430/Art Attack!

Art Attack!
Date of Scene:	06 October 2015
Location:	Seiyou Public School - Classrooms
Synopsis:	Art Attack!
Cast of Characters:	Tadase Hotori, Kurota Aizawa, Ikuto Tsukiyomi, Amu Hinamori

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Tadase Hotori has posed:
It's a beautiful autumn day afterschool at Seiyou Public School, and most students are inside doing club activities, or have gone home. But out in the courtyard, as the leaves fall around her, a young girl is sitting, drawing tablet in one hand and a small set of pens scattered around. She starts by looking at the school itself. Then, she turns to look at the Royal Garden. Then, to a playground. And then, in anger, she throws down the tablet. "Why don't I want to draw any of it! Why can't I focus!" she screams in exasperation at nobody in particular. Her hand grabs the pens and throws them up in the air, along with a helping of freshly fallen leaves. She leans back and hits the grass hard. Tears well up in the corner of her eyes. "How am I ever going to become a great artist if I can't find the inspiration?!" she asks. She hugs her arms to herself. "Maybe... maybe it's just not meant to be? Maybe all of the time I spent working on this is a waste."

"Maybe it's all just... useless."

"Useless." she repeats, in a voice that is both her own and not her own. Her eyes glaze over, and her Heart's Egg turns black as it erupts out of her body, as she's given up on her dream.

And it's /that/ feeling that blasts throughout the area, alerting everyone in the area to what's going on. That sickly feeling that Guardian Characters (and some other magical types) can sense - the feeling of a dream surrendered, and hostile emotions given form.

Elsewhere, Tadase is on his way from one club to another; listening to their requests and trying to help them as best they can in the name of the Guardians. But that feeling grabs Kiseki's attention like a rope around the neck - and he stops Tadase, yanking on his cape.

"Tadase, I feel it! It's an X-egg - and it's really, really close." Kiseki says. Tadase doesn't need to hear more - Kiseki is leading the way, and Tadase is following him. His path will likely take him past Amu... if Amu hasn't already been alerted to it by her own Guardian Characters!

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Kiseki isn't the only one that senses the X-Egg. Yoru had been sneaking around the Royal Garden, trying to figure out if he could get in and steal something (and if the ensuing trouble would be worth it) when the feeling of an X-Egg alerted him. Immediately he went to find Ikuto!

The Seiyou student wasn't too far away. Ikuto is on the roof, having stayed long after any other student would still be there. He's lying down on the roof, his hand folded behind his head, looking up at the sky. Wasting as much time as possible, so he doesn't have to go in to the office yet. The Director's been running him ragged, and it's starting to show.

"Ikuto, Ikuto!" Yoru calls out as he zooms in closer to the roof. Ikuto sits up and regard the Guardian Character silently. Yoru forges on, "Ikuto, it's an X-Egg-nya!" Ikuto's eyes widen a little, but he doesn't speak beyond that. "Come on, let's go grab it! One less egg you'll have to make with your violin!"

"Nhn," Ikuto grunts, and then stands. Ears and tail appear, and he looks at yoru again. "Show me."

"This way-nya!" Yoru proclaims, and then zooms away from the roof and down. Ikuto follows, leaping down to ground level and following the tiny catboy Guardian Character.

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Kurota Aizawa doesn't go to Seiyou Public School, he goes to Seishou (when he bothers to attend classes at all). However, that in itself is why he happens to be at Seiyou today. Seishou doesn't have a large auditorium, and has an arrangement with Seiyou to use the older public school's facilities for concerts and such. Technically, he and his group are not allowed to put on shows at school anymore after that 'incident' which got their club suspended. But that's why he was here- the school was allowing a hearing to see if they would un-suspend the club and allow them to use the auditorium again.

    This meeting had ended in failure. The school administrators had demanded that they 'not wreck up the place again' and this was a promise they just could not make. As far as Kurota and friends are concerned, it's not a good concert unless the place gets wrecked up at least a little. So the teenager is on his way home, walking through the hallways of Seiyou with his hands in his pockets and his headphones on his head, the music blasting through them so loud people passing can faintly hear it even through the foam soundproofing cups.

    About this time, that feeling of badness washes over the area, and he pauses, sensing it. He glances around, idly chewing the gum in his mouth, snapping it with a loud pop. "What was that?"

    Quite suddenly, a luminscent sphere of scintillating colors pops into being in the air beside him. It vibrates, emitting a horrifying screeching, warbling sound which Kurota nonetheless understands quite clearly. <<Bad news, Kurota! A young girl has just had her artistic dreams turn into a horrible monster!>>

    Kurota looks at Wub, slightly alarmed. "Were they dreams about music?!"

    Wub vibrates in the negative. <<No, it was about drawing, but..>>

    "Meh," Kurota says, shrugging and starting to walk on.

    <<Wait! Art is still art, right? It wouldn't kill you to help the kid out.>> Wub protests, floating along beside Kurota.

    The teenaged boy pauses, then sighs for a moment. "Well, I guess we can at least go see what's going on." He mutters, "But if we're late for practize Mizu-chan is going to strangle me." He changes direction, heading at a distinctly un-hurried pace towards the disturbance.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori looks at a calendar, for no clear reason. "Ooh, it'll be halloween soon!"

    "I am going to cosplay as a bird!" Ran declares.
    "Is it really cosplay at halloween?"
T"And didn't you say you were going to go as a baseball?" asks Miki.
    "And before that, a shooting star?"
    "And before that, Pepe?"
    "And before that, a hamburger?"
    "I'd even started making my fry cook costume!"
    "You were, until someone said 'planning for your future career, Hinamori?', anyway."
    "And then I punched him in the face."

    They're like this /all the time/, folks.

    They'd go on for longer, in fact, talking about the merits of different costumes, were it not for....


    Oh dear.

    Oh dear, oh dear.

    See, yes, it's true that Amu Hinamori and her charas Ran and Miki can indeed sense the presence of the growing despair that signals the onset of... a disturbingly common, but no-less-serious-for-the-happening X-Chara...

    Something about this is different today.

    "What if you went as a tabletop game mage, and we were ioun stones?" "Maybe." "What if I dressed as a butterfly, and you were a bug catcher?" "Maybe, Ran." "What about if you got a costume where your head was in a really big shirt, and I was your flying severed head of doom?" "Maybe, Ran."

    See, it all depends on your perspective. A fact that Amu, who is running on her way to the source of the disturbance, 'd be very sure to explain to this person, if-

    "Woah! It got busy around here all of a sudden!"

    "Ikutoooo..."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
As the group gets there (or, at least Ikuto, Tadase, and Amu - Kurota may be lagging somewhat behind, with his great sense of urgency) the egg is floating above the girl's head. She's still repeating the word 'Useless' like a mantra, and the same voice, albiet distorted, is coming from the little black egg with the white X on it.

Tadase turns to Amu as she arrives. "I'm so glad you're here, Hinamori-san." an out-of-breath Tadase says. "I'm not sure what happened, but..." he begins, and then he gestures to the scattered art supplies.

The X-egg and its owner combine to explain the situation, though, as the girl says "I don't know why I bothered. I'll never be a great artist and it was all useless waste of time!". Her eyes are dim, black and featureless. There's a crack in the egg - but it doesn't open yet. The girl herself however, does fall to the ground, passed out.

Then, the egg begins to spin rapidly, still screaming 'USELESS!' as loud as it can. Which is legitimately pretty loud.

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Kurota is not in a hurry, though he's also not dawdling. He arrives more or less on the scene only a few moments after the three who actually have some idea what's going on, Wub hovering just over his shoulder. Although most people can't see Wub, the other magical persons should be able to both see (and hear) him, probably much to their dismay: that is, if they can hear anything over the sound of that egg screaming "USELESS!" like a broken record.

    Kurota halts a good distance away, but still within sight, peering at the rotating, screaming egg. "Radical." He says. "I should sample that for a song."

    <<There's no time for that now, Kurota!>> Wub protests, in what sounds like a series of discordant buzzes and screes to anyone else. <<Don't you want to help that young girl? After all.. she could be a fan.>>

    Kurota's eyes narrow. "A fan? Nobody messes with my fans! We need those album sales if we're ever going to make the cover of TokyoBeat!"

    He turns and looks at Wub, suddenly serious. "Alright, Sparkles, let's do this."

    <<Don't call me 'Sparkles'.>>

    Still a ways back from the others, Kurota raises his hand above his head. "By the power of INFINITE SPACE and UNGODLY BASS, Subsonic Warriors, transform!" He yells, gleefully. He actually doesn't /have/ to yell anything, he just likes to, because he's a showman, after all.

    There's a blinding flash of neon blue light and a wave of vibration, like when your neighbors are having a party with way-too-loud music, rolls out over the area, causing leaves to shake off trees and windows to rattle in their frames.

    In the wake of this, in place of Kurota there stands a boy-shaped black shadow outlined in neon blue stripes, like something out of Tron except with no face other than glowing blue eyes and glowing blue hair. The soles of his feet glow blue as well, and he uses them to skate forward over the ground as if on roller-blades, leaving twin glowing blue trails in his wake like tracks which fade out a moment after he's passed.

    Spotting Amu and Tadase, neither of whom he knows but both of whom seem to at least have some notion of what is happening, he approaches them. When he speaks, his voice sounds slightly overmodulated, but is understandable. "Hey midgets, what the hell is that?" He asks, pointing at the egg, just as Ikuto leaps for it.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Well, that's going to be a problem if someone doesn't do something about it. When the egg starts spinning rapidly, Ikuto is just nearing the site of the conflict. Yoru calls out, "There it is-nya!" In fact Yoru's big mouth is probably what heralds his arrival on-scene before anyone actually sees him.

As Ikuto lands, near Tadase, he flashes the Guardian a smirk. "Stay out of this, little King." A look to Amu then (he hasn't seen Kurota yet). "You too." And then, without waiting for anything else, he leaps up, trying to make a grab for the egg.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
"Don't worry, Tadase," Amu says, quickly looking around and summing up the situation. "I've got a good idea already."

    Ikuto is there- well, of course Ikuto is there, he probably did this, didn't he? I mean, it's one of the few times he DIDN'T, but as long as the catboy isn't going to correct her (and given his predilections, probably would be happy to let her think he was) she will continue to assume it.

    Anyway, it's time to do things in some sort of semblence of order, because /wow/ hi there Kurota! You're pretty awesome! I'll forgive the midget comment for now because you're so cool in fact!

    Step 1: fastball special Ran at Ikuto.
    Step 2: "Miki?" "Un." "My own heart, unlock!"

    All it takes is a moment for the small blue fairy to encase herself in her selfsame blue egg, and Amu can pull it back into her self. Using the shining Humpty Lock, she dons her ruffled, dignified outfit with its impressive hat and creative accoutrements!

    Step 3: "Are you having some problems with a creative block?" she asks the miserable girl, staying dignified in the face of the screaming egg flying above her. "Really? Because I see all sorts of inspiring things we could show you..."

    Wink at Kurota. Oh yes, we're gonna put on a show.


    I'd also like to just dial back a little there and point out that Amu absolutely threw Ran at Ikuto's face like it was no thing.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase is made aware of Ikuto's presence in the usual way - a combination of hearing Yoru's big mouth, and the counteracting 'YOU!' that Kiseki lets out as he points an accusing finger in the direction of Ikuto and Yoru - and then, Ikuto calls him a 'little king'. Tadase grits his teeth - and before he can say anything back, Ikuto leaps away - reaching out for the X-Egg! Tadase doesn't know why Ikuto wants it, but he knows he can't let Ikuto have it! A small crown appears on his head, and with scepter in hand, he points it at an angle between Ikuto and the X-Egg.

"HOLY CROWN!" Tadase calls out, and the crown-shaped eruption of silver-gold energy interposes itself between the egg and Ikuto!

"Why are you here, why do you want the egg!?" Tadase shouts, trying to use the moment to keep himsel;f between Ikuto and the egg - though Ikuto's unparalleled agility will make that a difficult prospect. "Did Easter have something to do with this girl's lost dream? Did YOU? Did you do this, Ikuto!?" Tadase shouts, his voice full of a combination of anger and sadness. The dramatic moment may be somewhat interrupted by the flying Ran headed for Ikuto, but on the other hand that's probably one of the few reasons Tadase is able to keep the character-transformed and much more practiced Ikuto away from the egg.

Tadase is only able to give Keys a momentary response of 'It's her dream, be careful with it' about the egg, saving almost all his concentration for the matter of Ikuto.

Meanwhile, the egg screeches a bit - at Kurota and Amu specifically - and unleashes a torrent of negative energy at them which tries to push them away from it (and its owner) with the strong power of wind... The girl murmurs in her unconscious state "it doesn't matter anymore. I'm a failure. All of this beauty and I don't want to work with any of it!" The egg's energy is less a direct danger to life and limb and more trying to make things difficult.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
It really is a perfect storm. The explosion of light and sound from Keys knocks him off-balance and startles him, just as Amu throws Ran at his face! The Sporty Guardian Character proves an effective projectile, and his head goes back with a grunt. It's all just enough to distact him from the Egg long enough for him to smash right into Tadase's shield.

He falls from the air, but recovers, flipping backwards gracefully, sending a dirty look at Keys. He's not really sure if that one's friend or foe. Likely the latter.

Indeed, the Ran fastball keeps Ikuto out of the way and Tadase remains between the catboy and the Egg. The question, however, is answered by Yoru. "Heh. We're not gonna tell you-nya~!" he declares. And he punctuates it by pulling down his eyelid and sticking his tongue out to blow a raspberry. Not at Tadase. At Kiseki.

Ikuto adds his own two yen in, "It's not something a kid would understand." Yes, he totally went there. "There's little chance of her being an artist anyway. She won't use that Egg. Let someone take it who will." That's right, try to keep the blame on him-- and Easter.

But that energy... Tadase's too close, it's going to hit him if Ikuto doesn't do something. Quickly he darts to one side, and then lunges at Tadase, the blue cat's paw appearing above his hand. Not to attack-- though that's sure what it looks like. It's in an effort to force Tadase to move to the side, away from the energy.

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Keys watches Amu transform and then just sort of wink at him as she runs over to talk to the seemingly unconscious girl. "No, that's cool, just don't answer my question." He grumbles, sounding a bit put-out, though a moment later Tadase takes the time to tell him 'it's her dream, be careful with it'. The boy-shaped neon shadow blinks a few times. "C-careful with it?" Careful isn't something he's very good at.

    For the moment he stands where he is, observing as the cat-boy leaps for the egg, but both the others do their best to keep him away from it, picking up that there's some past antagonism at work here and not sure on whose side, if any, he belongs. He looks at Wub, who is still floating next to him. "Well?! Now what? I can't shoot it, probably."

    <<I'd advise against shooting it, Kurota.>> Wub screes at him. <<Maybe you should just let these kids handle it, and just be ready to support them if they->> Just then the egg blasts them with wind, trying to push them away.

    Keys is essentially on magic wheels, so he is easily blown backwards, scrabbling to try to gain purchase, essentially skating into the wind only to stay more or less in place. "Grah, what the heck! I haven't even done anything yet!" But he does not fire lasers at the egg, despite how annoying it's being, taking Tadase's warning to heart.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Sir, I'm very busy with the henshining and the formulating of plans and the throwing fairies at people, I can't do everything at once, please direct your questions to my boy assistant who will be happy to tell you about the embodied dream we're dealing with here...

    Is not what Amu says. I mean when would she consider Tadase her assistant anyway?

    Of course, it might be complicated because her boy assistant is also dealing with similarly important things like making loud, angry accusations at Ikuto.

    An Ikuto who may or may not be bothered by the fact that Ran is currently in his hair, pulling on it like she was horse riding. "Giddy up! Giddy up!"

    I said /like/ she was horse riding, Ran, not actually horse ride him.
    "Oh."
    Ran, quiet! You're not supposed to be able to hear the narrator!

    "Are you good at music?" Amu asks genially, even as she's dancing from foot to foot to dodge the scorching, weird energy the egg is giving out. "Are you good at ad libbing? Because get ready to ad lib!"

    "Tell me why you don't want to, and I'll tell you what's wrong~ I can even do it in the form of a song~"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase is, in fact, so very busy throwing accusations at Ikuto that he doesn't notice the blast of energy the egg is giving off, trying to keep everyone away from it and push them back. In fact, it likely would do some damage to the unprepared Tadase - if it hit. But with Ikuto's quick thinking, he doesn't - because he /is/ focused enough of Ikuto to dodsge his 'attack', dashing just out of the way and turning to look as the area he was just in fills with black energy. And in fact, if this was anyone BUT Ikuto Tsukiyomi, Tadase might have been able to figure it out. Instead, he just stays mad.

"I understand more than you've ever given me credit for!" he says. "You're always treating me this way, but you don't exactly act like an adult either!" This is punctuated by the way Kiseki and Yoru are very engaged in making rude faces at each other.

Meanwhile, as the torrent of energy tries to push back Amulet Spade and Keys, the girl on the ground (and the creepy version of her voice coming from the egg) explain.

"All I wanted was to be a famous artist. I thought I was doing really good, too - my friends loved my art. But then one of my teachers said, if I had real talent, I should be able to create work off what I see every day - not just the things I imagine in my head. And he's right. I can't do it. I'm no artist! It's an impossible dream. A ridiculous dream!"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto says a very simple statement to Keys. The wubster wants to know what that is? "This is what happens when I corrupt a dream," he states, of the Egg. Ikuto smirks, the expression very much like a great, evil cat. Did he just take credit for this? He didn't actually do it, but no one here really would have any way of knowing that. Besides... the more people think he's an evil bastard, the better. "Want to try to help? Try to encourage the girl." A look to the unconscious girl. "She can still hear you." But if he did it, why is he telling Keys how to stop it from happening...?

And then suddenly Ran's in his hair-- literally!-- pulling and tugging. He gives a grunt and hunkers down, but its not him that ultimately does something. It's Yoru.

"HEY! Let go of Ikuto-nya!" he crows, and then divebombs Ran, trying to shove her out of Ikuto's hair. But it's still going to pull some hair... OW! Unfortunately Yoru has to stop the rude faces competition with Kiseki to do this.

Once Ikuto gets Ran out of his hair-- again, literally-- he looks to Tadase again. "Then what do you THINK you understand, 'little king'?" he taunts. Good way to see if Tadase's put anything together from any of this. that was a pretty blatant move on Ikuto's part. Had Tadase figured it out?

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Keys continues to skate against the wind, keeping himself more or less in place, though his invisible eyebrows raise when he sees Amu-let start to sing at the girl. "Music solves all of life's problems!" He agrees, as the wind dies down..

    Just in time for Keys to hear the girl's creepy droning voice explaining the source of her problem. He actually sounds offended as he yells over towards her, "That's BS! Anybody can copy what they see or hear- real talent is inventing things nobody has ever seen or heard before! Sounds like your teacher is just jealous, dude probably can't live without tracing paper!"

    He pauses, when Ikuto steps up and takes credit for corrupting the girl's dream. Keys frowns at him. "Everybody needs a dream, dude. That was a crappy thing for you to do." He eyes the little tussling chibi-things, but largely ignores them. "In fact, it kind of pisses me off."

    And then he tries to punch Ikuto in the face for being a jerk.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
"Yay!" Ran cheers- yes, pompoms and all- as Yoru comes right for her. In fact, she lets go of Ikuto's hair and counterpounces him.

    "Yoru! There are so many leaves! Play with me in them! We'll have a hide and seek contest!"

    Doing all of this on top of Ikuto's head, no less. Because Ran. She will, however, move when reminded of her location. Because there's leaves, man! Leaves! And we're small! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE POTENTIAL?

    Amu scratches her chin. The important thing when being barraged with dark energy- at least for her, who has, admittedly, been a little down for unrelated reasons- is to keep her confidence up.

    "Well," she says. "My new friend here has the right idea of it! But not only that, there's definitely a trick to making art out of normal, everyday things... maybe you just haven't found the right medium to work in yet?"

    And this is where we might just get a bit of music.

    "Oh... there's sculpture and woodworking, tattoos and pot-throwing..."

    Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she's doing it. She's rattling off art styles to the tune of the Mexican Hat Dance.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase looks to Ikuto. Some of the recent goings on with Scorn, and with Runealy, have gotten him thinking. "I understand sometimes people do things they're not proud of for reasons they don't want to share. I understand sometimes people feel trapped, and don't want to let anyone else help, because they don't want to get them involved." he says, without malice or anger in his voice. "So if that's the case, then you need to speak up, and share, because we can't help if we don't know. Otherwise... all I understand... is that right now you're ACTING like a SELFISH, STUPID JERK." So close to a dramatic, motivational, helpful speech. But then no. He's no Blue or Tsukasa, at least not yet.

Then Keys tries to punch Ikuto for being Ikuto. Tadase cannot, at all, fault him for this. In fact, he's rapidly become very fond of Keys.

Meanwhile the girl is on the ground. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he's wrong? I don't know. I like being creative. I don't like being told what to draw... I used to do sculpture, but I put it aside to focus on my drawing..." The wind/energy from the egg seems to be calming down, now that the girl has someone to talk to besides just her own self-doubt - the positive reinforcement, albeit coming in many ways, seems to be a big help!

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
With all his attention on Tadase, Ikuto is only barely able to dodge that punch in the face from Keys. And he laughs. He can't help it, he has to laugh, a single, bitter puff of breath. Not at the punch. It looks like Ikuto successfully got someone else angry at him, and at Easter. Tadase had mentioned it, Keys should have heard it. His crusade against the people who hold his leash grows!

"They're kids. There's enough famous people in the world already that there's so little chance any of them will ever make it. I can use that dream. They can't." Not to worry Keys. You'll get your chance to punch Ikuto one day soon! Right now, he needs you to let that anger grow, though!

Yoru's tail is fluffed up as he pushes Ran off of Ikuto's head, and he's about to attack again... but then she mentions leaves. He looks confused. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be protecting Amu, like cheering her on or something? That's what those pompoms are for right-nya?"

Ikuto stops, stock-still, when Tadase speaks. Crap. Sounds like the Guardians' 'little king' is catching onto him. Not good, for Tadase's sake. Ikuto frowns, his eyes narrowing at Tadase. Though the smirk returns full-force when Tadase says those last three words... probably very loudly. So, all isn't totally lost. He just needed to reinforce it a bit. "I'm not a kid anymore." Mind, he's not really an adult either, but that's neither here nor there. "Maybe you'll understand one day.

Though that said, now that the wind's died down... Ikuto makes another grab for the egg!

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Ikuto dodges out of the way of the punch, and Keys rolls through with it, spinning in place to scowl at the other guy from his new position. Well, he never was much of a brawler, anyway- he was a ranged guy! But he can't shoot lasers all willy-nilly, because that would risk damaging the egg, something nobody here seems keen on doing. Keys wouldn't want to be the one to actually do it.

    "That's BS, too!" He says to Ikuto, at the guy's rationalizing of why he'd be better off with the egg. "There's never enough famous people!" That's like an insult to Keys directly, since he's trying to become a famous person himself. He points his finger at the cat-boy. "Besides, what are you going to do with it? If there's too many famous people already, it's not like you stand any more of a chance than she does!" He jerks his thumb bac kat the girl on the ground. "Better let everybody have their own ch-" And then Ikuto is leaping at the egg again. "Dammit!"

Amu Hinamori has posed:
    "Yeah, but sometimes I gotta think about me, you know?" Ran says, giving a bit of a shrug.
    She whispers to Yoru, "Plus I don't wanna throw her rhythm off. Anyway, wait for it, wait for it..."

    Eventually Amu finishes the song, and /that/ is when Ran commences the genial clapping, which she then stops abruptly and cheers like a football fan, then it's back to the clapping, and then she alternates rapidly and randomly between them.

    "You always cheer at the /end/ of a performance."

    Then she pushes Yoru into the leaves.

    And it's probably just as well that she does, because Ikuto's making an aggressive move there, and all Amulet Spade can do is move in counterpose to him, paintbrush at the ready!

    "The most important thing," she says, being belligerent enough to not even talk to Ikuto as she's moving and parrying, "Is to be happy with what you're doing! You're expressing your own creativity, and inspiring other people! That's what helps everyone feel the kind of energy from being in the spotlight!"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
The girl on the ground looks up from her prone position. She looks up at Keys, and at Amulet Spade... and Ikuto. Her eyes seem a little brither as she listens to Keys, and she mumbles. "Maybe I have a chance." then dim again as Ikuto's harsh words reinforce her fears. "No, he's right. I'm not going to be famous..." and lastly, Amulet Spade's words. "maybe... maybe it doesn't matter if I'm famous or if I'm the best or if I make what someone else likes. Maybe it's enough if I enjoy it?" The egg stops with the torrent of dark wind, and seems less black... and more gray.

Amulet Spade's paintbrush is just enoughh to counter Ikuto's grabs, and keep him away from the egg. Tadase points at it. "Amulet Spade! You're doing it!" He moves in behind her, between Ikuto and the egg. "Hey Neon-kun" he says, looking at Keys, "Help me keep this cat-jerk away from the egg." Kiseki helpfully implores that Amu "Do your thing, and save that subject's dreams!" while Tadase and (he hopes) Keys push Ikuto away from his goal.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto is stopped from commenting on Keys's words right after they're spoken thanks to his aggressive move towards the Egg. Amu keeps him at bay, though, and he leaps rapidly to the side to stay out of her range. It does indeed keep him away from the Egg, forcing him to abort the grab for the Egg.

Yoru is quite confused now, because he thought he was going to end up fighting Ran. Since she's Amu's Guardian Chara, and Ikuto is at least partially fighting Amu. But all of a sudden she's cheering and clapping... and then he's pushed into some leaves! "NYA!" he yelps as he disappears into the leaf pile.

But now that Ikuto's landed on the ground again, he can answer Keys. "That's not what it'll be used for," he says. "If you want your dream to come true, you need power. And that Egg is power." Yes, he did just admit to being about to steal someone else's dream for power. Ikuto's running his evil bastard mode on full here, in front of this 'Neon-kun'. He has to learn to dislike him too.

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Keys continues to scowl, even while holding his position. His natural instinct is to blast the hell out of Ikuto with magic sound-lasers, but he doesn't want to accidentally hit the egg- normally collatoral damage is the last thing he's worried about, but the thing about wanting to be famous, and that egg begin the girl's /literal/ dream must have struck a chord with him, because he's holding himself back.

    He sort of dances in place, swaying to a beat only he can hear, shifting from one foot to the other- maybe the beat of Amu's song, though it's hard tot ell for sure. He glances at Tadase as the younger boy tells him to keep Ikuto away, and then glances back at Ikuto as the other guy tries to justify his actions.

    "You need your /own/ power." He returns, a slight sneer in his voice. "If you can't achieve your dream with your own power, but you have to steal it from somebody else, well. That ain't cool with me buddy. Why don't you try cleanin' up your own house before you rob somebody else's?"

    He moves to keep himself between Ikuto and Amu and the egg/girl as much as he can.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
    It's probably no secret to anyone that Ran just likes Yoru, really. "Which of us is gonna hide and which of us is gonna seek? Should we see who can find the other first? Is that a roly-poly under here? Hi there roly-poly!" And bugs, apparently. Her opinion on trains has not been recorded yet.

    "Did you have a birthday or twenty while I wasn't paying attention?" Amu asks Ikuto, pouting. "You're really saying some weird /old/ things today."

    She pretty much just wants to shove her paintbrush in his face like it was a mop or something. "You know."

    She begins to move from side to side, indeed swaying to a tune only she can really hear. "Being true to yourself is the first step. You can't have conviction and strength if you're fooling yourself about your reasons."

    She twirls her paintbrush, almost as if she's twirling and twisting the threads she needs to confront together. "A lot of good things will come from it, but you always need to start with the right foundation. Know exactly why you're doing something, and that it makes you happy, and you'll find the confidence you need to go on from there! And then, who knows? You might make great things that make others happy in turn! But it all starts with you!"

    Taking those shining, positive feelings in the form of a charge, Amulet Spade's Humpty Lock sparkles with renewed energy! She's going to speak the words in her heart to everyone that needs it!

    "Negative heart!" <3 "Lock on!"

        "Open... heart!"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase and Keys do their very best, and with that effort, manage to keep Ikuto from snagging the egg. It doesn't stop him from talking, as much as Tadase might wish it. "Neon-kun is right - if you steal from someone else to achieve your dream, it's not worth it. Plenty of people can have that strength - and if you need help, that's what friends and family are for! Don't steal other people's dreams to make yourself strong - that just makes you a bully!"

Meanwhile, the X-Egg is blasted with Amulet Spade's Open Heart - and between the strength of her emotions forced into the cleansing attack, and the words she's spoken to the eggs' owner, despair and sadness are banished from the egg - the egg itself turns back to a white egg with a star design, before it floats down slowly and returns to its owner, and her eyes go from dim to somewhat brighter before she shuts them, the emotional toll of the little war for her dream taking up so much energy. All she says is "know what makes me happy... drawing for me makes me happy!" before she goes out, though.

Backed up by Keys, Tadase smiles as Amu does what she does best. "See? Her dream is still alive and strong. There's nothing for you here, unless you want to explain why you act like such a jerk all the time." he adds, looking up at Ikuto. It's half an insult, and yet half a demand for explanations.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
"You get power from anywhere you can," Ikuto replies to Keys, with narrowed eyes. "If you can take it, it's 'yours'." Probably going a biiiiit too far here, but better to go too far in getting Keys to think he's evil than not far enough.

But in a way, he IS being selfish. He's not even thinking about what this is doing to Tadase to hear someone that had once been his friend say things like this. All he's thinking about is keeping Tadase at a distance. And this is the only way. It's easier in the long run...

Ikuto turns to regard Amu at her words of 'having a birthday or twenty'. "You'll end up like that one day too," he notes. Though for those who know the mechanics of this sort if thing, it's worthy to note that Yoru hasn't faded even a little. So whatever dream Yoru represents, Ikuto very much still believes in it.

It might also be a surprise that Ikuto... doesn't move to hinder Amu's 'Negative Heart' in the slightest. He merely turns and steps back out of the line of fire as she forms that heart shape with her hands, and leans his shoulder against a nearby tree, his arms crossed over his chest as he watches the beam purify the egg. And he just watches her purify the egg, his tail twitching lazily behind him. Is that a smile on his face? It's hard to tell.

It's only then that he addresses her words of 'conviction and strength'. "Worry about yourself, Hinamori-chan. You'll need all the 'conviction and strength' you can muster."

And then there's Tadase, demanding answers. Ikuto pauses, the smile on his face fading. He remembered another time when Tadase had looked at him almost like that-- all angry and sad, but desperately wanting to understand why, to believe that the boy who'd been just like a big brother to him all those years hadn't really done something so horrible.

Ikuto's expression turns wistful for a moment, almost sad... and then the smirk is back in full force, hiding everything else. "All right, you win. This time." Pause, and he turns in the direction of the Guardian Charas. "Yoru!" he calls out, turning his head in that direction.

A pity too; Yoru had been about to start a pouncefight with Ran. And pouncefights are just so much fun! "Oops! Gotta go-nya!" The feline Chara zips over to Ikuto. "Are we leavin'-nya?" Ikuto gives a nod.

But not before he looks back to Tadase. Here that smirk turns predatory. "You win this one, little king. But now I know how to find her." He's talking about the now-sleeping girl. That said, though, he leaps up, into a not-so-nearby tree. He's trying to make his escape with those agile leaps.

...Well, that's certainly not 'giving an explanation'. In fact running away is pretty much 'thoroughly avoiding the subject'!

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Keys watches a Amu.. does soemthing that turns the egg white again, and then it goes back into the sleeping girl? Well, it seems like everybody is pretty happy with that result, so he can only assume that they've won. "Yeah, take, that, egg!" He declares, apparently mistakenly thinking the egg is somehow to blame.

    Then he shakes his head at Ikuto. "Naw man, see, here's the truth. Lemme lay it out for you." The shadow-and-neon figure of Keys points at himself. "Real talent, real power, comes from you. You can try to leech off of other people, but the truth is eventually that's gonna fail you, and the people listening, the people payin' attention to you, they'll know. Might seem like the masses are a bunch of dumb a-holes and sure, they can be. But they can tell the difference between real talent a phoney. Every single time."

    He narrows his glowing blue eyes. "You don't wanna be a phoney, do you, kitty-cat?" But then Ikuto is fleeing anyway, and he sighs, shaking his head. "Man.. I've had enough of this today." He glances at Amu, still by the unconscious girl, and then Tadase. "Things under control?" Assumedly given the affirmative, he turns and skates back off towards the trees.. reverting to his normal form in a flash about halfway there. "Crap, I'm so gonna be late.."

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amulet Spade, as a response to Ikuto, just does that thing where she pumps one arm and clutches it with the other as she watches everything play out successfully. "Perfect!"

    "I don't know what he's talking about. I'm going to be just as good as I always am, forever. I'll even get better!"

    Somewhere, someone stirs in response.

    "One of these days we're going to get him to actually talk sense about something for once in his nine lives."

    And then it's on to the really important stuff: running behind Keys and fawning all over him.

    "Omigosh hiiiii thank you soooo much for all of your help and for doing the thing with the music! And it was really good and we pulled it off without a hitch and it went great even though it was so off-the-cuff and I really liked that! And you look so cool what's your name? Do you play in a band? Come baaaack!"