⇨ 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

[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.

[starseedling]

Steven's hand explodes from the force of impact, which is good in the sense that she doesn't get stabbed, and bad in the sense that crystal shrapnel erupts in both of their faces. Worse, the awkward set up of the blow means that nothing is stopping his forward momentum, and all he can do in faceplant into the dirt just above her shoulder, his legs failing over her chest.

He yowls with pain, the shock from the strike radiating all the way up to his shoulder. The lower areas of that limb don't feel pain as much as the parts closer to his flesh do.

[stompadour]

Jasper is immensely grateful that her helmet comes with a visor covering her eyes and gem, but those shards aren't exactly a fun time for her mouth. She spits angrily, and grabs him by the legs with one hand as she hauls herself to her feet.

"You little brat," she snarls, holding him up so she can look him, upside down, in the face. "I should tear you in half. Would you even regenerate?"

[starseedling]

He struggles as she hauls him up, but even if he wouldn't have been outclassed in strength before, with her Guardian powers he definitely is. He's still reeling from the pain in his arm, which has now shattered off completely, and he's left with only one limb to work with.

Still dazed, he pours his efforts into a last minute scramble to summon his shield, trying to put it between her and his body, clumsily shoving the spikey part towards her face.

[stompadour]

She leans her head back from the shield, lip curling in a sneer. She wants to destroy him. She wants to crush his gem in her hand. With Creation's power, it would be so easy...

... but that thought is an unavoidable reminder of what she promised when she accepted it. She went into this fight to defend Peridot, and by now Peridot ought to be safe. Not to mention the fact that Peridot, who is technically her superior, told her just to hold him off and then come back to the Carnival...

Glowering at Steven through the shining pink translucence of his shield, Jasper hisses out a frustrated breath through her gritted teeth.

"I told you you couldn't beat me," she rasps. Then she lets him drop to the ground and turns to march away.

[starseedling]

Steven drops onto his head and rolls over onto his front, totally thrown by this experience. In reality, though, he's been fighting people all day, and Jasper only just came into her powers... there are a lot of factors that turned this one against him, and if he was thinking rationally he'd know that.

He's not thinking rationally, though. So when Jasper turns to march away, he compulsively turns this into a test of her patience as he throws his shield at the back of her knees.

"No," he still tries to insist. "I... I can win."

[stompadour]

It hits, and Jasper stumbles -- but she catches her balance and wheels around angrily, numerous identical rectangular teeth bared.

"Don't make me destroy you."

[starseedling]

"Go ahead!" he yells at her, slumping down to the ground, armless and exhausted. His voice is ragged with emotion. "Do it!"

He rolls onto his side, folding his wings around his body as he quietly sobs.

"It doesn't matter."

[stompadour]

Wow,

gross?

Jasper's lip, split in multiple places thanks to the crystal shrapnel from just before, curls in a disgusted sneer.

Even if it wasn't for everything else -- the promise she's made to Creation, her obligation to follow Peridot's instructions -- this wouldn't be an appealing opportunity. Sure, she's wanted to be able to exact revenge, fulfil her purpose, by destroying this gem, for thousands of years. But seeing Steven like this... small and snivelling and telling her it doesn't matter if she goes ahead and does it...

"... You really aren't Rose Quartz. Are you." Her fists tighten, almost trembling -- but she doesn't wait for a response. She turns on her heel and leaves without looking back.