☆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

[oceantier]

This is the disadvantage of trying to fight two enemies at once; they play off one another, each one vying for attention at the same moment. Lapis' eyes flash back to Pearl at the sound of her name -- only to have the laser hit squarely, sending her stumbling backwards with a yelp. The chains around Pearl's ankles vanish, interrupted with their owner's sudden loss of concentration.

Recovering quickly, the manhole cover explodes near Pearl in turn, a second watery hand swiping upward to swat the other Gem into the nearby buildings. If it misses, at the very least it will smash into the nearby buildings, sending shards of masonry and glass flying through the air.

The hand near J shrinks, reforms -- until a water clone of J himself stands at the mouth of the manhole, stony-faced and uncompromising. It rests there only a moment before heading for its target, hands curling to fists.

[eba02]

J's not meant for putting up with attacks from anyone, if he's going to be completely honest, which means the middle of a fight is the exact last place he needs to be.

So, of course, here he is.

Awesome. Wow.

He doesn't stop moving until he's gotten some distance between himself and the manhole Lapis' attack had come out of, keeping an eye on her and Pearl all the while. "Come on, Lapis!" he yells, as though it'll make a difference. "This ain't you!"

He jumps when water hurls itself out of the manhole near Pearl - Lapis' tune is muddled and screaming under whatever spell's ensnared her, so it's hard to hear her intent. He's not going to know what's coming-

It's partly that realization and partly instinct that has him glancing over his shoulder in time to see the water form a humanoid shape and resolve into- him?

What. What.

Of course, there is zero time to process this development, because in the next moment it's attacking him and nope, he does not want to stick around to find out how much damage his ostensibly evil water clone can do. He starts running again, dodging around debris and damage in the street. He can't keep this up forever; for now, this has to be enough.

[balletbattler]

Pearl is ready for Lapis' next attack, and she jumps out of the way just in time to keep from getting slammed against the building. She runs away from the falling debris and tries to focus on Lapis, trying to predict her next move, but then she remembers J is there too. He should be the first priority. He obviously can't fight, so Pearl rushes over to the clone to cut it down before it can do him any harm.

"You're attacking the wrong people!" she shouts as she whips around to see whether she's opened herself up for another hit and to check on where J is.

[oceantier]

But Pearl has forgotten one of the premises of fighting a water clone: Slice through it, and it merely divides into two, each a perfect copy. Both water clones double their fists as she looks away, slamming them downward towards her back.

She's made herself the distraction; temporarily the focus is on her.

"You kept me all those years." Lapis' voice rises like a surge, towering towards a crest. "You. You never questioned . . . and I know exactly where you'd like me to be right now!

Don't tell me you don't deserve it."

Whether or not the earlier blows by the clones hit, the streets surge suddenly in the equivalent of a tidal wave, the water crashing downward towards the other Gem, deluging the street in a small river of water and sewage.

[eba02]

There's nothing J can do to help Pearl. It's a hard pill to swallow, but it's the truth: he'll only get in the way. He can't do anything in that fight.

But Pearl has bought him time, if only a little of it, and he plans on using it. If he can't help Pearl, maybe he can help Lapis. He puts some distance - and a bus stop - between himself and the fights, takes a low, steady stance, and begins to move with the Music.

Wake me up

His movements are hard and forceful; they flow, but not nearly as smoothly as he'd like. He's going for power instead of finesse, and the Music shakes around him in response, battering against the spell wrapped around Lapis' tune.

I can't wake up

It's dangerous - for him to be doing this so close to a fight, yes, but also for Lapis. Under his influence, the Music tears at the spell, and there's a real risk her tune will be damaged as well-

But it's a risk J is taking. He has to believe that he can repair whatever damage happens; first priority is getting Lapis free. The Music wedges in between the spell and her tune, and J pushes it as hard as he can, trying to break the spell away. Lapis was already struggling to resurface when he arrived; if he can get her some wiggle room away from the spell, hopefully she'll do the rest.

Save me!

He's focusing too hard; he doesn't hear the water converging at the end of the street and surging towards him until it's too late. It's not as though there's anywhere he can go - the only high ground is buildings he's too far away to get to, let alone climb. J isn't making it out of this one; the best he can do is survive. He shoves at the Music one last time and drops into a crouch, taking a deep breath.

The water hits him less than a second later.

[balletbattler]

Pearl shouts in pain as the water clones attack her, and there's too much going on for her to argue with Lapis about the mirror now. Sometimes Pearl does think they'd be better off if Lapis had just stayed in the mirror, even if she knows that's wrong. She just causes so much trouble, and Pearl wants to just focus on the task. Lapis is a distraction at this point.

A distraction that's sending a tidal wave of water down the street onto her. Pearl looks at J - there's not enough time to push him out of the way, but she gets up and takes a few steps at a run toward him just on the off-chance... and when she's only a few feet away the water crashes down on them both. Her spear has been forgotten, dissolved back into the pure light it was made of, and Pearl can only endure the force of the water. Everything else will have to wait until it passes.