⇨ 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

[starseedling]

Well, it's not exactly very inventive - Steven has already encountered her headbutts of death before. It means he already knows what to do. As Jasper descends on him, he holds himself in the air and summons his shield. It's the same as it should be, except now it's also covered in a layer of thorns.

The vines from his arm have started curling around Peridot, desperate to keep her with him. Of course, that gets shaken when helmet meets shield, and Steven's entire body is jarred as he pushes back against her assault.

[stompadour]

There's an explosion when Jasper's helmet makes contact with the shield. She wasn't expecting it, at least not consciously -- she could feel something building even if she didn't realise what exactly -- and it sends her backwards, somersaulting midair to land in the grass below. Her pleated skirt billows gently, and she looks up, trying to refocus on her target.

[periphrasing]

"What the heck was THAT SUPPOSED TO BE?" Peridot screams down at Jasper. Helpful. Fortunately for Jasper's poor ears (does Jasper even HAVE ears?), she's too distracted with trying to wriggle free of Steven's vines to keep hollering criticisms at her.

The problem is, getting stabbed as a dragon really took a lot of energy out of her; she really can't summon up the spell she needs to shrink and break free. So she does the next best thing that she can think of: She starts biting at the vines with her horrible, sharp little goblin teeth.

[starseedling]

Steven is pretty pleased with himself, even after Jasper's explosion manages to knock back his shield a bit and jar his arm. He's still in the air, though! He's winning! Even when she has Creation on her side, he can still win this.

And then Peridot starts gnawing on his arm. It'll be hard on her teeth, because the material is as much like crystal is it is like plant matter, but Steven still feels it. He holds her away from his body, sounding confused and upset.

"Stop it, Peridot!" he yells, totally distracted from whatever Jasper might be doing.

[stompadour]

Jasper snarls in frustration as she sees what's going on up there -- why is Peridot chewing on him? Isn't there anything more useful she can do--?

But it is a distraction, and annoyed as she might be she can't complain about that.

She squares herself, and leaps up and punches Steven in the jaw. It's extremely satisfying.

[starseedling]

He's so distracted with Peridot, he doesn't even really see it coming. At least, not until Jasper is already in his grill, and punching with a force that seems extreme even for her. Apparently, that's what happens when you have a Spark of Strength.

His concentration wavers enough that he loses his place in the air, falling down to the ground with a crack. Peridot will end up smacking down with him, but the impact is enough to knock his hold loose, partially shattering the crystal of his arm.

He's laid out on his back, struggling to right himself after being struck like that. He's dimly reminded of the first time he encountered Jasper, when she knocked him flat unconscious - his mind rotates in vague circles around the concept as he stirs on the ground.

[periphrasing]

Peridot squawks and bounces a short distance away, momentarily stunned herself. She didn't take anywhere near as hard a hit as Steven did, though, which means she's up on her feet again with plenty of time to look absolutely mortified by what just happened to her friend.

"STEVEN!!!" she cries, absolutely beside herself. It takes an active effort for her not to rush over to his side to make sure that he's okay. It's absolutely what she would do under any other circumstance. She turns her attention on Jasper instead, venting all her stress and anger in her direction. "You didn't have to hit him THAT HARD!" she snaps, trembling.

[stompadour]

Jasper is fully ready to pounce as soon as Steven hits the ground, ready to find out of being half human means his physical form can't retreat to his gem -- but then Peridot interrupts, and she's abruptly reminded of the fact that she's supposed to be doing this in defense of the smaller, more helpless gem.

Except that, of course, Peridot is spouting nonsense. Jasper looks down at her incredulously. "Yes I did," she says, and turns her attention back to Steven, her eyes narrowed. "He's a Quartz, he'll be back on his feet any second. Get out of here before he grabs you again, I'll hold him off."

[starseedling]

Well, she's not wrong. Though his recovery is a bit slow, it's only a moment or two more before he starts trying to haul himself up with a groan, the crystal from his arm cracking and breaking off in chunks, leaving him without several of what constitutes his fingers at the moment.

Despite Peridot's yells, Steven's eyes are focused on Jasper. He's so tired of this. He doesn't want to get pushed around her by her again!

As his old arm shatters off, the vines begin to grow anew, forming into what looks like some kind of flow bud at the end. The bud blooms open into what might be a familiar looking cannon, light beginning to gather in its tip.

"Leave her alone!" he yells at her, in a way that would seem protective if it weren't from all the other stuff he's been doing. "You're not her friend!"

[periphrasing]

Peridot looks like she wants to stand and argue, but Steven pulls a freaking arm gun on Jasper and she decides that, no, she's probably better off taking that advice and getting clear of this mess.

Now that she's not getting messed up by vines, her transformation magic seems to be coming a bit more easily to her. She shoots one more agonized look at Steven before changing into a bat again, and then gets the fuck out of dodge.

"Just hold him off and then get back to the carnival!" she snaps as she flies by. She can only hope that Jasper listens.

[stompadour]

Jasper gives a derisive snort as Peridot whizzes past her head. If he retreats, then sure...

She steps forward, between Steven and his arm gun and Peridot's tiny fleeing bat form. "Leave her alone? Sure. There she goes." She cracks her knuckles. "Are you going to leave or am I going to get to hit you again?"

[starseedling]

His actions make his answer pretty obvious. As soon as Peridot takes off, his attention shifts to her instantly, his face falling from one of anger to dismay. She's leaving - he's going to lose her.

"Peridot! Don't go!" Any use of his new arm cannon is put aside in favour of taking off at a run, leaping into the air to take flight and try to follow after her. He can't even use his vine arm to try to grab her right now - he wouldn't dare use this weapon against her, lest he hurt her like he did before.

[stompadour]

The problem with Jasper is she is like eight feet tall, so when someone Steven's height jumps into the air to fly away, especially when their focus is on someone else, it isn't all that hard for her to grab him by the ankle on his way up and swing him around to slam him into the dirt.

"Good choice," she snarls.

[starseedling]

It's not that Steven doesn't know how to fight. He's been training for the last few years. The reality, though, is that he's been experiencing combat for a measly three years of his life, and Jasper was born right into a war. Jasper was stronger than him back home, and they only ever managed to defeat her through fusion.

But... there's no one to fuse with, here. It's just him.

Jasper is the first person to offer him any serious resistance, beyond just trying to get in his way. When it comes down to it, he hasn't taken a lot of heavy blows before. He doesn't choose violence as the first option. As he hits the ground again, part of him realizes how very far out of his element he is.

It hurts, and it makes him angry. He shudders on the ground, digging his claws into the dirt as he tries to push himself up again, aiming his cannon at Jasper and getting ready to fire.

[stompadour]

As he takes aim, Jasper kicks him in the face with her shiny white magical girl boot, hard enough to knock him onto his back if he isn't bracing himself for it. "I've wanted," she says, the four-pointed jewelled stars on her helmet beginning to glow again, "to grind you into dust for centuries. I knew you'd show your true colours sooner or later."

[starseedling]

It's hard to aim when you're getting kicked in the face, and Steven isn't ready enough to resist it. He gets plowed back into the dirt again, his wings flailing ineffectually. This time, something actually breaks inside of his mouth - he can taste something like blood, even if it's different from what he'd have expected.

"You're... You're wrong," he says, and lifts his cannon again to fire. This time, it's already charged, and a miniature version of the Rose Cannon's beam erupts from his arm. Rose Quartz herself, however, is not featured.

[stompadour]

"Doesn't look that way to me," growls Jasper, shifting her stance to brace for the cannon blast -- and meeting it with her own. As Steven fires, the column of her helmet shines with a blinding light, and instead of another explosion, a blast of light surges forth from it. It meets the miniature Rose Cannon's beam with enough force from each side to push Jasper back in spite of how firmly her feet are planted, her boots gouging furrows through the grass.

[starseedling]

It's easier to soak the force of an explosion when you're not already on the ground. Instead of scoring a meaningful blow against Jasper, Steven finds himself blasted back into the dirt, rolling from the force of it. He leaves fallen rose petals in his wake, torn loose from his wings.

He starts pushing himself up again, but he's shaking at his joints. He flaps his wings, dislodging a few more leaves.

"Stop it," he cries out, and vines burst from the ground, trying to grab at her legs and arms, as if trying to force her to follow his demands. His cannon is cracked from the blast, and he obviously isn't faring well against her assault. He's running out of options.

[stompadour]

Jasper looks down in surprise as vines wrap around her ankles and grab for her arms. She clenches her fists.

"Give up now, Rose Quartz!" she yells. "You know you can't beat me!"

[starseedling]

He haltingly manages to get to his feet, holding out his hand as if to direct the growth of his vines. More and more of them will start bursting up from the ground, digging inch long thorns into anything they can grasp.

His expression is growing darker, set on her with a type of scorn he doesn't often muster.

"I don't know that," he says.

[stompadour]

She manages to tear one arm free of the vines before it can get too firm a grip on her, but the other one is already held in place too tightly to be so easily freed, and she grimaces as thorns pierce her gloves and boots.

Behind her visor, her eyes narrow.

"Then you're even more of a fool than I thought," she says, digging the fingers of her free hand into the vines snaking around her other arm to try to rip them away.

[starseedling]

Fine, then. As Steven stands up straight, he extends his cannon arm for a second time - glowing with inner light and already charged. With his vines there, he thinks, she won't be able to get away.

He fires the light canon, aiming the blast straight for the core of her body.

[stompadour]

She's still struggling to tear her way out of the vines when she sees him raise his arm to fire again, and she twists in place to put her trapped arm between the light cannon and the rest of her in the hope the blast will shear away the vines but leave her physical form more or less intact.

It works, kind of.

That is to say, the cannon does free her from the vines -- but mainly because the force of its blast rips her out of their grip and slams her into the dirt twenty feet away, smoking slightly.

[starseedling]

Good. Great! Steven can't quite bring himself to smirk, but a feeling of validation fills him regardless. He takes to the air, letting the cannon fall back into the shape of vines.

While Jasper is still stunned, he sharpens the ends of his fingers and makes a dive, intent on piercing her physical form. That's what Peridot did, back in the day. He knows if anything will put a gem out of commission, it's that.

[stompadour]

She's just starting to push herself off the ground when she spots him accelerating towards her out of the corner of her eye. Whatever the hell the gem equivalent of adrenaline is, it has her back on alert in an instant -- not quickly enough to evade, but quickly enough that at the last second she's ready to meet his incoming knives hand by lifting her head and smashing the column of her helmet down on the back of his knuckles.