Log:The Fall of the Cartesian, Scene 3

The Fall of the Cartesian 2018/03/23 	 Raven|Amelia Radical|Connor Duran Frogirl Rira Gonzalez Bodo Smith Siobhan Black Tap Gaia Bard Impetus 3

Rira(#2926TOnp)

This is a young woman, with a number of tattoos up and down her arms. She's wearing a short sleeved shirt, a denim vest with some kind of punk band logo on the back, jeans, boots, and her hair is done in a tall mohawk. She's currently wearing glasses and has a number of ear piercings around each ear.

This once middle-class section of town has fallen into disrepair: the rows of two-storey homes are mere ghosts of the past. Some of the vinyl siding is cracked and faded from decades of neglect. Children play unsupervised in now weed-strewn vacant lots. Graffiti along brick walls mark the territory of various gangs trying to claim the neighborhood as their own. Harrisburg Elementary needs its tall security fence and guarded gate.

If southern Harrisburg is bad, the north is appalling. Many of the homes are boarded up, perhaps occupied by homeless squatters, and the gang graffiti is ubiquitous. Drug dealers and worse have brought their crime to the district. Few trees or shrubs remain, and lawns are weeds and broken bottles. Here dwell the destitute, the desperate and the homeless.

Amelia has been visiting Sasha's residence. Which is in the middle of Harrisburg. Amelia has a complicated relationship with Harrisburg. She's done a lot for the district, mostly anonymously. But she started off as a vampire hunter. Which did not endear her to the majority of Harrisburg residents.

The events over the past seven days have had Rira Gonzalez on edge. She was attacked by Chaos Demons last Friday, and saved by several of the local superheroes. One of those heroes, known as the Cartesian, apparently did something like...give up his powers? She only heard stories about it later through the grapevine, as she didn't see it. She had been taken off by a frog woman to safety.

And here it is, a week later. Rira is trying to get back to her normal routine, and her band is due to play a gig in Harrisburg. She was obliging enough to Frogirl to give her a free ticket to get into the Hackers Rage to see the show.

Sounds of hard rock and heavy metal come from the Hackers Rage, and there are a few flyers outside listing 'Live Music Tonight: Vurig!'

Amelia hears the hard rock from the Hacker's Rage as she emerges from the ruins of the church. She wasn't aware of the music event but on hearing some great music, by her taste anyway, she heads over to see if she can get inside the event.

Strange and discordant. A death scream of some sort. A dirge of some techno-demon? Gaia had been skulking around in the ruins of the church. It stinks of the mage who lives near by. But the nose pricks and stabs at her ears, and she eventually emerges from the ruins to peek outside towards the nearby bar. She rubs at her ears, then starts walking towards the Hackers Rage.

Frogirl shows her ticket to the bouncer. "Hi. I'm Frogirl. I'm underage, but I guess I can come in anyway, for the show?" It wasn't really her sort of music, but it would be rude to not attend.

The bouncer looks at Frogirl, "Yeah, I got your description." He looks around up and down the street, "I saw yous ID. You're good." He waves her in.

Strange and discordant. A death scream of some sort. A dirge of some techno-demon? Gaia lands atop the Hacker's Rage. The noise pricks and stabs at her ears. She steps off the edge, and lands in mouse form at the corner, tiny and gray like the sidewalk. She scampers along the edge of the wall to sneak into the bar while the Bouncer is eyeing Frogirl.

Did someone say... Music? Oh my, for that you would need a Bard. and in traditional fashion after being absent for oh so long the Beautiful Busker can be seen going to a show. Walking down the street with a guitar on his back whistling to himself, it is time for Marcus Bard to make his appearance.

Frogirl heads in and hops to the ceiling and sticks there, so she doesn't take up space for a normal person.

Tap is on the outside, looking at the place. She's blatantly underage, and is considering her possibilities at getting in to hear the band. Maybe she could sneak in somehow. Or walk in brazenly and hope the bouncer doesn't challenge her. She's had occasion to beat him up before, and he may have more sense. On the other hand, if he does challenge her, there goes any Plan B.

Connor is following up with his plan to try to keep an eye on Rira. At least when he's not working on his current plans. He looks a bit out of place in his button down shirt and slacks. But he heads to the Hackers Rage anyway. The bouncer gives him a weird look, but doesn't stop him at the door.

Tap stands barely five foot tall, and looks like she must be thin as a rake under her clothes. She is typically dressed scruffily in well-worn jeans and a dark grey hoody, too large for her: its hood is easily big enough to hide her face in its shadows. Of her self, normally only her small and slender hands show.

She generally seems quiet, alert and skittish, as if always ready to run. But when she does stand her ground she betrays no hint of fear.

Inside, the musicians are working on tuning up their instruments. Rira apparently plays guitar, and there's another woman who is their singer.

Amelia chuckles. There's someone who needs lessons in fitting in. She follows Connor to the entrance a few steps behind him. "Hi, Malc. " she greets the bouncer. He also bounces as the Cemetery Raves she attends. "Can I go in or is it all ticket?"

The bouncer smiles to Amelia, "You can go in. We're not charing a cover or nothin'. Just happy that Gonzo is still with us."

Tap decides to do it the sneaky way. Jump up to the roof, pop an upper window, creep in, find her way down to where the music is.

Amelia peaks up her interest, "Gonzo?" she asks the bouncer. "Who's Gonzo?"

The bouncer chuckles. "The guitarist. Some demons or something attacked her last week. Rira Gonzalez."

Amelia says, "Ah. Oh. Yeah. It's good she was okay."

The bouncer nods, "We call her 'Gonzo', since she's a bit of...well...she can be a bit out of control sometimes."

Amelia hurries in and starts trying to find Connor. Yes, he will stand out. But in a crowded dimly lit bar it's still not an easy task.

Gaia skitters along the walls while she's inside, looking around at all the humans. When she finds an empty space near the bar, she transforms back into her human form, her clothes the strange tribal pieces they usually are.

Tap slips downstairs. She's small, and shouldn't have much trouble being unnoticed in the crowd.

Connor is over by the bar, and he already as a drink in hand. He adjusts his glasses and nods to Amelia as she finds him. "Hello again."

Bard having overheard tales of demons and demons interested in a guitarist chuckles softly to himself "Sounds metal." And attempts to enter the bar, nodding to the bouncer without a care.

Amelia looks around. .oO(Hey, I know her. Meta. Really strong. And there's Connor. And isn't that.. Yeah. Gaia. The aura shines out like a beacon.)

Meanwhile, on stage, the band has finished tuning up. The woman on stage starts to sing...but initially in Gaelic. Then the guitar and bass kick in. They don't have a drummer currently, so their backup is clearly done with electronics.

The bouncer nods to Bard as he walks past.

Amelia nods, to Connor. "Great music. I love this sound." she says leaning in close to her ear.

Gaia has her hands cupped over her ears, eyes flitting about wildly. This is some circle of electronic hell. Why is everything so loud?! She steps away from the bar and towards the speakers making this racket.

The walls vibrate a little from the guitar. The sound in here makes it difficult to listen to other people unless they speak directly in the ear of the listener.

Connor chuckles and says back to Amelia, "I tend to prefer more...classic rock. You know...stuff from like...2020. But I can appreciate it anyway."

Tap stays in a far corner, listening to the music and watching the crowd.

Frogirl, up on the ceiling, winces. . o O (I should have brought earplugs. This is loud.)

Amelia nods, "Keeping you eye on Gonzo?" she says into Conner's ear.

Connor furrows his brow, "Gonzo?"

As the lead singer continues, there's a general feeling of relaxation that passes over the crowd. Any tension that might be felt starts to fade. Even with the sound as loud as it is.

Rira starts in on a guitar solo, and as she closes her eyes and gives herself over to the feelings of playing in front of the crowd, tendrils of blackness start to emanate from the guitar, reaching out in all directions. They slowly writhe...somewhat like tentacles, or rather...shadows of tentacles.

Distrustful of Chaos magic, or order magic for that matter, Gaia's head perks up as she notices the magical affect. The humans need protecting! She runs towards the stage and drops down into the form of a great big siberian tiger, letting out a mighty roar as she makes a leap for the stage.

Frogirl blinks. . o O (Uh-oh. More demons?)

Amelia is listening quite relaxed. As the black tentacles appear she notes them curiously but doesn't feel any need to react.

Bard looks over the top of his glasses at the musicians. "Hmmmm..." He thinks . o 0 (metal became meta... Demons, meta... yeah This is my life.)

Tap, being relaxed, is no longer so worried about being spotted. She pushes her way forward through the crowd to get a better look at the tentacles, and maybe see if anything needs doing about them.

Connor blinks upon seeing the visual on stage. "Wait, that...that's..." And then the tiger appears and he gasps.

Amelia reassures Connor, "It's cool. That's just Gaia. The Earth Mother avatar."

The band members on stage freak out as the tiger roars. The music stops, aside from the errant guitar string getting hit. Siobhan (the singer) scrambles backward past Bodo (the bassist). Rira freezes and glances up to Frogirl. The tendrils stop moving, as if frozen.

Frogirl blinks. "A tiger?" She leaps to the stage and stands protectively in front of Rira. "Frogs don't have a good track record at fighting tigers, but I'll do my best."

Tigers aren't good. She leaps to the stage to attempt to wrestle the thing before everyone panics!

The tiger bristles at the tendrils more than Rira. Has chaos magic tainted the child? The frogirl jumping in her way gets her attention as Tap sneaks to tackle her.

Cade is nearby, checking out the Neighborhood Gardens when he hears a nearby 911 call come out over his StarGuard communicator. He's disinterested until he hears 'giant siberian tiger in a bar'. That raises his eyebrows and with another thought the rest of him as he takes off- flying straight for the tree he stowed the W.H.I.T.E. suit.

It takes him a minute to get it on, but once it is- he's on his way to Hackers Rage.

Tap, constrained by having to leap through the masses, fails to grab the tiger.

Amelia snaps out of whatever was imposing an artificial calm on her. "Oh, heck. This is getting out of hand, Connor. Stay back. Remember you're not Cartesian any longer." she tells Connor. Then she ports up onto the stage. "Hi, Rira. Remember me? Mind dismissing the chaos tentacles?"

Gaia flattens her ears as Tap tries to tackle her, then tries to get around Frogirl to snap at one of the shadow tendrils with her jaws.

The tendril disintegrates, and Gaia can swear she hears some kind of high pitched...scream? Not clear where it's coming from.

Bard sighs, here he was thinking he'd have a pleasant evening. But there is something foul afoot, and more importantly a tiger. None of this is ever anything he wants to deal with while relaxing, The musician Sighs and speaks. But as he speaks the sounds of otherworldly power is in his voice Echoing deafeningly in the small bar as he bellows "ENOUGH! There is far too much afoot and far too much that needs explained! Those who know nothing stay quiet and those who wish to explain come forward." Bard himself seems to glow in a righteous light of rage to indicate where he is

The crowd hears Bard and kind of parts for him, looking in his direction. Rira glances over in his direction as well. Initially she starts to panic even more, but then the tendrils of darkness disappear entirely.

Frogirl blinks and looks at Bard. She hesitates and waits to see what happens next.

Gaia calms down once the tendrils disappear, her ears popping up alertly. Bard's warning gets her ears to flick in his direction to listen, her massive head turning partly his direction.

Tap stares at Bard. . o O (Who's *that*?!)

Amelia glances admiringly at Bard. .oO(He's cute. Got a heck of a lot of presence too. Hopefully he's got things calmed dowm."

Impetus arrives a short time later- though it always feels like that when you measure distances and traverse them the same way like a bird. He lands in front of the bouncer, who quite naturally has his back turned to the entrance. Who wouldn't be looking at the majestic tiger, the multiple wizards or at the very least the (formerly) soothing playing of the band?

He steps inside, and thanks to Gaia's form is not the only person who stands out here, though the W.H.I.T.E. suit makes Connor's choice of dress look positively underdressed.

He walks in, keeping the suit's systems powered down to keep the situation from getting any crazier. He has no idea the calm he walks into is due to Bard's intense & powerful command of the stunned crowd.

His green visor pans around the crowd, but holds on Gaia- who, being a tiger is the natural choice for troublemaker in a small bar being used for a free rock concert.

Bodo interposes himself in front of Siobhan in case the tiger moves their direction.

Rira also back up further toward her bandmates, clearly not really understanding what's going on.

Bard folds his arms and looks between those who are assembled awaiting the explaination he requested as he walks forward, only briefly taking note of the perosn who walked in. "Anyone care to speak up?" He approaches the tiger with no real concern. He does look at the tiger as if expeccting it to speak. He's done weirder things and for as much as he's concerned this is Literally just a tiger, but he can deal with that.

Amelia steps a single pace forward, "Gaia, it's all calm. Change back. It's all right now. Change back." she says in her best attempt at a smoothing voice.

Amelia glances toward Bard, "Misunderstandings all round causing this I think."

Tap isn't sure whether she's supposed to be keeping quiet or not. She doesn't know much about what was going on, apart from the tiger and the tentacles.

Gaia sniffs about for more chaotic magic. With the tendrils gone, and Amelia's soothing, the Tiger calmly shifts back into Gaia's human form, standing up mid-transformation. "Chaos touches you," she tries to explain to Rira. A statement she thinks will make the Bard understand.

Connor circles around the outside of the crowd, keeping an eye on Rira.

"That would explain the demons I suppose." Bard states unamused. "And would any of the band care to clarify why, in all my years as a musician a most unnatural reaction to high temp fast Rock and roll after a bout of singing has resulted in this reaction? The last time I saw such a thing a woman was singing the dead back to life.

Tap thinks. o O (Oh... it's the band he wants to talk....)

Impetus looks around, clearly confused. His instinct is to lift Gaia up and carry her out of here, but he doesn't want to weild the W.H.I.T.E. suit like that in a crowd of people if he doesn't have to. So he listens instead, and slowly but surely weaves himself through a sea of black leather.

Frogirl doesn't really like being in the spotlight literally, so she hops back to the ceiling, now that things are calmer.

Siobhan blushes a little bit. "Yeah, I'm 'na gonna' talk 'bou tha'."

Tap likewise melts away into the crowd.

Or at least, it's pretty clear she doesn't want to talk about things publicly in front of a crowd.

Amelia thinks back. "A good question, my friend." she says to Bard. "My reaction with almost certainly manipulated." She looks at Rita. "Are you aware of having summoned chaos magic when you were performing?"

Connor speaks up, "There weren't any demons here. At all. Just a manifestation of magic."

Rira shakes her head, "I...don't know what you mean."

Amelia looks out over the audience. "Okay, who was recording the music? Yes, I know you shouldn't have but some of you were. Pass your phone up here."

There's at least one person in the crowd who did. There's a young man who comes forward with his PDA.

Bard looks at Gaia. "I see, perhaps 'tiger' was not the best choice, Shoes." He looks to Amelia. "I see." There is a cold look towards the singer at the mention of magical manipulation via music. And then Bard looks to Connor. "Not this time, but I have ears, and people talked of such things happening before." He moves towards the band. "I will say you were mechanically marvelous, but yes, I know and unnatural reaction when I see one." He looks to Siobhan. "If you do not wish to speak then I can listen to your thoughts or you can whisper this in my ear. Which do you prefer?" he takes the rose colored glasses off his face and looks intently into the eyes of the vintage T-shirt woman. "I'd hate if you were intentionally invoking something you shouldn't rather than relying on your talents."

Amelia nods, "Replay the recording so Rira can see what happened, please." she tells the young man.

The man plays back the recording and Rira looks confused. She says, "Umm...what IS that?"

Gaia wiggles her toes. Her bare feet may be offended by the shoe pronouncement. They're terribly uncomfortable. Prisons for the feet. She gives Bard a little frown of disapproval at the clothing suggestion. When her expression eases, she looks around at the crowd for any other signs of Chaos. But she sees is Impetus. Similar, but not quite the same.

Siobhan grits her teeth. She walks over to Bard and speaks quietly to him.

Amelia tells Rira, "That was a manifestation of chaos magic. Clearly an unconscious and unwitting manifestation."

Impetus makes his way to Gaia's side, and in time to hear a few phrases cast about- like 'chaos magic'. Enough to make him think this is more than a typical call where Gaia misinterpreted an aspect of modern living as something dangerous and thus responded in a way that could easily be misconstrued as 'dangerous behavior'. He remains quiet though- listening carefully in case he has to file a report.

The footage shifts to following the tiger. After all, the tendrils were just like...a light show of some kind.

Rira shakes her head slowly. "No...something else did this. I'm no one special." She looks around at the various heroes that have cropped up out of the woodwork

The busker listens and nods. "I certainly understand." Bard knows too well the power of that. "Seek to control, if you need help let me get you my number. I am skilled in this kind of matter believe it or not." He looks to the crowd, then back to the band. "Will you be able to control is and perform for their sakes? They did come to see a show after all."

Siobhan nods, "Aye, we can do this."

Amelia looks Rira straight in the eyes. "Several people put their lives on the line to protect you a few days ago. Because you are a potential source of power for the forces of Chaos. Tonight revealed why Lazare and the Lords of Chaos wanted you. And why a Lord of Order wanted you killed. Don't throw their effects in their faces by denying the truth."

Tap thinks. o O (I really don't snag what's treating.)

Rira starts to say something, but stops herself. She clearly still doesn't quite believe it. Or she doesn't want to believe it. It has to be one of the two. She looks over in Siobhan's direction and nods, "Let's try to finish the gig."

Gaia stares up at Cade as he steps to her side. She's not exactly sure how to make him understand with her limited skills with the English language and modern vernacular. "Chaos touches girl. Bad things. Keep balance. Danger." Yeah, that's vague. Enjoy interpreting that, Impetus. How does he get stuck having to watch the girl who may very well be an agent of chaos in another guise?

The band starts up again...but there are two major differences. Both Rira and Siobhan don't seem as relaxed as they were the first time. Unsurprisingly. The feeling of calmness...doesn't happen, nor does the visual effect that Rira produced on the first go.

Amelia is watching Rira intently with mage senses on high alert.

Tap keeps an eye on the band while she listens once again to the music.

Bard returns to the bar to enjoy the show keeping an eye out for the crowd's response and listening and enjoying. He seems content with the Bards disease putting their power off.

Connor also returns to the bar. And gets another drink before he goes back to listening and watching.

Gaia slinks off stage and hops down when she doesn't sense any chaos. She might be able to escape, but Cade is probably keeping an eye on her. She walks over to Bard and looks up at him with her nose scrunched up. "No shoes."

Bard chuckles and smiles. "I know, Shoes, I know. I'm just giving you a hard time." His body language and relaxed nature indicating he views her as a friend. "Just plese mind the crowd next time. Not faulting what you did, mind. You were protecting people fromm what I reckon."

Cade tilts his head at Gaia, unable to ascertain exactly what she means- but he remembers the young woman from last week. He decides to stay to keep an eye on both her and Gaia. He follows Gaia, drifting down slowly as he hops off stage and then walks towards the bar as well. He already feels out of place, but the helmet helps a whole lot with that. He just decides not to care and that he'd rather be prepared and overdressed than caught with his pants down. He remains unusually quiet.

Frogirl sticks to the ceiling and listens, at least trying to appreciate the music.

Gaia nods in satisfaction at Bard's response, expression relaxing again since he's not insisting she wear shoes. "Protect. Yes, from Chaos. Girl was attacked, other day."

Amelia returns to Connor. "Interesting. Worrying." she says to him, "She likely needs protecting. But it might also be that we need protecting from her."

The music sort of is a weird cross of celtic music and metal. There's strong Irish sound to the tunes. The crowd slowly returns back to a sense of normalcy, but...there's still a general tension.

Impetus finally chimes in there saying to Bard, "Gaia and I were both there- attacked by some kind of ... 'chaos demons' were the words they used. Bad dudes is all I can tell you. I'm just glad it wasn't more of them."

Connor nods to Amelia, "Maybe. What she did...didn't hurt anyone. She just has a natural talent. Something stronger than I ever had."

Tap thinks. o O (Doesn't seen to be anything askew this time.)