☆TRACK XII: LOVE AND TRUST

[interdimanagers]

Who: Everyone!
What: The tour hits Europa, and Edward Blanche plans a trap.
When: May 25th - June 17th, 2055
Where: Any of the potential tour stops, but mostly MOSCOW.
Warnings: Probably violence.

“Oh, will you break my fall When I climb too high? I always lose my nerve, It happens every time.” ☆LOVE AND TRUST After the disaster that was the beginning of the World Tour, things from there have proceeded innocently enough in comparison. Virgo ended up being able to pull its act into some semblance of order before the festival finished, and so the magic on their side was not entirely lost. Things are tense, however, for anybody who has an idea of the stuff going on upstairs. Whatever is going on, Pride is in the lead by a landslide, and the desperation is present in the managers and the execs alike. Lesedi, however, couldn’t be happier. In fact, she is getting cockier by the day. Her plans with Lapis went wonderfully, and wherever the gem is now is irrelevant. Barring any major disasters, she is increasingly certain of her defeat of Virgo, and is encouraging her elite members of take potshots at them any chance they get. (This includes her beginner music mages.) The beginning of the month is spent with both labels visiting a lot of very familiar locations across Americana - most of which are places they will have visited in the past. The routes are very similar to the ones the first bands took during their opening tours last summer. As for the rescuers, now is the time to regroup. It’s not practical to follow the musicians to ever stop they make, but Shep has apparently enabled his spaceship with a cloaking device, and will be taking all the rescuers and free musicians to the major tour centers of each continental tour - the headline festivals, each lasting for days, and each carrying an important role in the ongoing ritual. That’s what Silver thinks, at least. As some of the rescuers may now know, Gold has apparently gone solo. ☆EUROPA TOUR As the Americana portion of the tour comes to a close around the 25th of May, both labels will be finishing up in Britain and heading on into the conglomerate of Europa. All of these cities are basically what they are like IRL except about 50 years more future-like, and you have full creative liberty to make up some developments to the local culture and worldbuild because this is the last time these places will ever be mentioned meaningfully! THE OFFICIAL STOPS: Paris (May 30th - 31st), Berlin (June 1st - 2nd), Madrid (June 3rd - 6th), Istanbul (June 7th - 8th), Rome (June 9th - 10th), Vienna (June 11th - 12th) THE HEADLINER: Moscow (June 12th - 17th) The festival in Moscow is much like the festival in Vista City - a musical blowout to end all blow outs. The two labels festival grounds are practically blending together at this point, almost as if fighting for physical territory along with fighting for the attention of the crowds. The thick energy of magic follows the tour like a comet’s tail. ► RESCUER PROMPT: Instead of cutting through all of the earlier stops, Shep loads all the rescuers up into the now-cloaked spaceship and will bring them to Moscow, the last step in the Europa tour path and the place they’ll be stopping the longest. Silver has been saying that the lot of them should start working on freeing captives at all costs, especially now that the labels are on the road and increasingly disorganized. Shep has gotten together a bunch of new material for disguises as well as more holo projectors - a lot of them have been spotted at this point, but if they can get close to the musicians and catch the labels off guard it could be their best hope of bunging up the rituals for both of them. Meanwhile, Gold is obviously absent from the team, and some may have seen their former leader essentially announce their intent to leave during their fight with Lapis. Silver and Shep seem to have been avoiding talking about it, but occasionally it will be referenced in public places and the conversation will turn rapidly tense. ► MUSICIAN PROMPT: Everything is more or less business as normal, except for the pressure of the tour seems to be causing all the authority figures to lose their minds, especially in Virgo. Beyond that, though, it’s all deceptively the same. Both labels stop in the various cities and put on their best show, only stopping briefly to enjoy the local culture. Everyone is under very careful watch, however, no matter where they are. No one leaves the performance areas without an escort - it’s clear that both labels are desperate to hang on to musicians at this point. The gravity of the situation is increasingly obvious. Both labels have been booked into the same hotel this time, which is essentially a castle in Moscow. It’s every bit as lavish as you would expect, and it’s easy to get distracted from the stress with the luxuries that are offered at every turn. The consistent sense of desperation that Virgo has running through it at the moment is totally absent in Pride - Lesedi seems like she’s in an absolutely fantastic mood. ► FESTIVAL PROMPT: The festivals crowds are bigger than anything you’ve ever seen. Rescuers will easily be lost in a crowd, and musicians will be followed by a detour of body guards that honestly feel needed for reasons besides imprisonment. The stages are colourful and elaborate in set up. The musical event goes on for three full days, and most of everyone’s time will be spent backstage or in their hotels. Rescuers will have to do their best to keep up. ☆BLANCHE MAKES A MOVE In the wake of Virgo falling behind, Edward Blanche has come up with a magical scheme of his own. Using the soul crystal of pure love from Greg Universe and pure duty from Meril, he has been devising a ritual - and with any luck, it take out two birds with one stone. Greg and Meril, having mostly lost their real personalities after having parts of their souls torn out and crystalized, will be set up in a central location in the hotel, after the performances on the last night in Moscow. They’ll be set up to play music, and while that music is playing it will be reaching out to all of the rescuers, whether they can hear it or not. This music is going to trigger the love and duty within their own souls, and direct it to a particular cause - a sudden and desperate need to save their friends, family, or other sympathetic souls from the labels. And the need to do it tonight. This will hit them particularly hard if they are naturally of a love or duty alignment, but it will have an effect regardless. How much it gets them exactly is up to you. Virgo’s musicians will be protected very heavily during the ritual, as Blanche is expecting the attack. His hope is to lure rescuers in and kill or capture them, having the advantage of foresight. He’s also hoping that the rescuers will go after the less protected musicians of Pride and steal them away from Lesedi, who isn’t aware that this is happening. If things go well for Blanche, both the rescuers and Pride will take a major hit, all in one go. Why not let your enemies destroy each other? Player participation in this can go two ways: one is that your character can simply go after any of the musicians you choose, and you can work out between the players and the mod how well it goes. Alternatively, you can have your character go to the heart of the matter and try to take on Greg and Meril. The tricky part? Blanche is going to be overseeing the ritual as well. However, without the focuses of Greg and Meril’s soul crystals, the ritual will fail. Also, there will absolutely be a few opportunistic ghosts looking for the opportunity to give everyone a hand. Communication with the mod is key for this event! Please run by plans to have any musicians successfully escape by me before going through with it, and also do let me know if you’d like the ghosts to help out! This can absolutely be combined with other player plots, such as the Pride break out initiative that’s been floating around. The night of the ritual is June 17th, so take some time to plan things out, and then get threading. Let me know if you need help setting any scenes! “Oh will you bring me home When I'm barely alive? It's the state of love and trust, And this is for you, And this is for us.”

Comments

[giglio_madonna]

Not only her ribs, but her lungs ache like hell too. It'd cut off her voice, stopping her singing, and Luce takes in a deep breath as she feels herself freed. It burns her throat a little, inhaling so fast, but at least it matches the fire in her eyes. There's only a flicker of mental gratitude aimed Doctor's way before she focuses on the matter at hand.

Get the crystal. She can do that! She thinks. Well, she's not sure, but no better time to find out, right?

The Mare Ring is warm on her finger, but the flames she gathers feel warmer still. Taking aim quickly, she gathers Flames all around her hand and shoots it off as fast as she can. Just like all the times she's practiced, what becomes a fireball of flame seems to take the faint shape of a squirrel.

She really hopes that thing isn't fragile, because she just wants to steal it or knock it further away from Blanche- preferably towards Sans, but she's not picky. Just 'away' will do for now.

...But really, really hoping it's not fragile, ha ha. Ha.

[interstellarnpcs]

Attempting to transfigure the soul gem won't work - especially not with the Doctor already distracted. The form of the crystal resists the attempts to change it it, a pulse of energy bouncing back through the magic in rebuke. Blanche senses it happen but ignores it, focusing on Greg instead.

Maybe if Blanche had been less distracted with being furious, he would have more casually been able to keep hold on the gem he's suspending up above. Unfortunately for him, this is not truly the case. Luce's flames sear through the field holding it, just enough that it begins to fall.

But not before the soul flames rake across that portion of Greg's spirit, like a flood of heat that will pour through the lingering connection and into the rest of Greg's consciousness. What's done to that gem is done to him, and it echoes through to his physical reality too. The pain is not unbearable, but it is present.

[exhumerus]

Sans's sockets widen in shock as the flame streaks into Greg's gem. Can a soul be hurt? Can it be destroyed? He doesn't know how these things work here, or how dangerous the flame is - he's just suddenly filled with dread at the idea that he might be about to watch Greg shatter-

-and as the gem tumbles, he reaches out for it, managing to break through Blanche's magical dampening just enough to open a small portal from the air to inside of his closed palm. One moment the gem is about to fall, and the next its smooth surface is burning against the inside of his skeletal fingers.

It's still there. It's still in one piece.

[panspermia]

It took about 5.27 seconds for the bubble to pop after going up. Coincidentally, that's around the amount of time it took for Blanche to understand what was happening and turn to the novice mage. Then again, whole idea in the first place had been just to weaken or cut off the magic, so even if that glare hadn't been enough to cut his resolve (and it is) he would have dropped it all the same.

So, he thinks, as his boss of infinite power and malice turns full attention to him, this is basically like what he wanted in the first place, right?

Rooted to the spot by fear and panic, he can't think of a single word to say to Blanche. Perhaps it's all the better he doesn't get the chance.

The magical flame scorches at his soul, and he somehow manages to feel an indescribably amount of pain and numbness at the same time. It's like heartburn spread all across his body, blurring thoughts out of his mind. What's left of his soul inside him shrinks from the phantom pain of its missing half, duty and passion and hope aching at the memory of love.

He gives a short cry, staggering--catching himself on the form before him is all that keeps him from collapsing entirely on the ground.

[giglio_madonna]

Good news, everyone- that gem is probably more durable than thought! So everything is going better than expected, really.

Bad news- it still did some form of damage to Greg, and that's the opposite of what she wants.

We have to get Blanche's attention away from them! she thinks to the Doctor, already moving forward. The feeling that she'll be okay is still riding strong in her, but she can't be so confident for any of the others. Not right now. So if she gets Blanche's attention...

The burst of squirrel-shaped flame from before has already faded, having set out to- sort of- do what it meant to do. With her ringed hand, she sweeps her arm forward to send out another pair of fiery squirrels towards Blanche. While she'd be more than happy to set his pants flame, she doubts it'll happen. That's fine.

She just has to get his attention away from Sans and Greg.

[trustme]

Buying time with distractions- now that's something The Doctor typically excels at.

"How would you like to be the next one set on fire Blanche? Luce and I have plenty of firepower saved just for you! In case you couldn't tell already a fire extinguisher won't do you much good once you start sparking."

He doesn't expect Blanche would be hit by a regular ol' fireball from music magic. Luce's flame is something new and unpredictable though; better to take a gamble on that. Doctor concentrates his efforts on the flame squirrels running across the floor and tries to conjure up the illusion of several more of them being created as if Luce was responsible.

[interstellarnpcs]

Blanche would normally be focusing entirely on where the gem was just whisked off to. Or he would have been, if Greg hadn't immediately toppled over onto him in a truly undignified manner. Blanche snarls, and it seems that for a moment his anger actually gets the better of him.

He lashes out his arm at the crumpled musician, knocking him back and across the stage as he clutches for support. His impatience with this human is incredible. Was tearing out part of his soul truly not enough?

In the next moment, he lashes his astral arm back around to the squirrels Luce has sent running, allowing them to smash into the whisping starlight energy. Both his arm and the squirrels discorporate, though his arms is quick to shutter and start to reform, with an almost glitch-like effect. That actually hurt.

[exhumerus]

It's hard to measure exactly what combination of factors result in him at least partially slipping his binds. Maybe its Blanche's distraction, or maybe it's the warmth and direction of the gem cradled in his palm. Either way, when he sees Greg go flying, he lashes out instinctively. He doesn't think about whether or not he can do it, he just tries.

It turns out, he can.

The strength of his blue magic pours through the stone and through to the rest of Greg's soul, enchanting its gravity and catching him before he can hit the ground, a soft glow surrounding the musician's body.

[panspermia]

In truth, most of his reaction to the pain came from the pure shock of feeling it on an entirely new metaphysical level. He could recover quickly enough, so long as he didn't get further disoriented. Like, say, flung violently across the stage, or grabbed out of the air with gravity magic.

By the time Sans' magic has turned him blue, confusion has given way to fear. Ideally it would then give way to anger, but instead it's spilling over into panic, faster than he can give it direction. There's too much going on, coming at him and closing in from every side and faster than he can register.

He yells out, desperate. Branches on bushes rattle wildly, leaves scatter and fly around the room, starlight flickers in and out of existence with crackling sparks as he struggles to escape what holds him: the blue magic, the darkness in his soul, the bonds of his label, his wild and disjointed feelings. His magic flails as he does, a flurry of aimless motion desperate to make it all stop.

[exhumerus]

Sans knows that sound. It's one he's heard himself make more than a few times recently. Everything has been so out of their control, it feels like. Even moments like this.

That feeling of solidarity is probably what gives Sans the will to slip Blanche's hold, the blazingly gold stone flaring between his fingers. He can feel all the warmth that Greg had been missing inside of it, and it occurs to him that even if they are all about to die, he'd rather that Greg have these feelings returned first. It's not right for them to be like this - to have something to integral just taken away.

He knows that feeling so strongly now, and it's not one he ever wants to feel again.

As the leaves shiver and tiny supernovas litter the air, Sans feels himself break free. It's only a moment until he's arrived before Greg, reaching out with his magic and his hand to try to steady him. He lets the two of them settle down to the ground, taking Greg's hands in his. He presses the stone into Greg's hand, only able to hope that he will know what to do instinctively.

"Slow down, pal," he says softly. "I got you."

[panspermia]

He flinches away from the touch on instinct. With all the fire and noise and battle, he's left himself too open, too busy panicking, an attacker got in, he shouldn't have left his defenses down--

It's Sans. He stares at the skeleton, chest heaving too fast. He told Sans to take him out, if he got like this. The monster has killed before, he could do it again. Maybe he deserves it? He doesn't know, he doesn't know anymore, if it happened right now could he even stop it, would he even want to?

Instead, he feels the golden stone put into his hand. It's warm to his touch, something he'd craved without ever realizing he was cold. His breathing begins to even out, just a little. The gem is so small, but there's so much in it. It's cramped in there--it wants to be let out, to be where it belongs again.

His fingers curl around it. He looks to Sans, then to Blanche. Then to Luce and Doctor. To Meril and the senshi. He's so confused, and afraid. He doesn't understand, doesn't know who to trust, least of all himself. But this gem in his hands, it's not capable of lying to him. He can sense that much.

The memories hit him. Of gemstones and the people they belong to, their inherent power, everything that makes them real, their incredible power. The Crystal Gems. Beings of indescribable grace and magic and strength, and nothing without the rock containing them. He's always felt so separated from them in that way, truly an outsider, but here he is, holding his own gem in his hands. For all his magic and esteem, it's just the same; without this, he's nothing at all.

The warmth in his hands grows, escalating to an immense heat that never burns him. The stone's light grows, light pouring out of it and in through him, casting away the last of the shadows poured into him.

[interstellarnpcs]

Normally, he would have been able to intervene. Normally, he would have been paying attention. Yet, someone, in the matter of moments he spent fending off Luce's incessant flame attack, Sans has managed to slip in and make a mess of things yet again. The indignity of it is unimaginable.

Blanche whirls around to face the two of them furiously, approaching rapidly from behind Sans. He doesn't waste a moment on banter. Too much time has been wasted already by this fool.

The claws of his astral hand sink through Sans's rib cage only a moment after Blanche turns, having skipped from his place at the front of the stage to directly behind the skeleton's small form. With no skin or organs to maim, it is simply a matter of applying pressure to the bones his claws have wrenched, lifting his former employee as if considering whether or not to just pulp the monster and have it over with.

He doesn't wait to make a decision, though. He's quick to swipe with his human seeming hand to grab Greg as well.

who you gonna call

[giglio_madonna]

Amazing what a pair of annoying little squirrels can distract a man from.

Luce has no idea what's going on. If she's honest, she's just as confused and off-kilter as Greg, and reacting on everything as it comes to her. So when she sees the light glowing, for just a moment, she pauses.

It's a pause that costs them, and she gasps as Sans is captured. She can't try another fire trick, she might hurt Sans or Greg, but what can she do?

There's only one thing to try.

She takes off running towards Blanche, her free hand shoving into her jacket for a familiar guitar pick. If they can't do anything, if they have no idea what to do... Then maybe it's time for some ghostly intervention. And god, if she doesn't hope that's enough.

In the warmth of her hand, she crushes the guitar pick.

[trustme]

Luce? He's guessing she has a plan since she's running straight at Blanche but it's difficult not to jaw drop at her boldness or perhaps recklessness. Doctor grabs up his guitar again and strums away to build up energy again.

Successfully creating some sort of shield to keep Sans and Greg safe would be tricky- he stands a better chance of shielding Luce if Blanche strikes her. Whatever comes next, his best option appears to be to prep the spell and pray he has the power and timing to do the trick if it's needed. He watches, unblinking, for signs of Blanche's next move as he rushes to build up the magic energy.

Please let Luce's idea work.