⇨ 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

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[anti_nonsense]

Her thoughts elsewhere (largely fixated on thoughts of Harbingers and her recent awakening), Rita very nearly walks past Cole, but Francis is a little more perceptive of their surroundings. He stops and sits, staring at Cole and his familiar, and meows loudly. That gets Rita's attention, and she stops to see what the matter is.

She catches the tail end of the creature's complaints and gives both of them a weird look. Cole is a Star Guardian? What's he even doing here? Rita has a lot of questions, but to start with, she settles on, "Who's your friend?" with a pointed stare at Nigella.

[hurtcomfort]

"My name's Nigella! she explains. It really is amazing how high pitched this floating pink thing is. Cole continues to focus on the breaker box as Nigella continues her complaining.

"I'm supposed to be his familiar but he's terrible at this! He's not any good at explaining things and I've no idea what he's doing half the time!"

Cole seems to not pay any attention. He frowns for a moment before speaking up. "I don't know which turns off the lights." And he looks over to Rita for help. She's in engineering, she would know.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita furrows her brow at the squeaky-voiced critter, then looks to Cole and sighs. "It might be easier if you just let him do his weird thing first," she suggests to Nigella.

That said, she doesn't intend to go helping with any weird stuff without a good reason. "What do you want the lights off for?" she asks Cole, stepping forward to get a look at the breaker box.

[hurtcomfort]

"People will leave if the lights are off." And if people leave, that's one less target for Steven to attack. After all, what's the use of making the plant monsters when there's no one to terrorize?

"And if they leave, it isn't a target. But I don't want things to be worse than they are."

Cole knows nothing about breaker boxes. What happens if he pulls the wrong switch? He has no idea.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita looks over the switches, considering their purposes as she listens to Cole. As always, he isn’t as specific as she’d like, but she can make some sense out of it.

“A target of what?” she asks.

[hurtcomfort]

"He makes them large and living. They attack people and scare them and I'll make it so it won't happen." How many more questions is Rita going to ask? At least in Cole's mind, this makes sense. He looks over to Nigella with an expression of slight admittance.

Sighing in an overdramatic fashion, the familiar starts to explain. "One of the Harbingers has these odd plant powers. Turn off the lights, people will leave, he won't attack the grocery store."

She looks over to Cole: is that right? Cole nods, before turning back to the breaker box.

[anti_nonsense]

"So that's your plan," Rita says with a comprehending nod. "But have you really thought this through? Evacuate one supermarket, and maybe he'll strike a different one. Or do you plan on blacking out every supermarket in the city? Then he'll probably just move on to parks and gardens."

Her tone is cold, but it's not exactly that she wants to discourage him. Rita just thinks there must be a more effective way to help people.

[hurtcomfort]

Cole looks over at Rita, expression hidden from beneath his hat. Yes, it's just one supermarket but the little things add up. Surely Rita knew that already, surely Rita knew that if they can't solve everything in one fell swoop, might as well try to help in smaller ways.

"Do you know how to make this right? How to help, how to make them who they were?"

Because he's got a feeling Rita doesn't. Nigella just looks at Cole with a little frown, curious about this line of questioning.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita doesn’t waver. She’s been thinking about this, of course.

“We have to capture them first. After that... if it’s magic that changed them, I can fix it.”

She doesn’t know that for sure. But Rita’s been able to solve all kinds of magical problems with her knowledge before. And she even has this new power from Creation... Rita has hope that this will work out.

[hurtcomfort]

"And until then? Small sufferings still swarm. We can't capture them unless we have a plan and until that happens I'll be me. I can help, so I will." This is a sticking point for Cole as he turns to look back at the breaker box, practically pouting. He's not going to be the one to come up with the big save the world plan: he knows that. So let him help in his own way and try to make things at least a little bit better for everyone. Nigella looks over at Cole for a moment, before sighing.

"The magic has changed them," Nigella admits, as she looks over at Rita. At least one member of this team is being helpful. "It changed CY-Ren as well."

Tentatively speaking, Cole flips one of the switches in the breaker box. Nothing happens.

[anti_nonsense]

It changed CY-REN, too? For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to Rita that CY-Ren might be just like their friends... someone who had attachments to this world, who was twisted by the Void...

“Not that one,” Rita says quickly, shoving Cole aside and flipping the switch back. She hesitates... then reaches out and flips a different switch, shutting the lights off throughout the building. She might not necessarily agree with it, but... like she said earlier, it's probably easier to just let him do the weird thing.

“If it’s a plan you’re waiting for, then let’s make a plan,” she suggests. They're both Guardians now. Rita doesn't know what Cole can do, but their combined power should be enough to take down one of those Harbingers.

[hurtcomfort]

Victory! Cole looks pleased with Rita, giving her a little nod. Cole slightly approves, thank you for helping out. The idea of making a plan though...that causes Cole's mood to shift slightly. He frowns as he worries.

"We need to find them and fix the magic," Cole reiterates, as if making certain that he and Rita are on the same page. "I can try to find them but I'm not a mage."

Any breaking of magic would be other Guardians, not Cole.

[anti_nonsense]

"You can find them?" Rita's eyes light up. Technically, he only said he could try, but she's going to take that as a reason to count on him.

"What else can you do?" she asks, curious. Cole might not sound confident, but she's sure there are ways he can be useful.

[hurtcomfort]

"The Harbingers cause hurts," Cole explains. He's a bit worried that Rita's going to get the wrong impression: he's a spirit, not a bloodhound. Still, he's got to at least try to explain.

"I can't stop people from hurting if I don't know where they are. I can find them that way. Then I can make them remember or make them forget."

[anti_nonsense]

"In other words... if you go to places where lots of people are suffering, there's a good chance there'll be a Harbinger nearby," Rita attempts to translate for herself. If that's the case, it probably won't help them find a specific Harbinger, but it could be an effective way to locate them quickly and stop some of their chaos shortly after it starts.

She's not sure she understands that last part, however. "Make them remember or forget... what, exactly?"

[hurtcomfort]

"Remembering is new. I can make it so they remember something nice." Which, Cole's oddly pleased about. He likes this magical warrior power of his. Maybe he can find a way to see if he can keep it.

Though, Rita's asked another question. "I make them forget what they need to."

Which...isn't an answer. Still, Cole's treating it like an answer and like this solves all of Rita's problems.

[anti_nonsense]

Remember something nice...? That's an unusual power. Forgetting, too... The idea makes Rita uncomfortable. Even though she generally trusts Cole, the thought that someone could simply erase something from her mind, no matter what it is... it's chilling.

Memories are what make a person who they are. To make someone forget is to erase a part of them, however small.

And yet, she feels some disgust for herself as she wonders, "Could they forget what turned them to the Void in the first place...?"

[hurtcomfort]

Now that's something Cole's never thought of before. He frowns slightly, thinking it over. The Void hurt their coworkers. And the Void made them hurt other people. It's easier to make people forget the hurts than other things.

Unlike Rita, Cole doesn't feel any sort of disgust or shame at her proposal. It makes sense. Besides, people need to forget things to move on anyway.

"I don't know," he answers. "But I can try."

[anti_nonsense]

"I'm only asking so we can use it as a last resort," Rita clarifies quickly. "If possible, I'd rather they come back... you know. Whole."

She can't help but think of the hunt, when she was turned into a beast. Rita's memories of that time are nothing but painful and confusing... but given the choice, she wouldn't want to lose them. If she forgot, she wouldn't understand what Yuya and 9S went through in trying to bring her back.

Which brings another question to mind...

"If it comes down to it... can you fight?"

[hurtcomfort]

"Yes," Cole answers, downright surprised that Rita would ask that question in the first place. Perhaps it's because of the compassion thing? Or, though Cole's not putting this part together, is it because he's a twiggy little spirit who looks like he could snap in half easily.

"They are our friends but they're hurting people. I won't let them do that."

[anti_nonsense]

Rita's definitely thinking about the compassion thing, but it's also true that she can't quite imagine him as an effective fighter. So it's a bit of both.

"So a spirit of compassion can hurt someone if it's to prevent greater harm... is that it?" she supposes.

Lavellan said before that one way that spirits become demons is if they're forced to act against their nature. Cole isn't being forced, and he's supposedly protected against that sort of thing anyway... but having heard that, she had to wonder if he was capable of harm, and what his limitations might be.

[hurtcomfort]

"Sometimes the best way to help is to hurt." It's just said in a matter of fact tone of voice, while Cole tries not to look Rita in the eyes. "I don't like doing it. And you need to stop me if it goes wrong. But I can't look the other way."

If there is someone here, someone like the Harbingers, whose purpose is so vile, so awful that multiple people would get hurt if he didn't do anything, then Cole has to hurt them himself. That's how it was back home, that's how it is here.

[anti_nonsense]

She needs to stop him if it goes wrong...? If it goes wrong how?

No... whatever it is, she'll handle it. It can't be that hard to keep Cole in check, can it?

"Got it," she agrees. Rita still doesn't know how much use Cole will be in a fight... but it looks like he's willing to do his part, at least.

"Let's go, then. We'll find those bozos, beat them up, and drag them back to the Carnival." A pause, and then she gives him a questioning look. "Can you tell if any are nearby? Or... I don't know, something out of place?" Rita would guess that the 'hurts' of people facing disasters or bizarre phenomena would be different than those of people struggling in their everyday lives. Maybe Cole can tell.

[hurtcomfort]

"He's a spirit, not a bloodhound," Nigella chirps, with a little hmmph. Cole, who has no idea what a bloodhound is, just ignores his petty nug for now.

"I can tell if people are hurting. But so many different things cause confusion." So no, he can't pinpoint directly where Harbingers are, but he can vaguely sort of pinpoint their aftereffects. Good for clean-up, not so much in a crisis.

"I can try, though."

[anti_nonsense]

"Try it, then," Rita urges him, ignoring the squeaky-voiced pink thing. "Any lead is better than nothing. Can you tell if there are a lot of people hurting in one place? Or if someone who was fine a minute ago is suddenly distressed?" Those could indicate a Harbinger's plot, or something similarly disastrous... she thinks.