2024-04-08 - A Stadium of Sorrows
| Title: A Stadium of Sorrows | |
|---|---|
| Summary: The world-renowned star Jagged Stone is playing a concert to a packed stadium, but La Sirene d'Argent has designs on inflicting sorrow on all those gathered. Her fellow siren, La Sirene de Argent strenuously objects to inflicting so much additional sorrow, and The Witch of Lost Ivy backs her in putting an end to Argent's efforts. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Ajinomoto Stadium (Tama Outer City) | |
| OOC - IC Date: 4/6/2024 - Sunday, May 29, 2016 | |
.****************************** Tama Outer City *******************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Ajinomoto Stadium +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Though its primary purpose is soccer/football games (the Japanese use both
terms for the same popular sport), Ajinomoto Stadium is used for many
different sports year-round. One of the largest stadiums in Tokyo at 50,000
seats, Ajinomoto is a donut-shaped disk of white poles located near the
Chofu Airport, and sunken partially into the ground to avoid disrupting the
planes, such that its playing field is considerably below ground level. Two
vast tiers of seating ring the field, which during soccer season is a
rectangle of green grass. During rainy days or the hotter periods of Tokyo's
scorching summers, a panorama roof extends to shield viewers from the
elements.
Ajinomoto is unusually well-integrated into the Chofu community, and is
often put to other purposes. It is an emergency station during extreme
weather events, but when the weather is pleasant instead of dangerous, its
law is often converted into a sprawling open-air flea market, with tables
and stalls selling used goods to bargain hunters.
<Pose Tracker> Ginka Shimizu [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
The atmosphere in Ajinomoto Stadium is positively electric tonight. There is no sporting event or a flea market being hosted this night: instead, it is a concert for the one and only Jagged Stone! Sister School students had plenty of chances to win tickets or purchase them at friendly student discounts, and the stadium is full of eager, excited fans. It promises to be an amazing performance from a beloved performer, a dazzling rock concert that has reached a very wide audience.
Far to the west, the sun is already starting to dip below the horizon, leaving the sky over the stadium a warm orange rapidly fading to a deep, inky blue. The weather report said it would be clear skies tonight, but from the stadium grounds one can see a handful of clouds starting to gather. A cold, biting wind sweeps through the gathered concert-goers but does nothing to quell their excitement.
The stadium lighting dims temporarily, along with the stage lighting going completely dark. Shadowed figures can be spotted moving about on stage--the band taking their places. A few excited hollars go up from the crowd at this, and then die down again.
Suddenly, a loud chord rings out from the stage, a spotlight fires up, and front and center is Jagged Stone, wearing his best showman's smile for the audience. Two large screens flare to life on either side of him, projecting his image for everyone to see far into the back of the stadium. The crowd erupts into cheers again, and Jagged Stone lets them continue for a few moments, the smile turning a shade more genuine. "Alright, alright," he finally says as the crowd begins to quiet down. "Thank you, Tokyo! Are you ready--"
A bright flash of light from the back of the stadium illuminates the stage, and in the same instant everything goes dark. The stage lights, the screens, everything inside the stadium facilities. The speakers go dead, so nobody gets to hear the last part of Jagged Stone's question.
A murmur of unease starts to swell among the gathered fans. The stadium staff react quickly, bringing out flashlights and doing their best to reassure the crowds and keep order. On stage is a small huddle consisting of the band and staff, but during all that a few droplets of rain can be felt on the field. The clouds overhead have gotten much thicker, and some are speculating that there might have been a lightning strike that took out the power.
Finally, someone locates a megaphone to start communicating with the crowd. "We apologize deeply for this inconvenience, but without power we cannot continue tonight's performance as planned. We are working very hard to fix this issue, but unfortunately, due to safety concerns from the impending storm, we must ask everyone to take shelter within the stadium until it passes."
With that, the staff members start directing the crowds inside, away from the potential danger, with ample flashlights and emergency lighting to make it possible to see. The excitement and energy of the crowd, however, has cratered, and even many of those who are insisting that the show might still continue are rapidly losing hope. There is almost a sense of mourning at the loss of something that almost was.
A sense of sorrow.
But those in the crowd with magic know that it was not a lightning strike--at least, not a normal one. Whether it is the telltale feel of magic in the air, the scent of salt on the breeze too far from an ocean breeze, or the faint ghostly strand of violin notes just on the edge of perception... whatever it is, it's coming from the roof. With the dim lightning and the confusion of staff directing crowds, it's easy enough to 'accidentally' get separated from the crowds and get to work.
ON THE ROOF
Fun fact: Ajinomoto Stadium has a roof covering its upper tier of seating and a large portion of the lower tier. Most of it is a solid, opaque white, but on the two ends of the stadium it is clear.
Picture, if you will, a sea of glass, latticed through with steel. It is almost like walking on air, the uncanny sensation of standing on something that isn't there at all. What's more, there is a whole world trapped beneath it, formed of rows of seats, an ocean of potential and possibility that will not be realized tonight. Above, storm clouds churn and swirl angrily. Winds swirl and buffet those on the roof of the stadium, but there is a clear locus, a spot of tranquility.
In the middle of a great big glass pane lies a puddle of salt water, clay pot fragments, and obsidian sand. On the larger pieces of the clay pot fragments are ancient, faded markings, incomplete even before its untimely sacrifice moments ago. The shards have been carefully arranged, and an intricate pattern drawn in the black sand. It forms a sort of unshape, an impossible symbol that seems to slide off the eye and defy categorization.
But the assembled magical girls are not alone up here. Standing on the very edge of the roof, with both feet together, seemingly in defiance of concerns like 'wind' or 'gravity' or 'gee that's an awfully long way to fall, maybe you'd better step back a little', stands another magical girl, one who was already here. Her silver hair is long and wavy, falling down to midback. She is dressed in a black leather bolero jacket over a short black strapless dress in a gothic style, with gloves and thigh-high boots. Her right hand is raised up high, holding a gleaming silver rapier with an intricate guard.
In the darkness of dusk, and with all of the stadium's lighting shut off, it is easy to see that something is flowing up into the rapier from the grounds below. Streams and swirls of something soft and ephemeral are carried on invisible currents from all of the disappointed concert goers below.
They glimmer like tears.
COMBAT: Ginka Shimizu transforms into La Sirene d'Argent!
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 2 opponents!
COMBAT: Yumi Ohzora transforms into Inheritor Lost Ivy!
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has fully healed herself.
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi Ohzora is still pretty troubled, but a concert sounds like a nice thing. She's on her own this time--well, no. She only bought one ticket. She is not alone.
Tama got in for free!
"This noisy music is not my idea of a good time," Tama grumbles from the seat next to Yumi, her fluffy tail lashing back and forth as she waits. A few people have noticed that she's here, but nobody is hearing her murmur in all the chaos of the audience.
"It's good!" Yumi says. "Really wakes you up!"
"That's the problem," the cat answers.
But suddenly--
"Aw, man," Yumi answers. The power..." And the rain starts to fall. Yumi sighs, at first. "Guess you win," she says to the cat, and starts to stand up. Except...
Except--
"Wait," Tama says. "That wasn't ordinary lightning."
r"...You're right," Yumi answers. "It's from the roof."
-=-=-
A girl all in black and green and pink rises up around the roof in the rain, seated on a beautiful, ivy-ensnared broom. She hovers over the glass, coming over towards the girl who is there, at that something flowing...
"It's your doing," The Witch of Lost Ivy says. "You're the one who cut the power."
She frowns, sharply, hefting the Staff of Lost Ivy in her hand.
"...Collecting sadness is one thing, but causing it is entirely another," says the cat on the broom, Tama. "Ivy. You see this spell; you can undo it, if you can stop her."
"That's what I'll do," the Witch says. "HEY!" she calls out to the girl with the rapier. "Come bother someone else!"
COMBAT: Nori Ankou transforms into La Sirene de Diamant!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
To be honest with you, Constant Reader, this isn't really Nori's genre of music.
Nori likes music, of course, but many of her tastes have gone towards classical pieces, thanks to numerous influences in her social circles. (You wouldn't expect someone like Sayaka to be into classical music, huh?) When divergent from that, she has tended to move towards jazz, not least because it is the nearest Earthbound equivalent to the ambiant music styles present in her far-off homeland.
But of course she knew OF Jagged Stone. Her slightly shocking name; her overall styles; all of it was *interesting*, just not really the thing she's going buy a ticket to -
Until she is confronted in her home by a grim-faced otter holding up a ticket.
"What? J-just one? Are you going or -"
"No, no, I thought that - listen, never mind. But I think --"
*But that was then.*
*and this is now:*
La Sirene de Diamant is late.
It's not her fault. She had to get here somehow, and unlike some magical girls, she cannot fly - though she can vault between buildings, she is chary of doing so, as, after all, she does not have the raw durability to simply dent the pavement, nor does she have some sort of spider's-web to sling between them. (Ironically, a Siren active in the 1750s did have such magic, but this preceded the profusion of taller buildings that makes such a strategy viable.)
She is running.
She is running across the roof of the stadium. She can be easily seen, a blot-drop of ink-black at a distance, moving across the paler material. (Batiste has found a vantage point on the other side of the stadium.)
One more long leap --
"LOST IVY!"
Wow, that was loud. (The crowd may remember it out of context, later.)
She lands, near enough to be resolved. Breathing heavily, she runs closer. "She is --"
La Sirene de Diamant looks at Tama.
She looks at Lost Ivy.
She nods once, briskly.
Then she wheels about to face d'Argent, raising her left hand to jab an accusing finger. "Explain yourself, cousin!" she declaims, if less over-emphatically. "You are redoubling their sufferings! Stop this instant!!"
IN THE DISTANCE:
Batiste, wielding a monocular magnifier like a telescope, watches. He is too far away to do anything. But he will witness what happens... and perhaps how it ends, as well.
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
'It's your doing. You cut the power.'
"Well of course." The magical girl is facing away from Ivy, but the smirk on her face is evident in the way her voice oozes with smug self-assuredness.
She doesn't move to face Ivy, or lower her arm (and thus her rapier) or take any action that might stop her from her work.
Ivy issues a demand to come bother someone else, and the mystery magical girl just laughs at that, seemingly unconcerned with responding to a challenge. "Mmm, no, I think not. I rather like what I'm currently doing already."
Positioned as she is, at one end of the stadium, d'Argent can see Diamant's approach. Someone, much closer to her, could hear the barest sigh of exasperation that escapes her lips, her smirk (which, perhaps, Batiste can see), momentarily dimmed.
Her fellow Siren demands that she explain herself, and Argent gives a huge, theatrical sigh, with a shake of her head. "Must I, 'cousin'?" Why does her tone make it sound like she's still smirking? (Because she is, a fact that Batiste knows without the context of the conversation.)
Her voice takes on the tone of talking to a small child. "Very well, our task is to gather the sorrows of the world--"
'You are redoubling their sufferings!'
d'Argent laughs, then. "Oh good. So I don't have to explain everything to you. And no, I don't think I will stop. In fact..."
Here d'Argent turns her head, just enough to look back and meet Diamant's gaze with those cold silver eyes. Her smirk widens into a a full on grin as she continues talking. "Be a dear, and keep this other one out of my way, s'il vous plaît? I could see my way to sharing, if you were willing to assist."
"There's more than enough for the both of us, after all."
She doesn't look like she's doing to stop from words alone.
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Tama is a smart cat. She has knowledge of many things. Diamant may not even be the first Siren that she's met. ...But that's not important right now. Diamant calls to Ivy, and says, "Diamant!"
Then--well. That's apparently what it is. And Nori confirms that she's not just causing suffering, she's making it worse somehow. Which Yumi didn't entirely realize.
"I don't care if you like it!" Yumi answers ARgent. But 'must'...
Yumi doesn't believe for even a second that La Sirene de Diamant will do Argent this favor. INstead, she narrows her pink eyes. It might be the first time she's fought since...
"Fine. Then I'll show you the power of an Earth Witch."
Yumi reaches out her hand, the Staff floating before her as green light hbegins to gather about her feat. In the air, she traces a sigil of misfortune--
A curse. A curse she learned from Mother. Yumi grits her teeth as she finishes the spell.
"Ivy Binding!" She shoves the air forward, and an aura of black-edged green appears at Argent's feet, bursting upward into ethereal vines to try to bring her arms and her sword down all at once.
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Ivy Binding on La Sirene d'Argent.
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has finished attacking.
COMBAT: You don't have an incoming attack from 1. Please check +queue to see your incoming attacks.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent partially dodges 2 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Ivy Binding, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Witch of Lost Ivy is Psyched! La Sirene d'Argent's Fade and Flash abilities activate! Tangle and Trap applied to La Sirene d'Argent!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Well you don't HAVE to do anything," la Sirene de Diamant answers d'Argent in a surprisingly hot tone, "but if you do NOT explain yourself I am going to throw you into the parking lot and see if this teaches you a lesson! How could you do something like this?! Did you set the entire affair up!?"
There is a note of petulance in Diamant's voice that usually ISN'T there. Maybe they are related.
Her eyes widen. Her face blanches - it is possible she *cannot* blush in this raiment, but perhaps she would be. "What -- what do you possibly -- I don't do this kind of thing, you cruel beast!! There is enough sorrow in the world without your assistance! You should -- agh!!"
Flustered, she yields the initative. Fortunately, witches prevail where Sirens fail, and by the time she has gotten herself together, she sees that the binding has washed out and engulfed d'Argent. "Y- yes, good," she says. "And now, the parking lot!"
Diamant stalks forwards towards d'Argent. This is probably a mistake, but it seems she intends to make good on her promise, which is going to start by trying to armbar her across the throat! YEAH! THAT'LL LEARN YOU!
(Inwardly, Nori Ankou writhes in humiliation.)
(Batiste, who can lipread, says, "Diamant... don't... don't take that kind of temptation, there's so many other -- oh, good. Wait no she has a sword!!")
(BIG ZOOM OUT - la Sirene de Diamant is over 100m from Batiste as the crow flies, and Batiste is an otter.)
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Siren Body Attack on La Sirene d'Argent.
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent braces 21 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Siren Body Attack, taking 9 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Argent is making things worse. And even worse... without interruption, she can prolong the suffering here this night, at least for a while. With the dark and the power out, the crowds will be stuck, unable to leave... and at Argent's mercy (or lack thereof) the entire while.
She is, to be honest, rather proud of the plan she devised.
Diamant threatens to toss her into the parking lot--and here Argent laughs. This one, notably, is less performative and genuine, for some twisted reason that perhaps only Argent herself can fathom. "Well, well, well. You are certainly welcome to try."
"And yes, I did set this entire affair up. As for why..." She grins, just a little broader. "You know why." She told them, when they first met--her aim is to be Queen of the Sea of Sorrows.
When Argent turned to look at Diamant, she didn't quite turn far enough to also look at Ivy. The power of an Earth Witch... Argent laughs, as if unconcerned. "Oh, a witch? Well that is certainly novel."
But she sends a curse--an actual curse! What might Argent say, if she knows enough about magic to identify that fact?--and vines sprout from beneath her feet. Argent waits until the last possible moment to move, to continue her task for every scrap of time she can before turning to face the intruders...
And mistimes. She's only taken a single step before the vines latch onto her, leaving one hand free while the other is slowly dragged down.
All of the coalescing sorrow stops, swirling around aimlessly and without purpose. It just hangs there, glittering tears forming a sea of lights in the stadium below.
And then Argent comes for her, looking to send her flying--but with her free hand she brings it up to brace the blow, struggling with her physical might against that of her cousin's. "Well, well, well... since you're both so eager to stop me..."
<SoundTracker> (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy4HA3vUv2c
The hand holding her rapier turns, downwards, the tip of her blade flicking through the fines to free herself. In the next instant she is gone, having moved a step back seemingly without passing through the space in between. (That is, a step back along the edge of the roof, not off of it.)
"I like your trick, Witch. Let me share one of mine." Argent throws her hand out, and something in the air swells around Ivy--and then suddenly come vines bursting from thin air, made entirely out of pure silver. Any that touch or bind bring the heaviness of past regrets and misfortune with them.
For Diamant herself she simply sildes one foot back, and for the briefest of instants is in a textbook perfect fencing stance--before she surgest forward just as quick to lash out with a swift strike of her blade.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has used Fetters of the Heart on Witch of Lost Ivy. COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has used Allez! on La Sirene de Diamant. COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has finished attacking. COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy perfectly braces 0 Fatigue damage from La Sirene d'Argent's Fetters of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Witch of Lost Ivy's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant partially dodges 2 Fatigue damage from La Sirene d'Argent's Allez!, taking 8 Fatigue damage! La Sirene d'Argent is Psyched! Tangle applied to La Sirene de Diamant!
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Diamant's questions could illuminate much of what's going on; Yumi listens carefully to the answers. She doesn't notice the petulance, though.
Tama does.
"The parking lot?" Yumi asks. "Are you sure??"
That could hurt! But Yumi doesn't have time to enjoy a moment of confusion for very long. Instead, Argent laughs at her. And Yumi delivers her curse.
"Ivy!" Tama calls. "Be careful! A Siren strong enough to harvest this much sorrow is a dangerous foe!"
The two Sirens clash, and Yumi watches Argent free herself. "Thanks," she says sardonically to the 'compliment', and then the air swells. Yumi senses it coming, and traces a sigil of negation in the air before her, the green runes burning their way into the air; a dark aura suddenly blossoms around her.
A spell that would have been potent against her is stopped; even so, Yumi feels those past misfortunes and past regrets.
...It makes her angry.
"You think you can toy with peoples' emotions!?"
She may be fencing, but Yumi has a different idea. "Know the agony of hunger unfulfilled!" Yumi calls, clenching her hand around the Staff. "Hollow Curse!"
A wave of dark power erupts towards La Sirene d'Argent, to sap at her will and her might both.
"Ivy!" Tama says sharply. "Don't let her get to you!"
"But--"
"Your anger won't save these people!"
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Hollow Curse on La Sirene d'Argent.
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has finished attacking. COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent braces 5 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Hollow Curse, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Stagger and Stun applied to La Sirene d'Argent!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
The laughter from d'Argent just makes Diamant's face contort even more. This is objectively probably hilarious. Later, Nori will probably be glad that only Tama and Yumi were here to see it. (And Tama she may have to buy off.)
"That isn't how it works! That isn't how any of this works!" whines la Sirene de Diamant. (In this, she is, in a sense, wrong; because if nothing else, she was never told NOT to do this.)
The tears hang like a fine mist -- and then she parries her arm bar! Diamant is briefly flummoxed by the grapple and hops a little around, as if to figure out how she can get some of her boots into play. They are pretty heavy boots. Good for kicking. But she's moving her blade --
"Yeeaaagh!!" la Sirene cries out even as she flinches and pulls away. She puts a hand on her side.
(Zoom in! There is a scratch there. Is it... bleeding? It's... sort of... blackish-red, maybe? It's the sort of thing you might not bother to put a bandaid on.)
FAR AWAY:
Batiste lets out a huge gasp. "She's striking for true...! She's putting it all on the line... cousin, please, don't give up-!!"
HERE NOW
"Y - yes! She's manipulative and treacherous! Don't listen to what she's saying!" la Sirene de Diamant hastily agrees with Tama. She seems to be agonizing for a moment over what to do next -- and perhaps now it is her turn to entangle her, because the unlight-aura around her surges 'down' and pours like a living wash of black ink along the surface only to erupt into tenebreous tentacles up and around d'Argent!
Hopefully. That's the plan.
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has used Polyploia on La Sirene d'Argent.
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent perfectly dodges 31 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Polyploia, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! La Sirene d'Argent's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Tama has a warning about the power of a Siren such as d'Argent. Argent is still grinning smugly as she glances over, "She's right you know. I won't think any less of you if you'd like to reconsider."
Well someone is full of themselves--but then again, the sea of glimmering lights might speak for themselves.
But Ivy manages to counteract her spell--and for a moment, there is the barest downturn of her lips, a narrowing of the eyes as she sees and considers, evaluating the threat anew.
She is, to a very small degree, impressed, but will never voice it.
Toying with peoples' emotions? "If it gets me what I want, then certainly." Keep your opponent angry and off-balance, and they'll be more likely to make mistakes--a strategy Tama might be all too aware of, with her next warning to Ivy.
And Diamant is flustered still, protesting that it's not how this works. And d'Argent actually tsks softly. "Do not blame me for your lack of imagination, 'cousin'. You know as well as I do that our charge is to gather the sorrows of the world. Nothing more, nothing less." She brushes a lock of hair back behind her shoulder on her way to gesturing to the stadium. "As you can see, it clearly works quite well."+qu
A Hollow Curse comes for her, and Argent turns to meet the spell with the flat of her blade, bracing herself against it. But still it washes over her, stoking the great and cavernous desires already within her. She wants an awful lot as it is, and in some sense, this is not that much more--but for a brief moment she believes all her efforts might be for naught, and that is a cruel twist of the knife.
It's enough to forces her a step back, then another. When the blade lowers she is breathing just a little bit harder, her mood dampened for a moment.
"Do you seriously think making me want more will make me less dangerous?" Something of the playful edge she had has escaped her voice. Not entirely, but just enough to be noticed.
Tentacles erupt from the ground--from the glass beneath her, remember, and d'Argent seems to just dive right through the tentacles, planting her empty hand on the ground in just the perfect spot to handspring forward and land in a tight crouch on the other side of the obstacle.
She stands, and traces a quick circle in the air in front of her with her rapier, and a sea of glowing white lights form--no, they're daggers, or dagger-shaped. And once the revolutin is complete she slashes straight through, standing a spray of daggers for both Ivy and Diamante.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has used Storm of Silver on Witch of Lost Ivy.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has used Storm of Silver on La Sirene de Diamant.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has finished attacking.
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant counters 15 Fatigue damage from La Sirene d'Argent's Storm of Silver, taking 15 Fatigue damage! La Sirene de Diamant's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! Diversion applied to La Sirene de Diamant!
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant's counterattack, Les Mysteres, partially gets through, doing 18 Fatigue damage to La Sirene d'Argent!
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy fails to dodge La Sirene d'Argent's Storm of Silver, taking 39 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Diversion applied to Witch of Lost Ivy!
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
With the face-contorting, Yumi notices Diamant's expression this time. Tama indeed may have to be bought off, but Yumi won't narc on her friend.
"I'm not reconsidering anything," Yumi assures Argent. Tama is familiar with that strategy--and Yumi tries to collect herself. "It's all about what you want, isn't it? Your hunger."
Apparently it is how it works. Though Diamant tries to tell her not to listen, Yumi shakes her head. "I don't think of you like her, Diamant."
Even if... that's some weird bleeding. It's probably fine.
Yumi sees that her spell hit home. It's satisfying, in a spiteful way. But Tama told her not to get lost in her anger..
"...No," Yumi says. And that's not why she used that one, anyway. But better not to indulge that impulse--
Since she's already off-balance enough as the light hits her. Yumi attempts to step out of the way, but loses her balance, and the daggers slam into her, knocking her backward and forcing her to jab the Staff against the roof in order to keep her footing. "Ugh--"
"Ivy!" Tama calls.
"...You were right," Yumi says. "I'm letting her get to me. I won't do that again."
Yumi looks to Diamant. "I've got your back!" she calls, and then traces a few more runs in the air with her free hand. "You want to go big... we'll go big."
The runes hang on the air as if burning.
"Wrath of forgotten spirits..."
"Dark Radiance!" Yumi pushes her open hand forward, and the runes turn into cascading beams, green and black torrents of energy that crash toward Argent all at once, four, five of them.
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has used Dark Radiance on La Sirene d'Argent.
COMBAT: Witch of Lost Ivy has finished attacking.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent counters 13 Fatigue damage from Witch of Lost Ivy's Dark Radiance, taking 38 Fatigue damage! La Sirene d'Argent's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate!
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent's counterattack, Les Mysteres, partially gets through, doing 10 Fatigue damage to Witch of Lost Ivy! Critical Counterhit!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"I am not going to let you simply suck the suffering out of these people!" la Sirene de Diamant exclaims, still heated. "This is not healthy, nor is it wise! Perhaps you aren't making them into Cardiax worms in any sort of haste but you're still harming them--"
But if she gets what she wants --
"You're not gathering them, you're stealing them!! If you cut off cherry blossoms ahead of time, would you be gathering cherries?!" It is mostly dignity plus the fact that her boots probably weigh two kilograms each that is keeping her from hopping up and down. And then Argent calls up the knives --
"What was that thing you did to her?" la Sirene de Diamant asks Ivy, parenthetically. And then --
Her left hand pushes forwards as she cries out, "Les Mysteres, COME!" Then she brings down her other hand and the light back-wash from the invocation of the charm is able to ripple out over the crowd (at least the ones near the front), which is possibly going to keep them focused on the potential for the show.
Is that good or bad?
Batiste sure as heck is sweating it!!!
In the aftermath of this, it seems that Diamant has avoided serious harm, though there may be a few more scratches.
"Alright," she huffs. "If you're going to be like --" Her eyes cut towards Ivy for a moment, and then she does something inexplicable, perhaps, from d'Argent's perspective. She reaches over to unfasten something and slides off her left glove. It twinkles, the black diamonds in its back shining. She then finishes her sentence, "THAT" --
She hurls the glove at d'Argent, with scorn.
Then she grins when the blade comes up to cut the garment in half. It cuts, of course, because it's made out of... something that SEEMS like leather, anyway, with the diamonds mounted in the back. The split makes four of them go one way and two the other, but la Sirene de Diamant steps back and swirls her bare hand around for a moment.
The aura around her seems to bubble outwards, enlarging as the Pharos at her hip twinkles. Then it surges forwards, engulfing the two thrown-aside pieces of the garment in a circuit of that surging, light-that's-kind-of-like-water -- which in turn surges back towards her, a feeling like being immersed in cold seawater *and* subject to churning tides at the same time!
COMBAT: FINISHER! La Sirene de Diamant has used Saturday's Delight on La Sirene d'Argent.
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant has finished attacking.
COMBAT: You don't have an incoming attack from Diamante. Please check +queue to see your incoming attacks.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent partially dodges 22 Fatigue damage from La Sirene de Diamant's Finisher, Saturday's Delight, taking 87 Fatigue damage! La Sirene d'Argent's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Ivy isn't reconsidering. "Mmm, no, I didn't expect as much," says Argent dismissively. At the accusation of her hunger, though, she manages to chuckle darkly. "As I told her--" meaning Diamant, "--I always get what I want."
Diamant challenges her on the wisdom of her actions, and Argent scoffs, though it comes out as a half-scoff, half-laugh. "Oh please. If you want wise find some other type of magical girl. Without a steady supply of Cardiax around, I'm simply doing what I must to ensure that I reach my goals. You would be wise to do the same."
"And that is where you are mistaken, my dear 'cousin'. I am not simply cutting cherry blossoms. I am ripening my harvest." A creul way to phrase it--but she is just using a similar metaphor that Diamant just did.
Argent manages to catch the witch partially off guard with the casting of ephemeral daggers, though her attack at Diamant is interrupted by the summoning of a familiar charm. Light washes back at her, and Levin is forced to bring rapier back in front of her to try and stem the blast, though it drives her backwards.
But Ivy is ready to go big, too. "Good!" says Argent, taking up a fencing stance once more to prepare herself for the incoming attack, her right hand with her rapier blade held forward. "Show me what you're made of, earth witch. Though I must say... what kind of magic of the earth is a hollow curse? Bit out of your lane for your righteously indignant types, isn't it?"
She knows Ivy is trying to keep her cool--so she's probing, fishing for any weakness she can find to needle on. Really it's just a basic principle of fencing.
But that witch summons cascading beams of green and black light, and Argent considers the incoming attack. Well, Diamant was good enough to show hers... With a flick of her wrist she rapier vanishes, and the motion brings her hand up high to form a sign that Ivy and especially Diamant may both know very well.
With her left hand she brings it up and strums down with force. Where Ivy and Diamant command dark lights, however, Argent commands a bright white light that swells and bursts out to the incoming beams of light. But she is the definite loser of the exchange, driven back perilously close to the edge of the roof as the black and green rays of light start to tear through her magical clothing.
By the time the exchange is done she is panting haggardly for a moment, her arm having lowered into a defensive position across herself.
"Hmph. So you're not a pushover." This might be her way of complimenting Ivy? Maybe??
Something is hurled her way, and reflexively Diamant turns to slice it out of the air with her rapier, two pieces of glove falling down on either side of her. Her momentary triumph of 'Ha, did you see that masterful strike' is undercut a moment later as she looks down, frowning. "Wha--"
It's the first time she looks like she's truly lost her footing all night. "Wait why did you--"
Her eyes go wide, as she realizes, moments too late, just what Diamant is up to. Light surges for her, light that is and is not like water. She starts to move, but it is all around her, thanks to that ploy she so haplessly fell into. She very nearly makes it out--but her leg is caught in the blast and she is dragged back in. She lets out a yelp as the sensations of sea and tide rock her, buffet her from every side, and when it is done...
... she is on a knee. Parts of the skirt of her dress are torn through, her jacket and gloves have cuts, are peeling from the force of the magics they've been subjected to. Even her thigh-high boots are scuffed now. And Argent is no longer smiling. She is leaning, heavily, on one knee, the other arm dangling limp, and it seems like, for a moment, she might not have the strength to stand once more.
The stare she levels on Diamant is baleful, with none of the amusement, or the intent to poke and anger, that was in it before. All of her humor, forced or genuine, was washed away with that assault. "Hmph. A pathetic trick, 'cousin'."
It is the barest, flimsiest pretense she has, in the moment, to try and claim some sort of upper hand, and it is woefully, painfully transparent.
But then, even though her breathing is haggard, and she still doesn't seem to be able to stand, she is smiling. It is a grim, slow smile, sickening and perverse under that hateful glare that is affixed on Diamant.
"But know this... when I said I always get what I want..." She presses down, bracing against her knee as she strains with her muscles... and begins to rise, slowly, unsteadily, to her feet. Once standing she almost stumbles, catching herself just in time. All of her poise and grace is gone, with her arms and rapier hanging lmp by her side.
A moment, to catch her breath, and then she finishes. "... I meant it." She lifts her rapier up high. The force of sorrow flows through the universe, and at her prompting it draws closer to her, swirls, starts to surround her as she draws it up into her blade in twin streams. It starts to shine, brighter and brighter, until it could be as bright as the lightning bolt that seemed to knock out the power earlier. And when it is full, and cannot hold any more light, or sorrow, or energy she lowers it to point at Diamant.
She takes off runnig, suddenly surging forward far faster than she could before, striking at Diamant with a wordless yell.
COMBAT: FINISHER! La Sirene d'Argent has used Marée déferlante d'Argent on La Sirene de Diamant.
COMBAT: La Sirene d'Argent has finished attacking.
COMBAT: La Sirene de Diamant braces 69 Fatigue damage from La Sirene d'Argent's Finisher, Marée déferlante d'Argent, taking 46 Fatigue damage! La Sirene de Diamant's Block and Parry abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed. <SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4tVJASr_54
"The Earth has many hollow spaces!" retorts la Sirene de Diamant, who wants to stand up for Ivy, perhaps. She had no comeback for the rest. But then -
But then -
Her hands spread apart as she looms upwards, raising them upwards as her eyes turn down towards d'Argent and for a moment, perhaps, she does not look very human at all as the flush of apparent triumph surges and swells and her lips draw back from her pearlescent teeth and Argent leans.
When did she get that tall, anyway.
"You should take responsibility for your errors, cousin," she continues as she takes another step forwards. And then:
The sorrow flows upwards. La Sirene de Diamant's grand posture fades backwards as she takes a step, looking up at the flowing diamond-silver-mist of the drawn-forth Sorrow with astonishment if not, exactly, terror. But then it comes together, transmuted in arts fell and sacred to a single point. It crowns the blade. The blade is coming.
She raises her arms in defense but her left hand is bare --
The light touches a black diamond.
There is a great surge of light - with a black spot in it. The black spot disappears before the light goes away. The world is filled with glory and fury, as once it was, when all things began.
When it fades - when vision returns -
Diamant kneels, thrown back a half-dozen paces and one to the right. Her right hand is cradled behind her still-gloved left, as if in an attitude of prayer. Her skin is streaked with thin trails of black. For a moment, she is wholly bare, although it seems curiously like someone drew her on the world's background for a second or two before the light from the Pharos begins to pool again. Shredded lacing falls from the tops of her boots, where she slid.
She straightens, but sways. There is no saucy remark from her.
<Pose Tracker> Witch of Lost Ivy [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"It was a curse," Yumi explains. "I just cursed her with the kind of feelings she's causing other people." While that could be worrying, Yumi doesn't dwell on it. Instead, she continues the battle. She does say though, "...Thanks." About hollow spaces.
She always gets what she wants. Yumi narrows her eyes. But--'Ripening her harvest.' Yumi visibly steps back for a moment at that, daunted not by the words themselves, but by the emotion of a conflict that never was. "...You don't know what you're doing," Yumi says then, suddenly a lot more subdued than she was before. "You don't know where that path leads."
What kind of magic is it?
"It's the magic I grew up with," Yumi answers coolly, though the conflict within her is not insignificant. "...The magic I learned from my mother."
"Ivy," Tama says, but it is less a warning this time and more a note of concern.
"Don't worry Tama," Yumi says. "...I know who I am."
Not a pushover. "I've earned my place," Yumi says. "Just like you."
But--suddenly--Diamant delivers a powerful attack, and Yumi hopes that it does the trick. ...It does, wel enough--Argent is no longer smiling. She almost can't stand. And then, she calls it pathetic.
Yumi is not so sure. But she is not the target of this next assault. She knows the two of them are 'cousins', competing over... something.
She turns her face away from the brilliant light for a moment--and then returns to it. She looks back to the Sirens. Tama does, too.
They are both swaying. Both powerful, both working against the other. Yumi has a feeling, suddenly, that there is a great thing here in which she is not a part--something in which she could meddle... but should not beyond a certain point.
Yumi walks over carefully to La Sirene de Diamant, her broom following her with Tama on it. Yumi hefts her Staff and looks at La Sirene d'Argent.
"I believe you did," Yumi says, mean what she said, that is.
The Staff's head glows, its aura peace and tranquility and just a hint of deep, deep melancholy.
"...Your spell is ended, Siren." Tama the familiar's voice rings over the roof. "There is naught more for you here tonight."
Yumi is quiet. She stands by Diamant... But does not move to strike.
She waits.
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene d'Argent [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
The last clash, between siren and siren, between diamond and silver, is bright and dazzling in many wrong and worrying ways, and when Diamant is revealed, in the aftermath, to be kneeling some number of steps back and one step over...
Argent, instead, is revealed to be on her side, flung backwards with such great force she could not maintain her standing. Her rapier is flung from her grasp, skittering a hop or two more along the glass of the roof before coming to a rest.
She is still, for a moment.
The magic that powered the storm came from the Sea of Sorrows, carried in borrowed objects, and fueled by the sorrow of this world, but all of it was maintained by Argent's will.
She has no strength left, this night. The storm breaks, clouds and rain dispersing as if they had never been. The assemblage of sea water, black sand, and clay fragments explodes as the backlash of the interrupted spell blows it apart.
Tama is right. The spell is unwinding, and quickly at that. It only takes a few more moments after that for the power to be restored, and moments after that the stage lighting comes back to life, the speakers and sound system spring alive, and suddenly people are rushing back onto the field. They will be none the wiser for the experience, and in the harsh, bright, stadium lightning the lingering sorrow in the air seems to evaporate.
It takes Argent much longer, this time, to stir, pushing herself slowly upright. Pieces of the lace underlining her skirt are falling apart, and there are much bigger tears in her clothing. In a fitting bit of irony her right glove seems to have been taken off with the rapier, and she is holding her right shoulder as she struggles to stand.
Ivy accuses her of not knowing what she's doing. That she doesn't know where her path leads... she doesn't look at the Witch as she says, "It leads me to a throne. That's all I care about."
They're the same, in that they've both earned their place. "Hmm." There is a very slight, momentary incline of her head. A nod.
But she does looks, for just a moment, at that staff, her eyes going wide... "Y-your staff, it..." Melancholy, not quite the same as sorrow, but like recognizes like, shall we say. She looks to Tama, and snorts, but she can only muster the barest bit of outward disdain in the gesture.
To Diamant, she glowers, quietly and coldly. "... I won't underestimate you again."
She reaches out with her right hand, and her rapier leaps into it, though she winces at the strain on her shoulder. She manages to crouch her knees just enough to jump backwards, and in a blurring of moonlight she vanishes, reappearing on the other end of the arena. There is just a moment for her gaze to register Batiste.
"Enjoy the show," she says, curtly.
And in the next leap she vanishes.
