☆TRACK XI: THIS FIXATION

[interdimanagers]

Who: Everyone! Especially Lapis and all musicians.
What: The Final Festival finally begins.
When: May 5th, 2055, at 5:55PM.
Where: Concert stages for both Pride and Virgo, as well as throughout the city.
Warnings: Lapis related violence.

“I think I'm drowning. Asphyxiated. I wanna break this spell That you've created. You're something beautiful; A contradiction. I wanna play the game. I want the friction.” ☆THIS FIXATION The start times of the festivals are very explicit. The first notes are to be played at 5:55 PM – no sooner, and no later. This has been enforced by every recital leading up to this point, and today the word is law. The audience view it as a peculiarity. How could both labels independently decide to do something so particular? Those on the stage will feel it in their hearts. There’s more to it than just another concert. Something is happening, bigger than all of you, and something deep down tells you that you are powerless to stop it now. There’s a momentum that’s been building for centuries, and only now will the show truly begin. the 55th minute | the 5th hour | the 5th day | the 5th month | the 2055th year Those with magical, spiritual, or musical sense will feel it strongly. The magic of it is thick in the air, enveloping the entirely of Vista within its breadth. The music begins, and a terrible tension in the air finally breaks. In that precise moment, something has been released – and there is no going back from here. ☆THE SHORT AND DIRTY The ritual has finally begun. So let's break this down. ► The same moment the festivals begin, and occult magical ritual has been set in motion. That special time window that the labels were waiting for? This is it. Why the number 5 is so important we may never know, but the key thing to note is that the force of musical power behind the labels are now multiplying, and will only be getting stronger the longer the ritual goes on. Those with Fame Power abilities will feel more and more potent as time goes on as well. Magical juice will come easier and they will get bigger magical effects for their effort. ► The festival will begin with the labels biggest acts, so only a few of the player characters will be on stage at that point. Veteran musicians will start things off on a high note, and the rest will be lined up and ready for a seemingly unending roll of music all through the night and into the entirety of Friday and Saturday. Friday has been deemed a city wide public holiday because that’s how seriously Vista takes its music. Fledgling bands with characters of Fame Power 4+ or Fame Fortune 4+ will have the honour of being part of the first wave of performances, all starting at 5:55PM. This is a seriously big deal. So don’t fuck up. ► Very shortly after the beginning of the festival, Lesedi Santiago is going to fuck everything up for you. ☆LESEDI FUCKS THINGS UP And this is how Lesedi will fuck things up: she's getting Lapis Lazuli to do it for her. Lapis was recently captured by Pride Records while trying to sneak out information to the rescuers. She has been powerfully enchanted by Lesedi to attack and kill Virgo musicians and Rescuers alike, and her water powers will be temporarily enhanced by feeding off of Lesedi's magic. Lapis is being sent to attack Virgo musicians first - ideally disrupting as many Virgo performances as possible and FUBARing Blanche's ritual right from the get go. Juno will quickly regroup and start sending Virgo's magical adepts to try to stop her, while keeping as many of them on stage as possible. Meanwhile, this is all occurring in broad fucking daylight. So what do the civilians think? Well, they'll be scared and try to save themselves from any attacks they get caught in the middle of, but otherwise...it's like they've been reduced to zombies. None of them seem capable of acknowledging that anything weird is happening - the only thing they can focus on is the music, and as long as it continues their minds are ensnared. Rescuers who have been heavily effected by the brainwashing of the musical singles may also feel entranced by the music at the concert as well, and may have a similar lack of survival instinct. They'll be drawn to the music regardless of all else, up to and including the risk of death. Lapis's player has been planning out a variety of fight threads in advance, but since Lapis as the ability to create a lot of collateral damage, people can also be free to assume that they are trying to save civilians from surprise water hazards as this goes on, or simply trying to survive themselves. We will be assuming there are no deaths caused by Lapis unless it is cleared with her player first. This includes random audience members. This will go on for a while, until eventually Lapis is chased away from the festival and goes to attack the rescuer warehouse with the chip removal equipment instead. Silver will sent out an urgent message warning the rescuers of this, urging them to get over there as quickly as possible and help to remove the equipment and take it to a safe place. Silver themselves will not arrive immediately, and Gold is still nowhere to be seen - at least, not until the very end, when they will make a surprise return appearance to help attend to the Lapis Lazuli problem. “Now that you know I'm trapped- Sense of elation. You'd never dream of Breaking this fixation. You will squeeze the life out of me.”

Comments

[heymcfly]

Everything that was happening felt surreal. There were water pipes exploding, little blue clones turning into things and going after people. There were also hands reaching up to tug at the metal structure above the stage, pulling down hard enough that the webbing above screamed. With his hands pressed tight over his ears, Marty looks up just in time to see shards of metal and bits of lighting equipment raining down right above him.

He can't do anything but stare; his eyes are wide, his jaw is slack. A grip of terror grabs his guts and refuses to let go, but he can't move. It isn't until someone from backstage pulls him aside that he finally moves, right as a giant light structure smashes the boards where he once stood. Splinters go flying, metal lands everywhere. He can feel something fly past his cheek, hard enough to the point where he can feel it split skin. Even after he's standing, Marty doesn't register that he's bleeding.

When he's back on his feet, he shakily makes his way across what was once the stage, eyes wide with shock. It isn't until he sees another one of those hands that he realizes...he's seen this kind of stuff before. Marty's brought back to the beach after his wrist was busted, and the flowing tendrils of water that had approached him. There was only one person who could manipulate water like that.

But there was no way. She wouldn't. She was way too kind for that.

For a while Marty just walks back and forth, guitar still strapped across his shoulders (although it's way beyond fixing at this point), unsure of what to do. "Does, does anybody need help...?"

[riveres]

If Marty was wondering who that 'someone' was that pulled him aside. It was Oscar.

Oscar knows exactly who can do this and he doesn't want to believe it. What happened to her that would make such an attack possible. Why would she do this? Still there's no time to worry about his friend, what he was to worry about is getting people out her way.

"I'm fine... I do wonder about everyone else backstage though." He hopes they got out the rubble.

[oceantier]

There won't be much time to look or consider . . . watery tendrils are starting to braid themselves around both men's ankles -- and as soon as they're substantial enough, will yank them both off their feet with the aim to pull them off the stage entirely.

What lies at the other end will be Lapis, one hand outstretched, blue, empty-eyed, and glaring.

[heymcfly]

Marty struggles to keep his head in the present, nodding furiously. "We should go help 'em." State the obvious, Marty. "I mean, you're not hurt are you? If you gotta, you can stay here and-"

He never got to finish. He didn't even notice the water that was slithering across the stage, not until it was wrapped securely around his ankle. Marty yelps, startled when something yanks on his leg hard enough to make him lose his balance, his shoulder hitting the ground hard enough to make his teeth chatter. One moment later, he's being dragged up by the watery tendrils, only to see...Lapis.

The first thing Marty feels is hurt. Why would she do this? It's her power; the fact that her eyes are completely blank and glaring daggers at them says more than enough. That's followed by a hint of betrayal, that stings a little more than he wished it would. She was a scary lady who could control water. Who knew what she could do.

She helped him get the powder. And helped his wrist feel better when it was broken. What was that all about, then?

"W-Wait!" Marty flails his arms. "Stop! Please!"

[riveres]

There's the shock of being yanked to the ground and dragged to see her. It hurts him, to his very core to see Lapis like this. It's not only betrayal, the blank look in her eyes are so familiar that it hurts to call up that memory again, a recent scar.

All he does is try and reach out to her with a shaky, weak tone filled with despair. "Lapis..."

He could nearly cry.

[oceantier]

Her eyes stare into them, through them, seeing them and yet not seeing them at all, her chin lifting in scorn. Don't beg for mercy now. They can't do it now, just to save their own hides -- not with everything they've done. Don't whimper and call out her name -- especially not her name, when they have no right to it, either of them.

"Too late."

Her hand flashes -- a quick, almost dismissive gesture, and they'll find themselves flying through the air, whipped off the chains with the force of a catapult.

There's a vendor stand just below them; they'll likely plummet to the roof, and if they're unlucky . . . crash right through the wood.

[heymcfly]

Too late for what?

That's what Marty's thinking as he finds himself being hurtled through the air, fast enough to the point where he honestly wonders whether he left his stomach back hanging by the ankles with Lapis or not. He can't even scream as the world around him flips out of control. The sky's above him, then a solid moment later it's not. How long they're flying through the air, Marty's not sure. He's not really sure about anything right now, to be honest.

He lands on what feels like his shoulder hard enough to make his teeth chatter. Through the pain that's searing through his body, he can just hear the floor below him crack. His head spins, stars erupt before his vision. Getting up and running away probably sounds like a very good idea, but he literally can't right now. Moving his head causes way too much hurt, let alone getting vertical and moving his legs.

But Marty'll try to open his eyes, just for a moment or two...

[oceantier]

He won't have long to recover; when he opens his eyes, he'll find that Lapis has followed him, standing above him on what remains of the roof.

Water seeps into the broken structure and underneath him, levering him upward on a watery palm. Fingers close around him in a fist, probably too tight for comfort, and likely his ribs and lungs will start to protest.

She stares back at him with that same dispassionate expression. "Are you even going to try?"

[heymcfly]

It's the feeling of water that gets Marty to open up his eyes.

The last time Lapis helped him with an injury, it felt soothing. It was temporary, but it put a damper on his pain until he could actually get the problem treated correctly. This time, water is doing nothing to help the fire that's dripping down his spine, or the fact that breathing is kind of difficult right now. That only grows worse when something gets a hold of him, trapping his arms by his sides and squeezing rather painfully.

Marty lets out a choked, pained gasp as he's constricted, kicking his legs as he tries to suck in a breath of air that's a little too hard to get. He opens his eyes to see Lapis standing nearby, asking a question that...doesn't make sense.

"Wh-What?" Marty looks to her, confused. He wriggles around for a second, but stops when it gets him nowhere fast. "Lapis, why?"

[oceantier]

"You would have done the same thing to me." The watery fingers tighten even further, at the point of cracking ribs. "And you would have tried to tell me: It's not personal. It's just war."

Harder: "It was personal to me."

It's hard to say if she even really recognizes him, looking at him. Odds are she doesn't at all.

[heymcfly]

"I, I wha-" Marty wants to ask questions, but the hand squeezes so tightly that he sees stars. His ribs protest against her actions, and he cries out in pain. Breathing is pretty much a thing of the past at this point in time. But he tries to keep talking.

He takes a breath, which is a hell of a lot harder than it should be. "Wh-"

Lapis cuts him off, followed by a squeeze of the watery hand. He's squeezed again even tighter, to the point where he feels something inside of him snap. If it wasn't for the fact that he can't breathe right, he probably would have screamed.

The world starts to go gray. But he's curious. "Wh-wh-at?"

[oceantier]

A quick shake of the head, sharp, her eyes narrowing. "When you got to leave, all of you . . .

"See if it's personal to you."

Two more ribs pop, snapping with the pressure as the hand gives a last hard squeeze. If there's any air left in his lungs, it probably won't survive this.

[heymcfly]

Marty opens his mouth to at least try and get another choked question out. His head is spinning, he feels like he's going to pass out any moment from now, but through all of that there's the hurt of betrayal. It's a strong, awful feeling; if anything, it hurts almost as much as the watery hand that's crushing his organs.

Whatever he was going to ask was forgotten when he's squeezed again, hard. A horrible, white-hot pain slices through his chest as he feels something against his sides snap, the air choked from his lungs. Marty wants to scream, but there's no air to fuel it. Stars burst before his vision, black instantly takes over. Something like a choked grunt escapes him as the air is forced painfully from his chest, before he slumps forward. Marty doesn't even have time to think about how he's dead meat. He's out cold.

[oceantier]

The hand flicks the limp body sideways through the air as though it were flicking away a bug. Marty goes flying back towards the stage, crashing through the edge of one of the holes made by light and rigging, his body smashing through the wood.

Lapis doesn't even glance to see where he lands; she rounds on her next task, efficient, watery hand empty and at the ready.

[riveres]

Everything's blurry and everything hurts right now, somethings definately feel like they've been broken. And he watched Lapis come near him, he's scared out his mind, he can't move... he almost can't.

"Lapis... this is not you, I know it isn't."

They did something to her.

[oceantier]

What exactly is he aiming to do? Plead with her like he knows her? As though he wouldn't do the exact same thing had her back been turned?

No. He'll only plead with her, whine because he's afraid now that she has the power in this fight. Because he knows exactly what's coming.

Her mouth firms. "You never knew who I was."

The hand shoots upward, doubles back on itself, forming into a fist . . . and plunges into the remains of the stand where Oscar lies, slamming into flesh and snapping through bone with a thick, meaty crack.