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interstellar55552016-02-21 10:24 pm
magic_to_do) wrote in interstellar55552016-02-21 10:24 pm
Entry tags:
(no subject)
Who: System Crash and mallgoers
What:A ridiculous publicity stunt A concert.
Where: South Vista Mall
When: Saturday evening
Warnings: Dumb eighties music? None really.
[It's a busy Saturday evening at the South Vista mall. Besides what appears to be some kind of minor construction project on one of the mezzanines, it's like any other day.
Or it is until all the lights go out. Then, an array of colored lights flare up, accompanied by a voice.]
Heeelllloooo South Vista mall~! We are....
[Then more colored lights, now focused on that construction project. Except, now it's a stage. Band, instruments, and all. People are starting to gather around curiously.]
SYSTEM CRASH!!
[They start playing. Not just one song, but an entire set. Mostly happy or playful songs like What's Goin' On or The Neverending Story. Run with us is pretty popular with the crowd and they close out with The Last Unicorn. The entire time, Trucy is putting the full weight of her two levels of music power into the performance, trying to influence the audience to feel excitement and fun. They are enjoying this, they want to see more. She's asked the rest of the band to try to push those feelings too. She doesn't know how many of them can do this, but it's worth trying.
When it's over, Trucy addresses the audience one last time.]
If you thought that was good, wait'll you see what we have planned for you next.
[And with a wink, she bows. And a flash of multicolored pyrotechnics obscures the stage. When it fades, the band is gone.]
What:
Where: South Vista Mall
When: Saturday evening
Warnings: Dumb eighties music? None really.
[It's a busy Saturday evening at the South Vista mall. Besides what appears to be some kind of minor construction project on one of the mezzanines, it's like any other day.
Or it is until all the lights go out. Then, an array of colored lights flare up, accompanied by a voice.]
Heeelllloooo South Vista mall~! We are....
[Then more colored lights, now focused on that construction project. Except, now it's a stage. Band, instruments, and all. People are starting to gather around curiously.]
SYSTEM CRASH!!
[They start playing. Not just one song, but an entire set. Mostly happy or playful songs like What's Goin' On or The Neverending Story. Run with us is pretty popular with the crowd and they close out with The Last Unicorn. The entire time, Trucy is putting the full weight of her two levels of music power into the performance, trying to influence the audience to feel excitement and fun. They are enjoying this, they want to see more. She's asked the rest of the band to try to push those feelings too. She doesn't know how many of them can do this, but it's worth trying.
When it's over, Trucy addresses the audience one last time.]
If you thought that was good, wait'll you see what we have planned for you next.
[And with a wink, she bows. And a flash of multicolored pyrotechnics obscures the stage. When it fades, the band is gone.]
TIGER UNIVERSE (OTA)
Anyone who knows what to look for will realize that Tiger Universe is not well. The effort is there, but his handling of his musical portions are far more hit and miss than usual, even if he doesn't manage to screw up enough that most members of the audience could tell with any certainty. He almost forgets the lyrics a few times, and the closer it gets to the end the more it seems like he's just going to pass out.
The only things saving it from being obvious is the shades concealing his eyes, and the elaborate fashion design that seems to include moving pink lights into its structure - hopefully, the audience would never guess that those lights were a part of his very real skin, ever since his gem was broken. His colour is supposed to be yellow anyway. Isn't pink kind of off?
He tries his best to manage, and at some points the energy of empathic magic does begin to mingle with the others - only to fall away again when he stumbles. When they leave the stage, Tiger collapses onto the closest resting place he can find, just trying to catch his breath. He feels like he's going to be sick.
AFTERWARDS, WAITING TO GO HOME (FOR LAPIS AND OPEN)
Even a bit later, he's still wavering. He just wants to go home, but he's afraid to ask anything of anyone. He knows he didn't do good enough, and he's scared of what it will mean for him and everyone else. His perception of his own performance is becoming more and more critical the longer he's left to think about it.
The cracklines spread across his body with a thickness to match the intensity of his stress. He moves to hide around the backside of the stage, hoping that he'll be left alone. He only managed to talk to a couple fans because returning to his hiding spot, but what else is he supposed to do?
no subject
"Steven." And there's fear in her voice, fear in his name, because the cracks are very visible, and she's afraid of what they mean. Suddenly she's beside him, her skirt pooling in soft ripples as she's crouched beside him, fingers cool against his arm.
For the moment she's still Luna; she doesn't dare dispense with that.
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His arms cradle the gem at his stomach protectively, as if afraid that someone will see the source of his illness.
"Luna...no, don't...I can't talk right now..." His voice is unsteady and somewhat pained.
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Her voice drops, no less anxious or frightened, but for his ears only. "Steven . . . I know things about you. I know you and Greg. I can't tell you how right now, but . . . I can promise you can trust me. I hope you can believe me. I won't -- I can't -- ever hurt you. I never will."
A breath. She's entering potentially dangerous territory, and once she does, she can't go back. Either he'll accept what she gives, or he won't, and she'll have to deal with the consequences if it's the latter.
"Steven . . . your gem. I know you have one. I have one too. Right now, I need . . . I have to know if something's wrong with it. It's part of you; it affects you. Please. It's important."
The lines on his skin, the color, the way he's reacting . . . it can only be his gem. And if it is, the situation is desperate.
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She knows about his gem, and his gem is something he' come to regard as a very secret and intimate part of him. He mouths a few words in silent surprise before finally managing to speak.
"You're...a gem too?" he mumbles. How did she get here? Is she trying to help him? I she like Garnet, and only remembers a few things? His mind spins, and in his current state of confusion, it's hard to keep it together. He leans forward, shaken by a feeling of nausea.
"It's...it got broken. They broke it."
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She doesn't need to ask who they are.
The next words still come softly, but flurried, as though her mind is racing and she's trying to fit in as many as she can. "Come with me. Come with me, please. You can't be here. Especially not like this. You need to come somewhere safe; we'll find a way to fix your gem. It's important."
She shouldn't be doing this. Not at all. Very possibly it will turn him off, make him afraid. Potentially it even compromises the mission. But knowing about his gem . . . she can't leave him, no matter the consequences. She'll face anything for that.
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He tries to pull away from her, the whine of his voice hurting and afraid. He just starts shaking his head and huddling down, try to hide himself. Please don't let them see this happening - please -
"I can't - please, don't - I can't...I can't..."
He finds himself caught in a cycle of terror, the cracklines thickening across his shoulders.
"Please don't make me..."
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What happens to a half-human, half-Gem who shatters?
"Please" The word yanks out of her. "Steven . . ."
You saved me. If you'll let me . . . -- even if you don't -- I'll give that back to you.
She promised. She can't ignore it.
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"Please, they'll hurt you too." He feels like he should be crying, but the disconnect between feeling and function is still there. His sorrow can't manifest as anything but an oppressive fog. "Please, I'm sorry..."
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But they're still not comparable to the weight of this boy in this moment, small and fractured.
"I can't--" It's a whisper, and it hurts in her chest like the very words bite into her insides. "I can't . . . leave you. Do you understand? I can't. I'm sorry."
Compared to most Gems, she isn't physically strong -- but still strong enough going against a human child. Her hand seizes his, hauls him forward.
She has no plans, only desperation. She has to get out.
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They rush out of the van in Lapis and Steven's direction, grabbing for each of their shoulders and trying to wrench them away from each other. Steven's fear is inarticulate - he has absolutely not idea what is going on.
"Hey!" a bodyguard from Pride shouts, raising their gun. They hesitate on the shot, though - there's to good of a risk of hitting Steven in the fray.
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But while the Pride bodyguards were expected, the van is not.
The Virgo group squeals to a halt and swarms so quickly that it's almost inhuman. Suddenly she finds them both surrounded, reaching, grabbing . . .
No.
She won't be captured. Won't be touched. Won't let them steal what she's taken. Her mouth tightens as she tugs Steven close, yanking outward with her power with full force.
More than ever, she misses her wings.
Water responds. From coolers meant to hold drinks, from water fountains near the mall doors, from the very sewers . . . water explodes outward, streams combining to ram into the Virgo force at full power with the effect of a battering ram.
Hopefully it's enough to blast them back. She feels the limits of her abilities like a ragged edge -- what should have been there torn away. She won't be able to rely on brute force alone; she'll only be able to use so much at a time.
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Someone - whether Virgo or Pride - takes a couple shots at Lapis with their stun gun. Attackers that have been swept to the floor with such great force get up again at alarming speed, and move to strike at Lapis with a strength presently far greater than her own.
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But the Virgo attackers are already getting up. Fast -- too fast! they dart her way. She evades one strike; it snaps off a rearview mirror. Two -- a window shatters. But the third will hit Steven, and without thinking, she twists in the way. She yelps as the blow hits hard, knocks her knees out from under her, and she's down and rolling, Steven still clasped in her arms.
The water recollects, re-surges; it seizes the current attackers each in their own head bubbles, the bubbles yanking backward on their necks. At the very least, the bubbles will cut off their air, but the movement . . . the movement could likely snap a neck, if it doesn't already slam them into the nearby vehicles.
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Steven screams as they hit the ground, still struggling slightly but ultimately too terrified to take any coherent action. He isn't scared of her, but he's scared of what she's doing - and the consequences it will hold for both of them.
There aren't enough bubbles to cover every attacker, though. A gunshot fires - from who it isn't clear - and a couple of the assailants can be seen fighting Pride security. As Lapis rolls, she's stopped by one of the van attacked making a grab for Steven while her water is busy elsewhere.
Steven yelps as he's jerked back painfully, the attacker's grip tight on her arm. From behind Lapis, another one comes in with a stun gun again.
no subject
There's pressure in her chest, like the air being pressed out -- like sinking into the very depths of the ocean and watching the bubbles trail above in her wake. For a bare moment she is numb; she can feel nothing at all but the weight of the boy in her arms.
Then, suddenly his hand is jerked from hers.
His yelp resounds in her ears.
No.
The water surges again, viciously fast, smashing the captive guards against the parked cars with enough force to potentially slam them through doors and windows and hoods. It takes only an instant; it's racing back towards Lapis herself, bashing into the guard with the gun at full force, driving into the one trying to hold her on its path.
No!
She snatches for the lost fingers, the stretching arm. "Steven!"
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The guard wrestling with her is knocked down, trying to keep hold of her with a clamp-like grip even as it happens. Steven is being pulled away - unable to fight like she is, and his own body functioning as a shield against her wild blasts of water.
"Lapis!" he yells, not knowing why. The guard has wrapped their arm around his neck, pinning the child's body to his chest as they begin to retreat. Steven is held prone, his eyes shut in terror and confusion. Whatever this creature is, it could easily snap his neck.
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All the water gathers again -- all the sewage, the ice water, into one writhing mass. For a single instant it gathers, hovers . . . then dives into the inhuman thing holding her, ramming through its mouth, through its teeth, down its throat, in its nostrils, into its ears at full force.
She wrests against its grasp, shrugs and yanks as its grasp loosens, stumbles after the boy who knows her name, yanking the water in a small explosion out of her former captor's head. Her eyes are wild, not fully present.
She has one goal only.