⇨ 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

[atouts]

"No doubt I have the time for it because I'm not running around trying to collect familiars," Childermass shoots back breezily, unbothered, as usual, but definitely harsher than he used to be. He looks back down over the papers.

"I would like to know exactly what CY-Ren thinks she's going to do with her concert. I'll be gone and you can go back to playing house in peace once I do."

[starseedling]

Something about that response really annoys him, and it's not just Childermass being casually condescending. It's that he's talking about CY-Ren like there's something to figure out, as if she's holding something back from them. That concept seems completely ridiculous/

"Duh," Steven says, stepping closer as if he indicated he's not going to let Childermass go so easily. "She already told us. You don't have to try to act like you're smarter than everyone, you know..."

As if there's something about this that only Childermass understands. It's dumb.

[atouts]

"She could barely keep our little group in check," Childermass says, shaking his head as he moves on to try the drawers. He can unlock if he has to but he'll tug at them first. Overall, it may have been better to move on once Steven arrived, but... it's only Steven.

What can Steven even do?

"Trying to lure an entire audience to the Void is a commendable idea but I can't see it working well in actual practice, not unless she has something else up her sleeve."

[starseedling]

Steven's frown only deepens. He can sense how casual Childermass feels about all of this - not that spikes in emotion are really something that he usually does, meaning that usually, he comes off that way regardless - but in this occasion, it feels especially inappropriate.

Steven puts his hand on the drawer to push it closed. He is actually very strong.

"She knows what she's doing better than you do. Stop being a creep."

Her underwear is probably in one of these drawers!

[atouts]

That Steven is, in fact, very strong is noted... and pretty unexpected, actually. Childermass won't let go of the drawer, however, even if he won't actively try to open it with Steven's hand there.

"Even she admitted her first concert didn't go as planned," he says, looking over to scowl at Steven. "What makes the next any different?"

[starseedling]

"So what?" Steven asks, letting Bud crawl around to perch on his shoulder and back instead of being in his arms. "Even if it doesn't work how she expected... we can just do it again. And again and again until she gets what she wants."

He looks away, staring at the floor.

"None of the Guardians can do anything about it. You know how the carnival is."

[atouts]

"Fools all but they do have the Ringmaster and she has the Blue Rose."

Enough reason to ensure whatever CY-Ren is up to doesn't cause any other unexpected surprises. They may not get a third chance. Childermass lets go of the desk drawer and steps back, though.

"But you're not going to stay out of my way, are you, Steven?"

[starseedling]

"Meh," Steven says, removing his hand from the drawer as Childermass seemingly abates. "I know more about the Blue Rose than she does..."

He's pretty sure that's true. Nobody else mind-melded with it like he did. Him and Syrlya were physically changed by it! He's pretty sure his vines wouldn't have turned to crystal, otherwise.

Now, though, he looks at Childermass with something challenging in his stare.

"You'll be lucky if I don't tell her about what you were doing. Give me one reason why I shouldn't!"

[atouts]

"Hard to claim that when you can't even use it," Childermass points out. Ah, but having him run off to tell CY-Ren... That's less than ideal. He quirks an eyebrow at Steven, unruffled by the threat.

"One reason? Please. There is no reason."

He knows better. There's no reason to justify this to CY-Ren and seeing how he'd rather avoid round two of her musical tastes, he immediately holds a hand up and moves his other over it, revealing his tarot cards in one heck of a ridiculously street magician way.

"But you'll have to get to her first."

And he draws a card at random, blue light gleaming across it as he does. He reveals which one without even a glance -- the Hierophant. The card itself vanishes immediately after and, assuming the power of its illusion can ensnare Steven in the first place, the room with warp and shift into a scarier version of itself and features at the center: Steven's current worst fear.

Does a Harbinger of the Void even know fear anymore? Time to find out, he supposes.

bad choice, john

[starseedling]

There are no words, really, to describe the intensity of the emotion that exudes from Steven at the moment the illusion takes effect. As soon as his brain can even process what he sees, it is overrun with confusion and a profound sense of dread - fear like he's never quite experiences related to anything else. He sees those long red curls, that long white dress. He sees the vines that grow on the floor, and slowly climb the walls.

At first, he doesn't know it isn't real. Nightshade is here, after all. It would make sense, if not for the suspicious timing. Part of him has never stopped believing that she'd find him again when she really wanted to. He's still hers, after all.

The reaction is immediate. His ears push back, his tail curling between his legs. His shoulders shrink downwards, like he's trying to hide in plain sight. His heart races so badly that his heart swims, he feels winded.

It's as she reaches her hand out to him that his eyes shift over to Childermass, wondering if he was in league with her again somehow, if this is his doing. Surely some kind of smug dialogue is incoming, telling him how he's been played again. Tricked.

Tricked. Childermass just played a card, didn't he? For the first few moments, Steven can't help but assume that he'd just summoned her somehow, but... did he? The uncertainty about what's happening is enough to make him burst, enough to make his heart ache. But...

But he's a Harbinger now. Enough to challenge the Ringmaster. This is what he'd decided to do.

He decided to fight.

Steven roars - half a scream of agony, half a cry of outrage. He grabs the side of the dresser they were standing next to, heaving it into the air with trivial effort, and throwing it at Childermass - at his mom-

At anyone that would get in his way again.

goodbye ribs

[atouts]

That's... Okay, look, he knew the kid was strong after contesting him on the desk drawer but this freakishly strong? That, too, is a surprise. Whether it's another gift from the Void or not, it doesn't particularly matter. One second, Childermass is maintaining whatever illusion Steven is cowering from -- something that gives him an ounce of regret, just watching it -- and the next, a dresser is flying through the air at him.

"Th--" is all he gets out before furniture meets magician and he crashes against the wall with it, cards flying from his grip. The Rose Queen will vanish on impact as well, not that Childermass will ever truly know what Steven saw. Apparently something bad enough for this but also something that couldn't actually cow the boy.

There's a groan and a muttered curse or two from under the dresser, signifying that, yes, he's still alive and conscious.

[starseedling]

Steven gasps out a sob, wrapping his arms around himself as his body bends forward, like he's desperately trying to keep everything inside from spilling out. His wings fold in close, and Bud looks up at him in confusion from the place she fell on the floor, chirping in dazed confusion.

Unable to hold it back, a ring of black thorns sprout from the the floor around him, painfully wrapping around him until he's fully disappeared - only to shatter away from him, revealing his Harbinger form. Except there is no dramatic flair or style to it this time. As Steven reappears, he is still desperate in his rage and terror.

He can barely grasp that the illusion is gone now. All he's thinking about is lashing out, as his vines extend to throw a side table and the makeup table to crash against the dresser already on top of Childermass. It saves him from being directly struck, for the force is still crushing.

"How could you?" Steven screams again, tears on his face. He lifts himself into the air on wing, floating there as the vines start tearing the room apart.

[atouts]

Childermass won't have time to even try and answer that (not that any answer would truly be good enough), not with the rest of the furniture flying his way. He doesn't stick around for them to hit the dresser, sinking away into its shadow in the nick of time instead. The shadows spit him out again elsewhere in the penthouse, stumbling away from a corner and leaning heavily on the edge of a chair he manages to catch ahold of.

It's noisy enough and with the door open between rooms, well, he isn't exactly hidden. That said, he isn't defenseless either, even if his sides are twinging in pain after the first piece of furniture. He spits out a bit of blood onto the carpet and raises a hand towards the bedroom.

The cards he dropped all shimmer and blink out of existence, returning to his hand, so to speak. Instead of coming together as a deck, they begin to float around his outstretched hand. With those back, he stands up and away from the chair, drawing another card.

With that motion comes his own transformation, the room's shadows flocking to him, creeping up and over his mundane clothing and reforming into his Harbinger outfit.

"You may be strong but you're clearly still nothing more than a child," he scoffs, even though all common sense is telling him to get out of there. That would make sense, right? But no, he's way more inclined to try and get the last word in ever since the whole Void and evil superpowers thing. Just fantastic.

"Crying over a little fright? What nonsense."

[starseedling]

As it gradually becomes more obvious that the appearance of the Rose Queen was nothing but a trick, Steven is met with a torrent of mixed feelings. On one hand there is relief, but on the other hand there is the utter offense that comes with Childermass having pulled something like that on him in the first place.

He brings his vine arm down onto the pile of furniture with violent force, further shattering the mirror and rapidly turning the wood into splinters. It isn't until Childermass speaks that it's even clear he's moved on. Steven is quick to follow, and his vines follow him.

He can see that Childermass's mouth is a bit bloody, but he finds that he doesn't care.

"All of you are liars," Steven shouts at him, his voice strained, but more betrayed than frightened, now. "I wanted to believe in you for so long, but the Void was right. You all just want to keep hurting me!"

He brings back his vine arm, the size and length of the limb swiftly growing, so that he can smash it into the wall that Childermass is currently standing by - and ideally, Childermass himself.

[atouts]

His reaction to the massive swathe of vines coming at him is to hold up the card he drew. Whatever it does, if it even does anything at all, will remain unknown. Steven's arm crashes into him too fast to even get in one final laugh or vicious dig, taking him straight to the wall and — perhaps unsurprisingly — right through it, straight out of the penthouse. There's no conveniently placed deck or pool out on this side of the building, so all that Childermass has to meet is wide open, completely empty space, all around.

While likely not the exit the magician had been hoping to make after his round of snooping around, it is, ultimately, a exit. There's no yell or scream or even the caw of a bird, he's just... gone, right along with a good chunk of that wall.

[starseedling]

Steven hadn't really considered what would happen next after throwing that blow. He hasn't really been thinking at all. Instead, he's just been blindly lashing out, humiliated and furious, without considering the future at all.

He doesn't see where Childermass went. Did he fall? Did he fly away? With all the rubble, Steven doesn't seem him. He can't follow if he doesn't know where he's going.

"Come back here!" he yells to the air. He stops mid-air, looking around helplessly. With tear-filled eyes, he swoops back towards the penthouse one last time before leaving for good.