And they need me to do their will

[oceantier]

Who: Closed to Eda, Frisk + Sans, Connie + Agent 3
What: A mind-controlled Lapis attacks Eda, Frisk, and by extension, Sans. Connie and Agent 3 go looking for Lapis and find more than they expected.
When: Prior to the festival, after Lesedi
Where: Club near Pride, then a park. Also the beach.
Warnings: Violence


A. Closed to Eda - The young man was too thin, not even enough visible muscle to be called wiry. Dressed in dark clothing, the deep hood drawn up and obscuring the upper part of his features, he still managed to move with some grace, slipping through the waning crowds. It was late -- very late, and the club was emptying slowly, laughter echoing off into the night even as the lights began to flicker out in the establishment one by one. Soon there would be little but the streetlights.

Unlike the other patrons, though, the young man doesn't go home. He pauses on the street near the entrance to an alley, silent and waiting in the dark.

B. Closed to Frisk and Sans - Evening. The park is beginning to empty, parents dragging their children off for dinner. Only a few kids remain -- mostly older, but a few younger ones tagging along after brothers and sisters. The basketball court is busy with the slap of feet and the pounding of a ball against concrete. A few of the smaller children spin idly on the hand-turned merry-go-round, the momentum dying slowly with a screeching protest of metal. The kids have long since left the water feature -- a collection of spits and spurts dancing up from the sidewalk at random in patterns. The water shoots briefly into the sky as one goes off, then another, reaching their peaks and then arching back to the pavement.

It's quiet, but Frisk might catch a familiar figure in the near distance: Luna, drifting towards them, her shape unmistakable, but features not clear enough to read from this distance.

Comments

A.

[nuns4money]

Eda doesn't pay any attention to the young man in a hoodie. This club has a pretty lax dress code. It's late as hell and Eda's leaving the club, normally someone would be with her, but work is in the morning.

Maybe she can catch a couple hours before the alarm clock catches her. She walks near the alleyway, paying no mind to it.

[oceantier]

"You're one of them." The young man's voice comes from the dark as she passes, soft and husky. He doesn't move, speaking to the air in front of them. "I remember you."

There will be a tug down near Eda's ankle. If she looks, she'll find a chain starting to form around her ankle -- made of . . . water? It stems from a trickle from a nearby drainpipe, the links beginning to braid from the air.

[nuns4money]

Ok who the fuck is that and why does he claim to know that. Also she's never heard that voice before. Eda is very nearly about to go into that alley and give the stranger a bullet for his trouble until she feels something strange around her ankle....

"...what the?" She quickly moves backwards.

[oceantier]

The chain follows. Even as she pulls, it solidifies, goes taut . . . and suddenly, it yanks, aiming to topple her from her feet.

[nuns4money]

"Oh shit!" She'll desperate try to shoot the chain off her leg, but it's water so the bullets just go right through.

Is it that person that attacked Virgo?

[oceantier]

To be fair, the chain does break apart, but only regathers, just as strong and determined as before.

Water shoots upward into her pointed gun, smoothing down the barrel as a second chain attempts to wrap around her other ankle.

[nuns4money]

This is bad, this is really bad. Eda struggles to break these water chains with her own strength and try to avoid that second chain...

[oceantier]

A voice pierces the dark -- not belonging to the young man, but a passerby, attracted by the swearing and the gunshots. (Why they didn't do the standard and run away is unknown -- perhaps they fancied themselves a hero.) "Hey. HEY."

The voice, unexpected, distracts Lapis just long enough. Eda will be able to expand her bonds just enough to slip through.

She'll only have a moment or two, so she may want to use it wisely.

[nuns4money]

And she'll take this moment to run. Pity for that poor guy though. Maybe she can contact the others... the water monster from Virgo is back.

B

[determinate]

This is the time Frisk likes best to be at the park. No one really questions a child being alone here - they just assume their parent is somewhere nearby. As people slowly filter out into the dusk, no one notices enough to question leaving them behind.

They still tend to seek out solitude fairly often, an old habit from before. But they don't mind the other kids nearby, and they certainly don't mind seeing Lapis on her way to find them. It's a tad alarming, perhaps - but if something had really happened, they figure someone would call. They hop up off the bench they were sitting on and start towards her.

[oceantier]

Something's . . . off. They may notice that as Luna continues on her path forward. She moves like someone in a dream, unseeing and inexorable, drifting.

The water in the fountain is behaving strangely; it starts to pull and tug towards her as though attracted by a magnet. A nearby water fountain gurgles, metal protesting softly in a high, shrill note.

Suddenly one of the water jets twists, yanks -- and blasts through the air at Frisk's back with enough power to potentially knock them off their feet.

[determinate]

Frisk has mostly lived this long through their ability to manipulate space-time, but their instincts aren't terrible either. They're already slowing their pace when they notice the sounds of the water fountain shrieking. It's like in the warehouse, when Lapis attacked the criminals with water from the pipes.

That's all the warning they have before the water jet strikes them from behind, knocking them to the ground. With a little sound of surprise, quickly muted, they tuck their limbs in and roll, better to pop back to their feet. Staying still is oftentimes death.

"Lapis?" They call as loudly as they can manage. But they're already backing off. They don't understand, and they're going to screw everything up for everybody if they die now...

[oceantier]

"Everything."

She never stops moving, even as she speaks. Her voice is soft, but it carries, an undercurrent beneath it, like an undertow beneath a receding wave. "Everything changed. It didn't even look the same. Any of it."

"You. You're the reason. Because of you--!"

The water explodes from the water feature, braiding into the muscles of a giant, watery fist that comes smashing down towards Frisk from the air.

[determinate]

Now that they're paying attention, a giant watery fist is sort of difficult to miss. Frisk darts backwards, catching themselves with a hand as they stumble. What's wrong with Lapis? She's angry, but she's not making any sense! "Lapis, I don't wanna fight," they say, but they're already scrambling to their feet; she doesn't exactly seem open to mercy.

This needs Silver, or maybe J. Something is wrong with her, and unlike at home, Frisk doesn't have the power to deal with it on their own. They would like to think they do, and given enough time and loops they probably could, but that's months they'd have to do over.

Though, things have already gone badly, haven't they? Maybe on the next run, they could save Sans from being caught...?

No. Not yet. Dying wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but they'd rather try to avoid it while they can. Then, if they do have to reset, at least they won't have to feel guilty about it. After their moment of hesitation, Frisk turns and bolts - towards the trees on the far side of the hill, not the play structures. There are more water pipes there, and the potential for other people. None of them need to deal with this, and the trees will provide good cover anyway.

[oceantier]

Water splashes into the air with the impact of the fist, raining down. But Lapis doesn't give pause, sweeping the remnants of the fist back into the air. The water shifts, regathers . . . and chases after the small figure with giant, outstretched fingers, aiming to snatch the child even as Frisk flees.

"I didn't get to choose -- neither do you."

The fingers are closing in faster than Frisk can run; they'll cut off air and breath if they close the child in their grasp.

[exhumerus]

They might, anyway, if those same fingers weren't about to get bitten by a large skull dog. Hot blue light surges through the wrist of the water formation, instantly evaporating some of what it touches. Steam pillows off in clouds.

And suddenly, Sans is at Frisk's side, his left eye blazing blue and gold.

"Gotta hand it to you, Lazuli," he calls after her. "Didn't peg you as the type to go after kids."

[determinate]

They keep an eye on their back while they're running, and they'd gathered themself to try and dodge the fingers; instead, Frisk stumbles to the side at the appearance of the giant dog skull. That - they've never seen Papyrus do that!

They stop up short, kicking up a few little dirt clods as they draw to a halt beside (and only slightly behind) Sans. It doesn't occur to them to wonder where he came from. "Something's wrong," they say, voice low and tense. The eye worries them - it's scarier than the black eyes, and it's bad to go into a battle angry. "With her." He should know what they mean. In her head. Frisk has no idea how any of the labels would have gotten at Lapis, but they sort of seem like the most obvious people to blame.

BONUS ROUND

[missknight]

Lapis hasn't been back at the apartment lately.

It's not too strange. Lapis does that sometimes, as far as Connie has been able to figure out. Yet everything is becoming too much- the world tour approaching, the chance to finally have things that can remove the chips out of the musicians' brains, rescuing musicians... It feels like anything could go wrong at such a critical time, and Lapis' absence makes her feel nervous.

They've already had so many other people disappear, after all.

It's been a whole day of searching- secretly, which is actually really hard to do, but that Juno woman saw her, and Connie doesn't want to take any chances. Whether it's because of that or just plain rotten luck, it seems like they don't find anything.

'They', meaning mostly her and 3, who Connie glances to as she sits down on a park bench somewhere. "Sorry for taking you all over the city when we didn't find anything even hinting about Lapis," she says apologetically. "The beach is only a little ways from here, and I was thinking about going to check there, but..." Well, it seems like water is a thing for a squidkid.

[woomy]

Lapis does come and go from the apartment, but like Connie, 3's noticed that Lapis hasn't been around. That's why she agreed to help Connie search and figure out what's going on. Lapis isn't responding to any attempts of communication through the headset either.

"It's okay. Let's check the beach. But the ocean starts going crazy again, I've gotta jet out of there."

Somehow, Agent 3 hasn't quite put together that Lapis was the one to cause that chaos. She knows of Lapis' trigger finger (thanks to Sans' unplanned arrival and subsequent chaos there) and her water powers. Yet, she can't quite picture Lapis doing all of that and putting so many people at risk.

[oceantier]

If they catch it at that moment, they'll see it -- a movement out of the corner of the eye, too large for a bird. If they look up, they'll catch Lapis, wings arched at the right angle to catch the wind, her direction aiming for the beach.

She's high up yet, but obviously she means to land; she's getting lower as she goes.

[missknight]

"Alright, if you're sure-" A flicker of blue, and Connie jerks her head about. There's no mistaking it. She'd recognize that shimmer of ocean blue anywhere. "There she is!"

Leaping up to her feet, she gestures for 3 to follow after her. At the same time, she's trying to call out. "Lapis! Lapis, it's us!" Can she even hear them that high up? Connie has no idea, but she tries anyway.

[woomy]

3 sees the same flicker of blue and gives chase.

Maybe if one isn't enough, then two girls yelling might better catch her attention. 3 waves her arms over her head. "Lapis! Over here!"

[oceantier]

Two voices do definitely attract attention. Lapis catches the voices dimly and casts a glance back over her shoulder towards the two down below.

But she doesn't stop. She continues her flight, dipping down lower as she comes toward the beach.

They'll find her there if they follow.

[missknight]

That's... not good. The hairs on the back of Connie's neck stand up, but she doesn't stop running. Instead, she yells back to Agent 3, "Stay away from the water! If something weird happens, try and get Lion!" The disguise device should be recharged by now, after all.

But that's a worst case scenario kind of thing. As the beach comes into view and Connie stumbles onto the stand, she hopes that it doesn't happen. "Lapis?" she calls again hesitantly.

[woomy]

"I got a trick up my sleeve if it comes to that," Agent 3 says as she doesn't turn around. She's the last person who needs to be warned of water, and she's seen a little of what Lapis can do from up close.

"Lapis! You okay? Where've you been?"