genessia | Event start!

Event start!

Let the Cirque du Vrai begin!

OOC: The event starts today. It affects Attleton. Players can make their own posts and have fun with it or they can reply to this post with top levels and have fun that way! Up to you! There will be a separate log posted for the Showstopper on the 29th. If you have any questions or would like to sign up for the Showstopper, please check out the event details and remember that sign-ups for the Showstopper close tonight at 11:59pm PST.

Please note that if your character tries to enter the circus without a mask and costume (cannot be something your character already owned because it's not a disguise if it's theirs), they'll be prevented from getting in one way or the other. Don't try to get around it and don't try to be like WELL NO ONE CAN STOP MY CHARACTER!! If your character goes right past them they'll find themselves in the field the next day the second they go past the gates, capiche?? No cheating it's not fun for anyone.

As the sun sets in Attleton, a strange haze seems to glow over the barrier for a few moments before in the distance, a sequence of lights flickers on. The entrance sign first, then tents and merry-go-rounds and booths and all manner of dizzying fun illuminate just as darkness falls. It doesn't take more than a few seconds for the sounds of cheers and fun to fill the Attleton air. It almost seems like it's calling to you, inviting you in. As you approach, a man on stilts greets you. He explains that the flyers that have been floating around town with the wind and on the walls were all for this, the Cirque du Vrai! Become someone else to become yourself, step right up! You don't need to buy a ticket, you just need to buy a costume.

"There's a costume shop right next to the entrance for those who aren't prepared, and a master mask maker who will create any mask you desire, or leave it up to him once he decides what he thinks suits you. If you brought your own, that's fine too! The Cirque is here for days, there's time to spare! Don't let reservations drive you to despair! You'll miss out on fun if you let your life run all over the mystery we've so prestigiously spun. Test your skills, test your wills, find your chills, thrills, and pills. Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for is just beyond the gate! Accept who you are and you'll need none to commiserate!"

The man laughs, leaving before you can ask what that means to invite another in, and the game begins. Welcome to the Cirque du Vrai. Enjoy.

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[ if he's going to get close, she's going to play with him. She reaches up to walk her index and middle fingers up his body suit's zipper line. ]

Break them. See what happens.

[ She's been threatened with much worse by people she considers much more unnerving than Cassian. ]

[ That... is not the typical response to threatening people with violence.

Cassian's eyes widen the tiniest fraction before the scowl slips back into place. ]

Don't.

[ He slaps at her hand, trying to swat it away like an irritating bug. ]

I don't care if this is a joke to you. It's not to me.

[ she laughs and pulls her hands back. ]

Don't try to intimidate someone then get all defensive when they push back.

[ the way she circles him when she steps away is almost predatory, her red eyes not leaving him. ]

Hey, you're not scared of me, are you? It's kind of embarrassing how easy it was to throw you off, considering what you're supposed to be.

[ Emerald isn't even sure what she's doing here. That temptation to play, to let the killer out is barely holding itself in, and only because some part of her is hoping Cassian isn't actually scared of her. ]

Edited 2017-05-09 17:55 (UTC)

[ He's still bristling at her slight, today it's so much harder to shake off annoyances than normal, it feels like all his emotions are closer to the surface, and his normal levels of self-control remain barely out of reach.

Cassian follows her with her eyes, but makes it a point not to turn with her circling him. She's right, that was a slip, and he won't let show again how much she is discomfiting him. ]

I don't know what kind of spy you think I am...

[ The kind that likes his personal space bubble, thank you very much. ]

I don't know what kind of spy you are. I know what kind of killer I am though, and I don't like being threatened.

[ Losing track of her was probably a mistake on his part, even though it's the right way to show you're not intimidated.

Emerald moves closer to him again, stopping just behind him and pointing into the crowd before them. At least she's not touching again. ]

Isn't that your friend? [ It's not actually K2SO, but Cassian will see him there, in the distance. Just far enough that calling out to him would be pointless. ]

[ Her proximity is enough to alarm him, though this time he has himself enough under control to give no physical tells. But she's close, and not in a mood when he trusts her to be close, and at his back.

It only gets worse when she points out Kay to him.

A threat issued. Understood.

He turns around deliberately slowly. ]

I don't know what kind of killer you are, but I know what kind of killer I am.

[ She takes a step back, just to give him room. She doesn't want him to actually kill anyone, so she needs to make sure he doesn't try to quick-draw on her. He needs the space to build up and stop himself. ]

If I wanted your friend dead...

[ She tilts her head to the side like she's thinking pretty hard. ]

I gueessss you're the kind of killer I am.

[ Her tone of voice sounds like she's just picked what kind of music she's going to listen to on the radio or what to have for lunch. There's almost a sing-song tone to it. She taps her finger to her lips a couple of times, then points at him, her voice a little more firm but still not matching the appropriate tone for what she's saying. ]

I'd make you do it.

[ He wants to deny it, there's half a dozen denials on his mind, but Cassian remembers the bar, the deception she used on him which he still doesn't understand. His eyes harden as he lets emotions seep out of him. The circus fades into the background, it's just him and Emerald Sustrai now.

Not much of a friend anymore, but that has never stopped him before what needed to be done. He doesn't understand why she is doing this, but it's hard to care beyond the tactical advantage knowing would bring. ]

Maybe you could make me. [ Like she could make him sit by while she stole from him. ] But maybe I'll draw first, and shoot you.

[ When it is done, all that remains will be the assassin's cold focus. Cassian doesn't like the coldness, for all that it's familiar, but this time it's different, laced by an anger that doesn't leave, a whisper ofmake her pay that doesn't fit in with his idea of executions which are solely a necessary evil. But she has threatened Kay. Doesn't she deserve it?]

I've killed better people than you for less.

[ Even if Cassian hadn't started to drown out the circus, it was starting to go silent. ]

I've killed a lot better people than me, and I've made much better people than you do it. Wouldn't be my first robot-best-friend kill either.

[ She wants him at that point where there's no question of whether he was going to shoot her or not. No chance to say "I would've had time to realize" or back out of it. She wants his finger on the trigger. This is the opposite of how to find what she's looking for in someone and she knows it, but it's also the only way to know if it's real. Knowing that she could do something like this and still wanting to help someone like her instead of just writing her off or really, truly wanting her dead even when she's not actively antagonizing? That doesn't happen. She wants to prove to Cassian that she's not worth whatever weird ideas he has about her, and deep down she wants someone to want her around regardless of whether she can do this or not, simply because she wouldn't go through with it and they trust her not to.

It's not logical, but that's what she wants. Someone who's never known compassion or love of any kind, of course they'd want someone who'd accept the absolute worst parts of them more than anything and still think she's worth the effort. Even Mercury's just accepted that this is how she is and he's okay with that. There's no such thing as "up" from this. If Cassian finally believes that, then she can let it rest and stop worrying about whether or not she can. If he somehow comes out of this and still bothers with her...

Emerald's belief in other people isn't high enough to really consider that a possibility. At least, not when the temptations of the Cirque du Vrai aren't messing with her judgment, giving her that inkling of maybe. ]

Three, two...

[ Three...

It wouldn't be the first, no, that's one of the first truly worthwhile things Cassian had learned about Emerald - she had no qualms to kill even those who trusted her. At the time he had embraced it as something they had in common, he had been so hungry for some kind of a connection with someone who was in no position to condemn him for his own crimes.

Now? Now he finds himself wondering how he could have been so careless as to ignore that her whimsy could just as easily turn against him.

Foolish. So foolish.

Two...

She's made herself into a threat, and threats have to be eliminated. Personal feelings or hopes or wishes can't be allowed to interfere with it. There's that part of yourself he had told Emerald she would have to cut out. ]

Fine.

[ He doesn't wait for one to reach for his blaster, nor does he go for a quick surprise shot. To reason with her doesn't even occur to him. Cassian just deliberately grabs his blaster and aims, finger pushing down to fire. Just the tiniest bit more pressure... ]

Stop.

[ The illusion drops immediately the second he's almost at the point of no return, just enough time for someone of Cassian's skill to stop from shooting who's really standing there. Emerald's behind him, the image of K2SO is gone, and at the end of Cassian's weapon is a girl, maybe 11 or 12, crying with her mother behind her begging him not to.

It's the kind of scene most people only imagine or see in movies, but the horror factor was far worse than either the mother or child knew. Cassian was the only one who would be able to understand just how depraved it was, just how much damage she could make him cause- that that definitely could have been Kay, just like she'd threatened. ]

[ In one moment he's pointing the blaster at Emerald and he's just a split second away from pushing down hard enough on the trigger to fire... and then Emerald is gone, a young girl in her place who looks at him with tearful, terrified eyes. Shrill screams echo in his ears, pleas...

He jerks his hand, and the shot goes amiss, into the air above the girl's head. She screams louder and the woman is finally torn out of her fearful stupor, yanking at the girl and cradling her in his arms. And they're still screaming.

It's been a game. Just some stupid, cruel game, and it all falls into place in Cassian's mind. The bar, the card...

He still feels numb, but now there's horror mixed in with professional detachment, the realization what she can do - will do - how she could twist his own mind against him...

He whirls around, blaster going up again, and fires. ]

[ Emerald cries out in pain when the shot connects, her hand moving to the sight of the wound and her knees buckling slightly. She hadn't been expecting that, and all of her aura had been directed toward her semblance, toward making Cassian see and hear exactly what she wanted. But there was a reason she usually didn't do anything beyond the small and mundane without someone else to watch her back- it took a lot out of her. Even before Cassian had shot her, a miscalculation on her part, she was already a little dizzy. She hadn't expected him not to hesitate more than a brief second at realizing he'd nearly directly murdered an innocent child, though. Emerald had counted on that because she thought he couldn't be worse than her, and she's sure even she would've taken a moment to process that.

On the other hand, if she's in pain from the blaster wound, it's unlikely that he'll notice how much doing this takes out of her, so that's a bonus. He'll also realize that shooting her is probably not the best solution anyway. She takes a sharp breath, then there's a faint green glow around the wound as it repairs itself. Her aura kicking back in takes little time to get rid of the burns from the blaster, making it as if it was never there. She won't explain that it's a limited resource for anything that she did today- he doesn't need to know that. And truth be told, Emerald's already decided he didn't need to know any of this.

When the circus's charms wear off, she'll regret this a lot more than she knows now. Once her wounds are healed she looks over his shoulder as the mother and child finally begin to flee, realizing Cassian's attentions are focused on someone else. Emerald can't read minds though, and she'd find it hard to argue that she didn't deserve that, even if it pissed her off. ]

Don't shoot me again. I wanted to show you.

[ And now she waits for the words. That little shred of hope she indulged in is fading fast, but it's hard to be disappointed when she doesn't expect much. Emerald tries to keep her face straight as she removes her hand from her wound, the only blood left being the little bit on her fingers and the edges of the hole he made in her dress where the blaster went through. ]

[ There is no softness left in his eyes as he watches Emerald heal the wound effortlessly. It's noted, filed away. This makes her a more valuable ally - or a more dangerous opponent.

Today, she's just an opponent, and one with a terrible explanation. He doesn't lower his blaster now, though he is no longer intending to shoot. She's expecting it now. No point to it, and he might already be talking to another illusion. ]

You showed me that you can't be trusted.

[ Harsh, for sure, but he's furious. Now that the numbness is fading away, anger fills him up. It's disturbing, but more than angry, Cassian feels hurt. He'd wanted to believe in her, he'd wanted to so badly. Just one chance, one time... But maybe he'd looked at a willful thief, and wanted to see Jyn. But she's no Jyn. Jyn would have never stabbed him in the back. ]

I believed we are alike. [ He grits his teeth with the effort to hold back his emotions. ] You proved me right.

[ And that's the worst condemnation he can offer. ]

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