strange, shadowy figure, his first assumption is Childermass. And that's who he looks for as he peers between the crowds, his gaze focusing on the edge away from the people--the corners and the crevices.

These creatures set him at unease, but he assumes it's that inclination to protect the people around him--something so strange and ominous is likely a threat.

He thinks he sees something, more mass than there should be, and he starts to approach that set of shadows.] Who's there?

[dirthena]

( For a moment Lavellan debates showing herself to him. But if there is one person who could understand that isn't Cole or Solas, it's Syrlya. So she lets the shadows fall away from her -- or well, not all. The one that forms hr missing arm remains -- as if it were made from the Void itself. )

Just me, Syrlya.

( Said as pleasantly as anything else, as if she's using magic she doesn't normally have or dressed in black. )

[chronosynthesis]

[Oh--it's Lavellan. He clearly didn't expect that, and he stops and stares in bewilderment at her for a moment.

But that's right, she was among the missing.]

Lavellan. [His attention briefly snaps to the remaining shadow attached to her arm before he gestures outwardly, where the shadow creatures had been roaming.] Was that your doing just now?

[dirthena]

( It isn't her favorite choice of skills, but her magic is less effective now, so she goes with what is easiest, what feels more powerful. At his question she nods, a slight incline of her head. )

Species native to Thedas. Unlike anything here, or so I've researched. ( A pause, and a small half smile. ) Well, except for the wolves. Those it seems our worlds share.

[chronosynthesis]

I don't recall seeing these at your magic demonstration. [So what the hell is up with that.

It doesn't feel like the time to commiserate over their world's shared species, though any other time he would be happy to. Rather...] I heard you went missing during the battle with CY-Ren... but I haven't heard anything of your return.

[He's like to hope it's because the carnival has little sense of things like 'organization'.]

[dirthena]

Ah, no. It's... a recently acquired skill.

( She's helping. And she's going to continue helping him further, although she does noticed that he doesn't seem interested in comparing their lives. Shame, he used to. But if anything, that means he will understand why she has to do this, beyond the fact that it is what CY-Ren wants. )

I was otherwise occupied with something far more greater. But I've returned -- don't worry.

( The smile she gives him probably only makes him worried more. )

2

[lonesomewanderer]

[ The sense of unease as he walks through Wismuth is palpable. First the attack on the concert, then the disappearances of several from the carnival, and now the city seemed to be... conflicted, in a way.

When he sees the shadowy form of a wolf chasing after someone, he moves more swiftly in the direction it had come. Magic. A fae or someone else, whichever it was, it could be a clue as to what happened to Lavellan. Any lead was worth latching onto rather than the nothing that he had stumbled upon with Cole. Scales catch his attention from the corner of his eyes and his brows furrow. A wyvern, one eerily similar to those in Thedas. Cole wouldn't have conjured or brought such a creature here to cause panic amongst a crowd, but neither would Lavellan unless--?

He pauses in his step and scans the crowd more critically. Had someone stolen her magic, her thoughts in order to conjure such a creature? The trail of magic seems to be coming from one area and he focuses his attention there, trying to parse out the culprit. ]

Are you seeking to cause mass panic or wanting entertainment?

[dirthena]

( She knows him. She will always know him.

And unlike him, Lavellan doesn't cower in the shadows or the distant reaches of a dream when he comes looking for her. She is no coward, damn it, and will not taunt him. Not that it matters, she supposes, when she is to help destroy it all. Yet part of her cannot shuck what she left behind so easily -- Cole was an example of that.

She forms in his shadow, allowing herself to step out of it and those around him to settle at his side. Her arms are crossed behind her back, the white of the halla horns on the skull she wears catching the light before they too seem to darken into a black, shifting void. )

Chaos, not panic. ( CY-Ren was very clear on that point, and Lavellan will follow her until she can no longer do so. ) I am simply enjoying a job well done.

[lonesomewanderer]

[ He senses magic as she nears and shifts to witness her stepping out from--shadows? New, learned from somewhere along with the changes to her appearance or perhaps a creature taking on her appearance, in a twisted form?

He stands at the ready and on his guard as he regards her. ]

I was unaware such a job was in high demand in Wismuth. To what purpose does this chaos serve?

[dirthena]

Ah. That I'm not going to tell you.

( It's simply to keep them distracted, but she knows if she tells him he will find a way to distract her. Or stop them, perhaps -- he is far more powerful than he looks. And surely he understands, after all: he denied her the same thing when she asked how he was going to bring about the end of Thedas.

But she gestures -- he can ask another question, if he'd like. In a strange turnabout of their roles. )

[lonesomewanderer]

[ There's an arrogance there that resembles far too much of his own. His gaze runs over her halla antlers, going to the tip then back to her. Something was wrong. It was inherent in everything she did. She was a strange mockery of who she was meant to represent and he has to fight to stay his hand even as he feels himself reach for magic.

Another chance then. Before he allows his frustrations to get the better of him. ]

What will you tell me then?

[dirthena]

Such an open-ended question. But you asked what purpose it served -- that I can't tell you. ( She is too loyal to CY-Ren now, and therefore she'd never betray her. ) I can tell you what I want, though. What all of us want, now that we understand.

( Will that suffice, she wonders? Enough to answer his question but enough to keep him from realizing they are simply a distraction at the moment. If she can keep him busy, he won't go after CY-Ren, and they'll have succeeded somewhat. But she leaves the question in his court. )

2

[anti_nonsense]

[Noticing the disturbance, Rita cautiously approaches the crowd, trying to catch some of what's being said... when one of those shadow wolves darts by her. She lets out a shriek despite herself, then immediately gives an uncomfortable glance at her surroundings, embarrassed at her own reaction.

She hates dogs. Wolves are even worse.

Fortunately, no one seems to have really noticed her indignant cry, as they have plenty of other things to worry about. Their arguments, their own sightings -- those take priority. It gives Rita a chance to calm down and try to think rationally about what just happened.

Magic. It has to be. She pulls out a circular amulet, one that enhances her ability to perceive magic, and peers through the center as she tries to locate the source of... whatever those are. She hopes they're illusions.]

[dirthena]

( Luckily for Rita, Lavellan doesn't notice her reaction. But it's easy to spot her by focusing in on the new magic -- hanging out in the the shadows of a building, leaning against the edge. There's a wicked looking double ended glaive strapped to her back in the place of the staff she normally wears.

Rita will also see her make small shapes from the shadows -- shadowy wolves again, although one has six burning pits for eyes, and she sends them out into the world to act as if they're nipping the heels of others. She looks up and away from her work to catch a glimpse of Rita, eyes passing over her before they come back and refocus.

Ah. She grins, then, and gives the other a small, almost mocking bow. )

[anti_nonsense]

[Lavellan. Rita’s lips press into a line, her expression humorless as she tucks the amulet away and approaches; just to get close enough to talk.]

I've never seen that technique before. Let me guess: it’s new?

[Her tone is dry.]

[dirthena]

It is, now that you mention it.

( And Lavellan's is just as dry back, shrugging slightly. That much isn't news, and she sees no reason why she shouldn't admit to it. )

[anti_nonsense]

Hmph... [So it's as she thought. Just like the others... Should she expect that they're all like this now?

At the very least, she's not being outwardly hostile. Maybe there's some way to get through to her.]

Of all people, I would've thought you'd be among the least likely to side with the Void.

[dirthena]

( She would have been right, Lavellan thinks, and something like sorrow steals across her face for a moment before it disappears. Things change. People change, and she's seen things, she's felt herself break under the truth of it all. It has left a mark. )

I shall take it as a complement, however pointless it is now. ( Sorry, Rita. But Lavellan pauses, turning to look at her with a question in her eyes. ) You're not going to try and stop me?

( Most have, so she simply wants to know what she should be prepared for. )