Blinded by Glitter

[owneroftheworstroom]

WHO: Bruno & You~
WHERE: Around Temba
WHAT: Something with storms and a screaming moon
WHEN: During the storm
WARNINGS: %

a Chasing Dreams

The fog that settled into the city is thicker than any fog Bruno has ever seen or walked through. Fog usually only settles in the early morning hours in the Encanto, which are also some of the few times Bruno dares to leave the house. But that fog has never been anything like this fog. This fog? Is frightening. As is the thunder that cuts through the silence every once in a while.

Bruno regrets having stepped outside. He already feels lost in this large place. But then he spots something - Or someone familiar.

"J-Julieta?" Bruno exclaims in surprise at spotting his sister walking down the street not too far from him, yet not paying attention to him at all. So of course Bruno starts after her, calling out to her again. "Wha- Wait! Julieta!"

And off he goes, straight into the remains of a tall building.

b IT'S A GLITTER STORM!

Bruno hasn't necessarily noticed his powers not working. It's not like he has been actively using them in years and not having to fend off any accidental visions for an entire day now has been great! No headaches and he even got a nap in. If he ignores the fog and lightning outside, things are very much fine.

He will just make sure to grab some food and return to his room and ignore that leering gaze from the moon above that certainly isn't falling down or anything.

It only... Screams?

Bruno flinches at the sudden noise and looks up in bewilderment which only lasts a split second before he finds himself trapped in a hurricane of red and pink and purple. Visions that have spared him all day going wild before his inner eye, but also in the green glowing displays before him. They try to be their usual color at least, but with the vibrant glitter mixing into them it gets a little muddled. The same goes for the displays of his visions, which are more displays of abstract forms than actual peeks into the future.

And all the while, Bruno is helplessly flailing his hands at them or pressing his knuckles into his skull, desperately trying to force these visions to stop. "No! No no no no no! Stop it! Stop! You have to stop!!"

c ???

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Comments

a, deciding to spare Bruno the sight of a flaming Exo

[deal_me_in]

The fog manages to present itself as a very unfriendly atmosphere, which Cayde doesn't like in the least. The thunder that taunts them from above only serves to be an annoyance. "No, you're not being sneaky about it at all," he scolds...the sky, glaring at it. He knows the feeling of being cut off from the Light all too well. It isn't one he particularly misses, but he knows it isn't the end of the world. It's just a pain in the butt.

The Exo is making his way down the road back towards his clocktower when he hears someone shouting. It's not particularly a voice he's familiar with, which makes him more inclined to believe it's actually someone and not his imagination. Sundance confirms it as someone pops up on her radar, and as the two near they finally manage to catch a glimpse of the man running off after... Nothing?

"He's the only one I'm picking up," Sundance says, and Cayde nods. "We'd better keep an eye on him..."

That would be a worst first impression than the one Jon got.

[owneroftheworstroom]

There may be days when chasing after nothing is acceptable. But this day? Not so much. In fact, it might easily turn out to be dangerous. Especially is said nothing is making you climb up the remains of a building that at some point in its existence had been of notable height.

Fortunately, Bruno isn't paying much attention to any of that as he tries to catch up to his sister. He may have chased after the silent apparition even without the fog swallowing up most of his surroundings. "Julieta, wait! Please!" He calls out again, actually hopping over a hole in the floor without paying much attention to it. He does, however, trip shortly after when more of the floor caves in just where he is about to set his foot down. Luckily, he doesn't crash straight through the floor, but he sure is taking a nasty fall forward, ending in an inelegant roll and a yelp of surprise. "Ouch!"

[deal_me_in]

Cayde knows these buildings aren't that safe. He's poked around enough of them to see how questionable their sturdiness is, but not many tended to go there because it was more or less obvious that the places weren't very stable. As they get closer he can hear the tell-tale sounds of things falling apart. The Exo exchanges a glance with his Ghost before they dart in.

"Hey-!" Cayde looks around, wondering how the guy had even managed to get up where he'd gone. "Where'd he go- I can hear him..."

Sundance tilts about as she tries to get a read. "This way," she says, zipping forth.

[owneroftheworstroom]

Bruno has just picked himself up from the ground, wincing a little as he dusts himself off, about to look for his sister again when he hears a voice first, followed closely by approaching footsteps that have Bruno look back rather than forward. What he sees? Is terrifying.

The first he sees is a glowing face glowing through the fog. That glowing face turns out to belong to a monster made of metal and that monster is currently rushing straight at him.

"Wai- wha-- NO!" He gets out hastily and turns to run away from the creature, screaming in a positively terrified way. "Help! Someone- HELP ME!!"

[deal_me_in]

"Wait, wrong way-!" Cayde shouts, taking a few more steps forward before he draws up short as Sundance turns towards him. "I think we've scared him," she notes.

"What!? No way, I am very pleasant to look at, just as To- know what, don't ask Tony." He pauses, tapping his foot. "Know what, glowing eyes in a dark empty building- yeah, I can see how that can come off as scary- HEY DUDE, stop running, it's dangerous in here!!"

[owneroftheworstroom]

What. Is the monster calling out to him so he waits for it? Oh, certainly not! Bruno keeps scrambling further up hastily until he at least feels far enough away, then quickly scurry into a more or less hidden nook, hoping to be able to hide there.

"It'll move past. It'll move past. Just stay calm and quiet and it'll move past." Bruno mutters to himself because that will clearly help.

[deal_me_in]

The footsteps approach, not that Cayde can't be quieter but because that would defeat the whole point and the guy is already obviously spooked. The sound stops right where Bruno has taken cover, and silence falls again if briefly.

They continue on then, although in truth Cayde doesn't go far, simply stepping to the side of Bruno's hiding place before crouching beside it. "So um. How long we planning to stay in there?"

[owneroftheworstroom]

As the footsteps approach, Bruno tenses, holding his breath and keeping his eyes shut. The monster will go away, surely it will.

Just that it doesn't. And when it suddenly is RIGHT NEXT TO HIM, and TALKING to him, Bruno lets out the breath he has been holding in a high-pitched shriek, trying to back further into his corner when he actually sees the unnatural face with its burning features. "Please! Don't eat me! I taste horrible! Please don't eat me!!"

[deal_me_in]

Cayde winces, making to rub at an ear he no longer has. "Ow! Really?? Why are we yelling- there's- look, I'm like only two feet from you, I can hear just fine!" He rolls his optics.

"Anyway, I am not going to eat you. Frankly, I might agree that you probably taste horrible but I am not a cannibal!"

b - because currently he doesn't know what is actually happening with his "power"

[lionunchained]

Shiro just happened to be out in this bad in the storm. Aside from the random illusions that seemed to be popping up everywhere, it was about par for the course. The thing that was perhaps bothering him most as the fact that his mechanical arm wasn't working so currently, he was missing one arm.

But then the scream. It was... pretty bad. But not long after that, he noticed something else was going on, someone practically surrounded by swirling glitter.

"Hey, are you alright?!" he called as he jogged over.

[owneroftheworstroom]

"Wha- Alright?" Bruno flinches as he hears the voice, frantically swatting at glitter and the strange glowing formations within. "Y-yes! I'm alright! Everything's alright! This is normal, right? All good!" These things happen in this place, right? Weird things no one can explain. Impromptu glitter storms sure are among these things.

That's when the glitter suddenly bursts away in all directions, leaving only this massive chunk of green glass hanging ominously in the sky, perfectly ready to fall at any moment. And all Bruno can do? Is stare up at it, eyes wide and positively glowing the very same shade. "...that's not normal."

[lionunchained]

"Are you sure?" In regards to weird things happening in this world? Yes, this was normal. In terms of it happening to him? That may not be. To Shiro, random swirling glitter in response to a moon screaming was not normal, but maybe this was something that Bruno was able to keep track of.

Then it suddenly flew away, bringing his one arm up to guard against the flying glitter. As it stopped, he looked back as well, staring wide-eyed at the massive green chunk of glass that was now hanging in the air.

"Should we get away from it?"

[owneroftheworstroom]

Bruno gives a slow, tense nod, still staring up as the first cracks appear in the hovering object. "Yes. Yes, we should." He agrees and suddenly darts off, vaguely in Shiro's direction and his arms stretched forward to urge the younger man ahead of himself and out of the way-

And then the large formation falls, shattering loudly and sending thousands of pieces of glass flying and scattering across the ground.

[lionunchained]

Yeah... that definitely seemed rather ominous and Shiro didn't need to be told twice as Bruno agreed with him and also began to run. Shiro took off running a short distance. At least far enough to be out of the way as the green glass fell and shattered, small bits of glass going everywhere.

"What... what was that?"

He seemed to at least have some idea.

[owneroftheworstroom]

Luckily, neither of them has been hit, though Bruno can't hide a grimace once he turns around to see the odd glass crater left behind by the shattered formation and he scoops up a handful of glass and glitter unhappily before- Well. He shrugs. "That? Uh- Glass, right? Big chunk of glass. Wouldn't want to get hit by that."

There is a pause here and Bruno lets the contents of his hand fall back to the ground. "Were you hurt?"

[lionunchained]

Well... that had certainly been a large piece of glass if it made a hole like that in the ground. As Bruno picked up some of the glass, he leaned in to look at it bit more.

"Yeah, I wouldn't either. Seems rather dangerous." He shook his head. "Me? I'm fine. How about you?"

[owneroftheworstroom]

"Me? Oh- I'm good. Everything intact. Nothing to worry about!" Bruno is quick to assure, his wild gesturing very much meant to support his words. If any of that makes him more convincing remains up for debate.

"But, uh.... I don't think we should stay here?"

Let's do B???

[on_repeat]

It's a moon. Moons aren't supposed to scream and Echo can do without the screaming. Unfortunately, he can't do anything to make it stop until it does so on its own.

Ignoring it doesn't help, but his attention is soon drawn to the swirl of color and glitter flying about in the distance. Checking either side of his surroundings to be sure he's clear of any other anomalies, he pulls down the rangefinder on his helmet, clicking it into place over his right eye to zoom in on the whirlwind.

"What the..."

At first, he isn't sure if it's another strange occurrence to steer clear of. But upon closer inspection, and with Bruno crying out in a panic, he wastes no time in rushing over, flipping the rangefinder back into its upright position.

"Kriff-- Hang on!"

[owneroftheworstroom]

Oh no. That sure is a voice Bruno recognizes and he jumps a little at that very recognition. Echo has been friendly to him, so- This is bad!

Bruno starts to frantically snatch the green formation out of the whirlwind of glitter in vague hopes of making them disappear.

"I- I'm hanging on! It's- It's alright!!" Is he a bad liar? Yes, he certainly is a bad liar.

[on_repeat]

"This is far from alright," Echo mutters, holding up an arm to shield himself as he tries to figure out the best way to approach the whirlwind.

Answer: there is none.

It comes down to a last resort option, which is also the most reckless since most people won't try marching headfirst into harm's way. Fortunately for him, his armor will take most of the glittery hits as he gets closer, each step firmly placed so that he isn't knocked over too swiftly. "We need to get you out of there!"

[owneroftheworstroom]

He can't exactly see Echo approaching, bug Bruno hears him, which only makes him clutch the semi-solid shapes in his hands, the depictions of his visions shifting in his hands, reflecting the strange visions he sees in his own mind at the same time.

None of them make any sense. Is that a tree? A building? A person? Bruno doesn't know, but he holds onto them nonetheless, even if there are still more darting and morphing about in the whirlwind itself.

"I- I don't think I can!" He tries to answer. "L-leave, I mean! Just-" Suddenly the whirlwind stops. Glitter and chunks of glowing green shards remain hovering in the air, threatening to rain down, shutting Bruno up and making his hold even tighter to the pieces in his hands and arms.

[on_repeat]

Quick breaths prepare the clone for a last-minute extraction, but just as he starts to charge in, the winds still. His steps stutter to keep him upright, visibly perplexed, arms still held up and dusted with the glitter that buffeted him seconds ago.

"...What just happened?" More importantly- "Are you okay, Bruno?" When this is asked, Echo glances between the floating shards and the man clutching onto the pieces he has in his possession.

[owneroftheworstroom]

"I, uh- I'm good?" Bruno tries, still glowing eyes darting around the shards which he tries to snatch out of the air almost as if trying to not being seen doing so. Which, of course, is foolish. And Bruno is well aware of that, but he can still try, right? Maybe Echo doesn't actually see him with that helmet.

"I'm good. Everything's good. This is- All normal?"

[on_repeat]

Echo stares, a long beat stretching out as he takes another moment to take it all in. And maybe sound a little incredulous at the same time.

"How is this normal?"

Guess he can still see Bruno, HUD and all.

[owneroftheworstroom]

"It's, uhm..." Bruno's words trail off and he hesitates a moment before reaching for another bright green shard, only to shrug guiltily as his hand closes around the glass, glancing away.

"I... I'm sorry. I can't... Somehow I can't control it. I should..."