lostcarnival | ⇨ WISMUTH ENDGAME

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⇨ WISMUTH ENDGAME

Who: Everyone!
When: Evening Day 27
Where: The Wismuth Super Dome, Round 2
What: On the verge of creating a world ending army of Harbingers, CY-Ren and her followers are challenged by the carnival and the Star Guardian team. It's time to stop.
Warnings: Singing

THE LAST REQUIEM↴

CY-Ren's planning of a charity concert has been well received - news of bomb threats and harassment from fans have painted her as a victim in the media spotlight, and her generous attempt to make amends is getting plenty of attention. She's been busy spinning things for as much focus as possible, and the threat of potential danger has the news focusing in on the proceedings. The date is set for Day 27 in carnival time. You won't want to miss it!

► BUILD UP: In the last couple days before the concert, CY-Ren will be reaching out to all of her Harbingers, regardless of where they might be at the time - yes, this means that even if you ran off, she'll come to find you! (Unless you're in the carnival like Taako, then you're fucked.) She'll tell you that her plans are coming to head, and that if you help her with one last task then the planet will be on its way to destruction. There are multiple ways you can aid her: you can help amp up her performance as evil backup singers/musicians, or you can set yourself up around the perimeter at specified locations, using your sparks as a beacon to her magic. She's certain that she's perfected her musical formula, this time - when the concert gets underway, all those present with the capacity to be a Harbinger will awaken, and the end of days will begin.

► THE CONCERT: By the time the concert arrives, the Star Guardians will have the idea that there's something unnatural about the way the new Harbingers were made - this isn't how it usually happens, and that sets them apart from someone like CY-Ren. Maybe that means that they can be pulled away with less drastic measures as well, given that the Void didn't have the full right to their souls in the first place. Anyone coming to help (and those who aren't Star Guardians will be encouraged to come as well, given that if they are making attempts at friendship, super powers aren't required) will gather in the area early, determined to stomp this one out before it can get too far.

► HARBINGERS: This is when they will be encountered by Harbingers guarding the perimeter, as well as a small army of void creatures defending CY-Ren's last performance. Star Guardians will become aware through the power of Creation that the Harbingers on the perimeter must be neutralized in order to disrupt the concert - CY-Ren is feeding on their negative energies, and it will make it too dangerous to attack her directly. Confrontations with any Harbingers can be worked out on an individual basis via plotting - just make up a location around the concert and have your Harbinger providing a beacon of their own design.

As the concert ramps up, however, the excess of Void energy will cause the newly made Harbingers to destabilize - mentally or magically, their powers will be harder to control, and their negative emotions will be running wild. However, with that instability, there is also room for a breakthrough - for someone to blast the darkness from their Sparks with friendship and light. Now is the time to reach out.

► STAR GUARDIANS: If a Harbinger is successfully turned away from the darkness, they will briefly regain control of their Sparks, and be able to manifest as a Star Guardian for the first time. This will allow the Guardians to outnumber CY-Ren's forces. Their look and powers will still be based around the same Spark, but purified by Creation and aimed towards positive things. Time to win.

► DANCE OFF: Given that the Spark of Music and the Spark of Dance are colliding, it is perhaps not a surprise that this all manifests as a big ass musical number. As CY-Ren and Noa have a music battle, everyone present (even if you aren't a Star Guardian) will find themselves magically inspired to join in. You can dance, sing, or anything in between - the more people who support Noa's side, the stronger she will be. There will be a megathread for this part of the conflict, and at this point any unturned Harbingers will awaken and be able to turn their Sparks towards the light. As CY-Ren begins to lose power, what the players do with her will be up to you.

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[Using that top level with multiple prompts format again; reply with whatever first, I'll match!]

Edited 2018-03-12 23:21 (UTC)

PROJECTING THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP [Closed to Gongenzaka and Yuzu]

At last, it's the night of the concert, and CY-Ren's next big working. He's been waiting for this, ever since she finally came to him with a new task that would have real results, and grabbed at a role along the perimeter to help project her power. That's how it would help her, anyway; for him, it's partly to let him get away from his conflicted feelings about her, and partly to keep an eye out.

It's pretty much a given that people from the Carnival will show up. Not only has he already seen a few around tonight, but he's been with them long enough to know what they're like. They know CY-Ren's the crux of the things the Ringmaster sas asked to help stop, they can't have missed all the advertising... And waiting to interfere with the working itself is pretty much how they always respond to disasters.

And it is going to be a disaster; that's what the Harbingers have been advertising from the start.

Papyrus is in position, finally, after a delay from an upsetting conversation with Joker... pacing in his newly constructed beacon. It's shaped as a tower of bones, oddly reminiscent of the castle in New Home, and its core a construct shaped like a bed in the center. Not the top or bottom floor, because those would be too accessible and straightforward. He left it pulsating with power, and looks now after the concert.

So far things seem the same as ever, and he's getting amped up with impatience and worry. Did the delay mess anything else up, are there complications they need to smooth through? He doesn't know, and he can't know without abandoning his post and risking making it worse. So he paces around the top level, smacking a bone in his palm, repeatedly glancing back to the concert.

Hopefully - and he knows how futile hoping is - hopefully, this will be the time that interferences don't succeed. So they can end this world, and he can stop feeling.

They have something of a plan, as best as he can tell. He briefed Yuzu of his theory of course. Sans was watching for Papyrus. Following Papyrus, specifically. And while he would have hoped to doubt the capacity for the worst, at the hands of the Harbringers...well. They could not deny the chances, and the chances were grim. So they already had their mind set-when the battle began, seek Papyrus.

That was when his pokemon had found them. Rather, when Suzu, his snubbul, had come to Him-Gongenzaka-with 'Coolbone' at her side. Pokemon yips and grunts of course were nothing he nor Yuzu could understand, but Coolbone carried in their mitten hands a projector of some kind, and looking it over seemed to explain the idea there.

So a new plan was made. The pokemon go in separately-hidden in the dark, carting the projector as a great treasure and hefting it as best they can through a tower of bone. They'll head up, until they think they're near enough to set up.

And then, from a hidden place, they'll get it ready. Wind the crank, wind, and wind, get it locked onto Coolbone's wee thoughts and memories and let it play. But they'll need a defense-Suzu, the Snubbull is ready of course, but that's not the defense that the others have in mind.

No-coming in from the top, from the outter wall-for Gongenzaka is more than a familiar he is a familiar who had his own magic, and with the power granted through his and Yuzu's present bond, he charges along as a steed of sorts, arm and belt both decorated with emblems of the Guardians while his fur and plants shine in an appropriately similar manner. They ride up the wall-and jumping up, Gongenzaka brings his paws down upon the roof, pounding against it with all his weight and might.

Both he and Yuzu look toward their target, and Gongenzaka-his voice quite 'his own' for the moment-speaks. "PAPYRUS!"

Here's hoping this works.

"...This MUST end..!"

"Papyrus, this is enough!"

Well, it seemed like they didn't get here too late, but things always seemed bad at first. That's why she's here now - to make sure things got better in the end.

"Stand down, please, and let us help you. You don't want this fight. This will not end well for you."

He'd been so into the notion that the main attacks would be near the concert, that most can't get up steep walls... That Gongenzaka's voice comes from an unexpected direction, and Papyrus startles and twists to stare up at them. An absurd assumption, in hindsight; hadn't he seen this sort of thing in those fuzzier memories, just before the first concert?

"You're both so nearly right... you've taken the words from my mouth," he pronounces, puffing his chest out and tucking his hands behind his back to begin summoning a bone in secret.

"It does need to end. All this fighting, all this suffering... That's why I'm doing this."

There's probably no chance they'll listen to this argument, given they don't understand and they're so visibly on Creation's side... but he offers a half smile, then adds:

"Don't make it harder than it needs to be."

"Your very words are what make it harder, are they not?" Gongenzaka echoes, staring Papyrus down. "....Papyrus...you have been touched by the void, and led far, far astray...there are those who would make you remember your heart's place, if you would only allow it!" he continues, quite determined to get as much done with words as possible. Even so...Even so, he gives a nod to Yuzu-there is, quite likely, a need for her to come down. More importantly, she will need her fan to have as much power as possible, which would be rather difficult if he were Standing Here, at full size.

Besides. Maybe they can work with him 'disappearing' in that moment.

"The fighting and suffering...Is it truly so terrible here, in this city, in this planet, Papyrus..? Or..."

...He speaks on a hunch. But it is a strong hunch indeed. "....Is this perhaps more personal than even that..?"

"Papyrus, we're here to help, but this is not how to go about it." Yuzu said. "You're right, it doesn't have to be harder than it should be."

She adjusting her stance, making herself a little more confident and ready for anything at the moment.

"Let us help..."

Papyrus freezes at Gongenzaka's question, a flinch as his smile goes brittle and stretches into a grimace.

There's something to that hunch, all right, and it's the reason he's so focused on rushing things now. Before it had been a necessity and a mercy, one to tide over with playful showmanship as they prepared. Then he'd gained a whole new dimension of self-loathing... which, thanks to the Void, he can't help but project over all of existence.

"That... That's just a piece of it. You don't know, you..."

He shakes his head and glances away. If he's to play it cool, he has to avoid their glances - so full of terribly kind pity, as though they understand. Even with all he's learned of beguiling hope, it's still tempting to trick himself into believing they do... into believing they could be right. Part of him wants to.

But he has a duty.

"If you want to help, go away!" Papyrus finally exclaims. He's trying to play it cool, calm, and collected... but it's obvious he's none of those things. "Don't prolong it anymore."

"Do I not?" His words cut the air. "Sans spoke to me, the eve of the prior concert. He claimed you had been taken-but more importantly...That he was following you. Tracking you-and watching you. In other words," he continues, lowering his head with shining and literally glowing eyes, "....You would have almost certainly been the last to see Sans, before his death."

Which is why...this.

This, is important. "Papyrus. We have something to tell you, before you dedicate yourself entirely to this. Before you decide which of two ends is being 'prolonged'." A glance to Yuzu-perhaps if someone Papyrus doesn't know says it, it'll be better.

If someone Papyrus doesn't know, says, 'Sans is still alive, and will return within a few weeks'.

"Papyrus, before you do this, you have to understand, Sans is still alive!" Yuzu said. "He was able to obtain a way to resurrect himself, but it's going to take time to do so. He'll return in a few weeks!"

"Papyrus, you do this, it'll be all for naught! Is that what you want?"

"He's not, I killed him, and anyway--!" Papyrus begins to rant, more than ready to outline the lessons the Void imparted...

Before he cottons on to the key word: resurrect. And he freezes. "What?"

It takes a second, but it's clear on his skull when he recalls - the egg thing. The same deal Papyrus made, that Gongenzaka used before they met. Sans did that, too.

And an expression of mingled horror and relief crosses his face. "He's... not gone, yet? But..."

Below, the Pokemon are making a good headway into the spiraling stair up the tower. Between the churning of the void energy and of his heart, with this reveal, Papyrus doesn't notice the signs of their approach.

Ah. So his guess was correct. He is silent then, as Papyrus takes in Yuzu's words. "Indeed," he repeats, nodding and taking a small step forward. His soul-sensing magic is active-he can track the two coming up the stairs, and they're so close...if they're wise they're hopefully winding the crank in preparation already, but all the same.

"Sans is not yet gone. More importantly Papyrus, this is not the end! I, the man Gongenzaka, can indeed not speak for what was said or done in those moments...but I know who you are-and I, the man Gongenzaka, have worked with Sans long enough to know this...

"The bond between you both is stronger than any darkness which exists..! THIS 'END' SHALL NOT OCCUR!"

"No, he's not. He'll be back, you just have to wait for him." Yuzu said. "You have a chance to fix all of this, so that you don't have to bring about this end!"

Yuzu's going to hold out her hand. "C'mon, we don't have to go any further. Let's go back and fix all of this..."

"But that's worse! I thought..." Papyrus shakes his head and backs away to the railing of crossed bones. He doesn't even look at their offered hands, like he isn't even aware of them to reject their offers. More that he's staring past them, to some distant - and all-to-near - horror.

"I thought... At least he was out of all this, he wouldn't have to... hurt anymore, nobody has to hurt anymore," he mutters to himself, then abruptly looks up at them - eyes tinted with a reddish glow.

"Don't you see? The end... it's an end to everyone's hurting. Isn't that a good thing? We can't let everyone keep hurting. You want me to stop hurting, you want the same thing, you just don't know what it takes."

"No." Gongenzaka is quite firm in that. "Papyrus-what you are doing now is hiding from your suffering! Bringing it to an end which will carry NO RECOVERY...An UNFORGIVABLE AVOIDANCE WITHOUT OPPORTUNITY FOR TRUE PEACE! IF you wish for such things to stop, you must face them!" He stamps the ground with one paw. "SEEK THEM AT THE SOURCE, AND FACE WHAT MUST BE ALTERED! WAS THAT NOT WHAT YOU DID IN FORMING YOUR CONTRACT?" he roars, his mane flared.

"DID YOU NOT COME HERE, ACQUIRING THAT WHICH WOULD END THE DESPAIRS OF YOUR PEOPLE? WILL YOU BE SATISFIED IN ENDING IT BEFORE THEY SEE THE SUN AS YOU HAVE?! Could you be satisfied with yourself, in denying your brother the chance to see it happen!?"

This might get a touch awkward for Yuzu now-Gongenzaka...probably hasn't filled her in on this.

But if she's watching the door to down below, perhaps she can keep watch for others, and give a silent cue for them to get into position.

Yeah, this is a little on the awkward side for Yuzu - a lot of stuff she's missed here. It seems that Gon has the whole "talking Papyrus down" bit in hand, so she's on the watch out for the others, giving them a small nod to let them know to get ready.

The door to below slowly opens as she's watching, Coolbone poking his head out to check what's going on.

The sound of the door is pretty well covered up, what with Gongenzaka raising his voice so emphatically, and Papyrus being so emotional that he's rattling his bones. The skeleton's holding his head, thoroughly distracted from that motion by defending his position to Gongenzaka: "Existence is the source, though! I used to think like that... wanting that happiness, that success... but it was small! And selfish of me! You... You're just not thinking big enough!"

The Marowak looks around, seeing what they're up to - and sees Yuzu on watch, nodding encouragement at the Pokemon team. He nods back, then turns to finish pulling the projector out where it can show scenes against the highest wall. A little more distraction. Just a little longer.

"Is it truly? Can one enjoy a lack of suffering, if there is no existence, then?" he questions, glancing toward the pokemon as well. Almost, almost...they just need to be ready- Suzu the snubbull eyes Papyrus however, taking a more protective position in front of the marowak. She's not entirely confident that they're not going to be spotted-or at least HIT by something..!

"Papyrus! Answer me this...if existence is truly what must be gone...then why did you seem relieved, when we told you Sans was not dead?"

"You don't believe it, do you?" Yuzu said. "You don't believe that existence needs to be removed. You're just hurting because of what happened to Sans and you're scared of backing out..."

"Yes I do!" He shakes his head with denial and frustration and a lot of other feelings, the sorts of feelings that helped convince him of this in the first place. "There's no point telling me this. Just because I wish... it didn't..."

Off to the side, Coolbone's begun turning the crank, focusing on memories of uncomplicated happiness. Playfighting with Nuna, startling carnival guests, even showing the mouse the best places to scavenge for snacks... Hanging out in the trailer, as Papyrus pontificates over the best uses of a bone (though the image, projected against the door, is just black and white pictures without sound - the memory of the skeleton's pose as he bragged is pretty strong).

"What are you...?" Papyrus raises his head from his hands, enough to squint towars the Marowak. His eyesockets drift up to the pictures, and he recoils. "Hey, stop that! It doesn't matter whether I want it or not! I have a duty. I... have to..."

"MNH-!" Yikes-! They'll need to keep Papyrus' attention for this to work, but how can they pull that off if he's already noticed them!?

"Papyrus..! It absolutely matters- would you not say, after all, that one's greatest duty is to their self and to those around them? To their happiness? Their safety? IS THIS WHAT THAT IS..!"

In front of Coolbone, Suzu rather protectively charges forward a few feet, readying a 'heal bell'. She'd rather no one get hurt here..!!

"You're being ridiculous!" Yuzu shouted at Papryus. "Stop trying to delude yourself and think you're better than what you're feeling! You know this is wrong! There's time to fix this! Please!"

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⇨ WISMUTH ENDGAME

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suzu is READY 4 EVOLVE-

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