Scene #2699: Space Worms

Owner	Pose
Guest Lapis Lazuli	It's a nice sunny day on the beach. Cool air blows in from the sea where the waves lap against the bright sand. Small clouds dot the sky at a height where they don't even cast shadows on the beach. Hundreds of feet out on the water, some small fishing boats make their daily rounds to collect their catches far out from where people might swim. Opposite the water, a steep dirt ledge ascends sharply from the beach, filled with thistles and bushes where the path merges to high ground. The beach is largely abandoned, evident by the dilapidated wooden fences along the higher dirt ridge at the beginning of the beach. A few days ago, a starfall event occurred at this very beach. An event that Peridot had looked into but was unable to deduce any findings from. By definition, a starfall event was any event where any space-borne object re-entered this planet's atmosphere and made ground contact. These particular starfal events are always the most interesting for other gems because of their particular energy signature. That energy signature is what led Lapis here. The green bubble-like escape pod from the Gem Warship is two hundred feet behind Lapis as she walks along the water, the pod firmly planted in the sand and locked down. A small box-like device is in her hands, no larger than a color gameboy but lacking no visible buttons or controls, and the screen of the device covered in non-decypherable text. Possibly un-decypherable to Lapis as well, as she looks rather confused as she taps away at the screen of the device. Muttering to herself, she swipes the screen with furrowed brows, "..I can't even understand how this thing works.." All the while continuing to walk on the darker section of the beach where the water laps the shores, and by extension, up to her ankles.
Sarah Parsle	Unforunately for Lapis, the beach isn't as abandoned as one might expect. Shuffling down the beach from the opposite side, a veritale pall of gloominess approaches as a small 14 year old human girl walks along the sandy, crumbling strip and blogs with intense negativity into a tablet computer. As she does so, she talks out loud: "Parsle's log, stardate whenever: this place is boring and full of stupid people. The beach is run down and abandoned, the usual result of people condsidering their environment disposable, like a pet or last week's fast food. They don't have any protections against tsunamis, monsoons, tidal waves, celestial events, or giant angry doom laserbeasts. Someone is going to inevitably trip over something out here and things are going to probably explode." As she does so, she seems to be directly headed toward Lapis, splashing out into the water a bit as she follos the curve of the beach, not seemingly watching where she's going.
Sunstone	Sunstone has been about as desperate as Peridot was to find other Gems, but upon locating Peridot, she was far less excited to find any new signals. Tracking down events like this is fairly trivial for Sunstone here, since she's got a sharp mind and access to the Multiversal web to help narrow things down. She also has that funny remote-shaped rock with a crystal attachment that's helping her pinpoint any possible Gem activity, since it's best to see if this has anything to do with her kind. That hover car she rented from the Union putters along over the surface of the ocean from a warp gate not too far away. The vehicle buzzes like an air boat as it kicks up mist behind its engines. The smiling Gem is seated in the driver's seat, listening to her scanner as it hums, chimes and beeps, giving her a general idea of where to look. Unfortunately, she spots the green pod not long after she arrives, and pulls up the hover car to a slow stop, giving it a suspicious lookover. The car whirrs by and she starts looking for signs of Peridot herself, but when she spots Lapis instead, she tries to approach at a calm pace toward the blue Gem. The smiling orange-colored gem never really got the opportunity to speak to Lapis because of Peridot's presence. Sunstone picks up a megaphone from a bag in the passenger seat, and lifts it to her mouth to call over to Lapis. "Hey!" the device crackles as she approaches, "I think we need to talk, if that's alright!" Her tone is cheerful at the very least, indicating exactly zero of the violent intent that she had displayed back when Lapis first saw her.
Testament	The feeling of pressure in the area might be felt, and then a sound accompanies it. That is a weird sound, a sound of... well, pressure. Like the air as being turned inside out somehow. And the pale, darkly-clad form of Testament seems to literally unfold in the space, from nowhere. Perhaps this starfall event has attracted the goth set? Well, whatever the reason, Testament is here. The raven on his shoulder takes flight as he fully forms, flying up to wheel about in circles in the air. And he seems to pause, to take stock of the area. Why's he here? Who knows? He hasn't said anything yet. But either way, he begins walking towards where the others are gathering, for whatever reason.
Valentha Summers	Anything falling from the sky is of EXTREME interest to Valentha Summers, who's hoping to find some of the fabled starmetal... meteoric iron, and see if it has any of the mystical qualities often attributed to it. But she's a bit late to the party, it seems. "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" If anyone looks at the source of the distant whoop, they'd see a young woman with dazzling golden-blonde hair riding a strangely quiet motorcycle.. wait, no, that's a hoverbike! Because it's flying over the water at breakneck speeds and plows across the sand, kicking up a wave of dust before coming to a halt past the beaches. The machine's oddly quiet - the engines themselves? Silent. The air it's kicking out? Nope, that's noisy. And it gleams and glitters from some tiny gemstones embedded in the exterior...
Ferham	It's quite a lovely sunny day out here in the archipelagos, Ferham is soaring high above with her flight mode engaged and red wings flaring out to either side of her. She is aware this area had been a point of interest by Peridot, but she hadn't gone out to survey it herself alone, yet. Still, she knew another Gem had shown up, so Ferham thought it might be a good idea to go act as a sort of escort of sorts, given that she wasn't sure this one had any fighting ability. Maybe she was like Peridot? It wasn't known. She banked in the air and began a dive, contrails streaming out from the tips of her wings as she began to reach mach 2.
Guest Lapis Lazuli	The ground trembles lightly, in such that it would barely register a 1.8 on the moment magnitude scale. Something only discernible to those really paying attention to their surroundings. Glancing up from her device, Lapis can see quite clearly that the beach that /was/ rather empty is now a touch more populated than it was previously. Are they also here for the starfall event? She stops walking and takes a moment to appraise the change in surroundings. The device isn't particularly helping at the moment, and now it's just beeping softly and slowly in the background. At first the hoverbike cruising across the beach catches her attention, but then someone with a megaphone is also shouting things that appear to be directed at her. It takes her a moment of squinting to recognise the latter orange person to be that 'crystal gem' or, at least, the person who attacked Peridot. The trembling from the beach intensifies all the while, slowly rising in orders of magnitude. After just a few moments, the trembling is quite evident and visibly noticeable as the sand settles and vibrates in odd patterns. A whirlpool of sand begins to form at the center of the beach, drawing in small beach debris and sand as it expands. Immediately, this takes Lapis' full attention as she begins backing away towards the water. One step, two step, three step, gracefully stepping up to the surface of the water rather than through it.
Sunstone	"H-hey!!" Sunstone tries, but can't really get in any actually words to Lapis when things start getting... noisy. The megaphone is designed for the winds and the lapping of the ocean against a beach and not for the rumbling and other ambient noises and distractions that start coming up. When Sunstone notices a disturbance in the sand over there, she perks her brows in obvious confusion, then sets her face into a determined grin. She parks the hovercar violently into the sand with a splash and uses the momentum to propel herself forward. She does a bit of a twirl in the air, and, thanks to the bright and sunny Summer sky, she forms a pair of bright wings made of blurry rectangular shapes and sunlight. Sunstone also manifests the Sunbeam by touching the gem on her solar plexus to summon the weapon handle, grabbing it by the handle to pull it out the rest of the way, a spray of light motes accompanying the action. She flits around in the air far above the swirling sand, keeping her eyes focused on it keenly. "A sink hole?" she thinks aloud. She turns her smiling gaze around to take stock of who's here. There's a human over there (Sarah), and then another sort that doesn't LOOK like he's human based on his odd attire (Testament), then there's Valentha, and finally the flying individual over there approaching at high speed (Ferham). The scout Gem starts to circle above the odd sand formation.
Sarah Parsle	Sarah doesn't seem to notice the arrival of Testament, though the OVERWHELMING POWER OF GOTH would get her attention were she not angrily blogging so hard. She might even have simply walked straight into Lapis were she wobbling around enough, but the arrival of the sinkhole changes that. "Hey, look, a giant sinkhole. I don't want to say I Told You So but I totally called it." Sarah points out, looking up as she begins to get pulled up towards the edge of the sinkhole. She looks down and blinks at it for a moment, and then turns, running in a scramble as she's caught up in the tide, struggling to keep from sliding down into it. "What the crap is going on here!?" She yells, getting inexorably drawn towards the center while she flails.
Testament	Testament doesn't immediately notice the trembling, no. Mainly due to Valentha's rather loud entrance, which gets a raise of his brow. In fact, it's his raven that attracts his attention to the shaking at first. Alighting back on his shoulder, the raven squawks and looks at the ground, as if examining it. Testament too, pauses to see if he can see anything that would indicate what the issue was. Are beaches common spots for earthquakes? But when that shaking increases, he frowns. And the whirlpool gets his attention! That sound happens again, and his form folds in on itself and disappears, along with the raven. He reappears in similar fashion, far enoguh back that he's not in any immediate danger from the whirlpool unless it doesn't stop expanding. And then he'd just move again, so... He too looks to see who all is in attendance. Mainly to see if any of them could be responsible for it. He doesn't see or feel anything that would indicate any of them are, though. So he turns to the assembled people and asks, "...Do any of you know what's making this whirlpool?" His voice is weird, too. It's heavily distorted, as if two people with the exact same voice are speaking just a few miliseconds apart. Just enough to get a 'layered' effect. But it's understandable at least.
Valentha Summers	Given the ground starts shaking right when Valentha sets down, she squints at the ground. "I'm not THAT heavy. You doth protest too much! Nothing to have a fit over..." Valentha slides her goggles off her eyes and back over her forehead. Curious about the quake, curious about the many strange beings she sees in the distance... Valentha begins wildly gesturing, causing blue lights to swirl around her arms. Streams of magic flow from her fingers only to 'congeal' around her body, granting the power of flight. Over towards the sinkhole she swoops, to peer down...
Ferham	Swooping down, bringing herself out of the hard descent, Ferham winds up coming out of the swoop and then resets her gravity, allowing herself to hover down slowly. "Huh, didn't notice any sign of seismic activity in this area," Ferham raised a brow, realizing as her high heeled boots met the soil that this place was in fact shaking. The femmebot peered out at the endless ocean and then across the beach, the sunlight refracting off her armor and her green eyes. The whirlpool might be noticed, course it might not be at first, noticing the few folks assembled here.
Guest Lapis Lazuli	As Lapis backs away, it's very clear that she's just walking on the water and stepping over the waves that come in to lap the beach. As the shaking increases however, the waves stop coming in, seeming to dissolve before they reach the shore itself. The depression in the sand increases as the whirlpool sucks more sand down, eventually meeting with the water that begins to rush in to fill the cavity. Lapis looks at Sarah, watching her struggle on the side of the whirlpool, but not actually helping her. She's a bit too far out to really hear the questions being spoken over the rumbling that grows ever louder, but she does glance at the other people to gauge their reactions. She stops to stare at sunbeam for a moment before returning to watching the whirlpool. As the trembling reaches a crescendo, an opening appears at the bottom of the whirlpool, and then sand and water explode out in all directions as a giant carapaced worm pushes straight out of the sand. The worm consumes all of the whirlpool's width with a wide open jaw lined with jagged teeth and a bright red faceted gem embedded in the roof of its mouth. Each segment of the worm is rough and white, and the joints between segments have long red manes. Solid, round orifaces on either side of the segments continually flow with sand in a steady stream. As the worm pushes out of the ground, gravity takes over to return it to the sand, but it might have reached a height of at least fifty feet, and it must be at least fifteen feet wide. As it comes down, it appears to have its mouth aimed to consume Testament. Lapis just stares wide-eyed while thinking outloud, "Is that a corrupted gem? Here? Is this what Peridot missed?"
Sunstone	"How odd!" Sunstone remarks as the whirlpool continues to grow, her smiley demeanor not once diminishing despite the apparent growing danger. However, when she notices Sarah get swept up by the sand, her eyes widen and she flits down to attempt to pluck Sarah out of the sand from under her armpits. This is followed by an efforted "Hrrrrmph!!" noise as she rapidly flaps her wings to try to get to safety a bit of a span away from the edge of the whirlpool of sand, so that Sarah doesn't just get swept back up into it. When she lands, she falls to her knees and her wings dematerialize, and she turns to look toward the whirlpool to check on it again-- An enormous monster emerges from the sand. Sunstone's smile shrinks to a very small smile, and her eyes widen, even her pupils shrinking while it towers up into the air before them. She stares at it, dumbfounded by the creature. And then it turns on someone here, that goth man. Sunstone is unable to get up fast enough to try to rescue ANOTHER person, and so she calls out to him, "YOU NEED TO MOVE!!" Her smile looks REALLY strained now. "We need to fight it!" she shouts at everyone. She then looks toward Lapis, and calls to her, "We can't just let it run rampant!" From her seated position, she lifts the Sunbeam and aims at the area between the enormous sand worm's sections, and opens fire with a single blast of bright orange energy, which blows Sunstone onto her back because she still isn't properly braced. "Oof!"
Testament	The raven is quick enough to take to the air again when the worm explodes from the ground. Testament waits though, narrowing his red eyes at the creature. And when the thing lunges at him, with intent to eat him? Testament grins madly. It's almost immediate, the gleam that slides across the surface of his eyes. he hears sunstone calling out to him, looks in her direction with that mad grin. Man. Goth AND crazy. What are the odds? Crazy, yes, because when the thing makes to eat him, he just spreads his arms as if to say 'come and get me'. And starts to laugh. The raven wheels about, though not frantically. It doesn't seem to understand he peril its master is in. And then.... CHOMP! Unfortunately for the worm, the only thing it's going to get is a mouthful of PAIN! Because the second those teeth sink in, Testament's whole body dissolves into the most acidic, foul-tasting goop, and just flows out through the gaps in the monster's teeth. It's red like blood, but thick, dark, and just LOOKS poisonous. It also reforms to one side of the sandworm, resolving into Testament's image. Well, partially reforms. His arms are still gloopy. And he entwines his arms into a point and makes to stab at the thing's side! Hit or miss, he leaps back, putting distance between himself and the sandworm. "Another monster, eh? Well, there's only one thing to be done for that." He raises his hand to his lips, and bites down hard into the skin, hard enough to draw blood. The blood flows into the shape of a scythe and solidifies, and the gash in his hand seals as if it was never there. He is, however, armed now.
Ferham	"Huh, well that's freudian," Ferham mutters conversationally as the worm erupts from the soil underfoot. She had turned her anti-grav on just to avoid sinking into the sand as something was noticeably undermining it. What was it going to be this time? Mole people? Dig Armor? THE UNDERMINER? She was preparing herself for anything. When it finally reveals itself as a giant sandworm, that begins to bear down and swallow the both man that stood nearby though, Ferham does swoop closer to try and catch him away from it. Then of course he turned into some kind of corrosive gas... that... that was a thing. "Gah!" Ferham swivelled her wings and banked hard back from the worm, just as Testement reformed. "How did you /do/ that??" Oh, wouldn't you like to know~
Sarah Parsle	Sarah is about to resign herself to having to figure out a way to not get digested by Shai-Hulud when a lady swoops in and saves her moments before consumption. "WHOA!" Sarah yells, dropping her tablet into the maw of the horrible beast, where it is likely promptly crushed and dissolved. Sarah gets plopped to the ground, and looks around, dusting herself off. "Strife time, again?" She mutters, pulling out her PUZZLEKIND Strife Modus and removing her JENGA STACK. A tower of balsawood blocks manifests, balanced on one hand as she looks at the earthshaking, massive monster. "You've got lasers, you can fight it, I guess. I have blocks..." She pauses as Sunstone falls over. "Why does your laser thing have recoil, you're shooting lasers, not physical matter. Ugh, whatever. Just brace next time so you stop looking like an idiot. Thanks for saving me, by the way." Sarah turns back to the doom worm, and looks on as Testament dissolves and pulls his 'oh right I'm a toxic goth' thing. Sarah is quiet. "Seriously? Seriously? This goth guy is the most tryhard edgelord I've ever seen. Whatever, I guess I'll throw some blocks at it. It's not going to make a difference, you realize." To Sarah's credit, she does pull out several Jenga blocks without a problem, raising them in the air and beginning to hurl them at the gem on the sandworm's head. Her instincts tell her that is a shiny weak point. > pok <
Guest Lapis Lazuli	The worm scrowls (screech-growls, a sound that is both high-pitched and guttural) as it's denied its first meal. The sunbeam that strikes the worm's red mane leaves singed hair and some greenish goop begins to drip from the wound onto the beach. The jenga block bounces off the gem and falls into the worm. Seriously. What were you even expecting to happen with that. 1 Damage. 4 damage to imagination for trying. As it comes down on Testament, it continues to burrow straight through the sand, the length of its body traveling at speed as it burrows down and a ridge of sand travels with its path. The poisonous, foul tasting goup that it got instead of a meal only causes it to scrowl in a way that reverbrates that sound through the ground, as though it were coming from the beach itself. The armor of the worm itself is incredibly thick, and the blades merely deflect off the carapace, threatening to send Testament backwards from sheer force alone. The tail end of the worm comes up from the initial whirlpool, and that hole collapses as the tail disappears back under the beach. All the while, Lapis watches, standing on the smooth water at the end of the beach. The call to action from Sunstone gets her attention. The other gem is right, of course. Without really moving, the ocean around Lapis seems to just immediately soothe itself and become even calmer than before. The wind currents on the ocean change and a small breeze picks up that causes her skirt to flow gently, but nothing else really seems to happen. At the same time, the mound of sand following the worm begins to turn around. It's headed back.
Sunstone	The words from Sarah get Sunstone to look at her with an apologetic smile, "S-sorry," she replies, the complaints evidently received and accepted as totally valid. The smile turns strained again as she turns her gaze to the look Testament gives her-- and the CLOUD OF BLOOD he leaves behind when struck--!!! And it turns out to be some kind of acidic not-actually-blood, and the guy is definitely not anything even close to human, demonstrating abilities that deny that classification completely. Her smile looks dumbfounded, brow knitted for a moment. "... okay, you don't see that every day!" she remarks with unusual cheer as she gets back up to her feet and does a few elegant hops back away from the sand worm as it tries to escape underground. "We have to destroy its body! Once we damage it enough, it'll disappear! Just keep hitting it, aim for the spaces between its carapace!" Sunstone aims her firearm and tries to run up to a particularly large sand dune, aiming in preparation, bracing so that she doesn't fall over this time. Once she gets a clear shot, she'll try to take several shots at the sand worm monster's weak sections between the carapace plates, having noticed the effect she had on it with the initial shot.
Testament	Testament catches Ferham's statement aimed at him. he looks in her direction with a smirk. "I'm a Gear." As if this explains everything. To him it does. Apparently Gear = crazy. Sarah's words get a grin. "I assume that was supposed to be negative. But that's not surprising, coming from you." Eh? Does he know Sarah? Surely not, he's never met her. "But I'll take it as a compliment. Because it will probably annoy you." Ass. Aim for the spaces between the carapace? Testament can definitely do that. But first, getting it out of the ground might be helpful. He pauses, holding the scythe with the blade up. His eyes narrow. And a wind ruffles his hair and kilt. The worm might want to watch out, because a GIANT DEAD TREE might be about to sprout up into existence underneath it. Hopefully with enough force to knock it back to the surface.
Valentha Summers	"WHOAH!" Even a dragon-in-disguise gets surprised a lot. Valentha makes a show of flailing her arms and then flying straight up, only to level out and fly overtop of Sunstone. "For Gods' sakes, can I go NOWHERE without something trying to eat me?!" But she IS somehow flying under her own power, supported by wisps of blue light. "What IS that thing?!" A few moments later, she glances at the Gemfolk... "NOt sure who you are, but you're right about not letting a monster rampage. Let me help!" Backflipping away for some distance, Valentha takes up a new 'bombardment' position high in the air. The woman gestures again, hands waving carefully and artistically, channeling more mystical power as she softly chants... Regardless of the weather above, things get DANGEROUS fast. Huge lightning bolts crash down from the heavens to the huge monster, splitting up like shotgun blasts.
Ferham	"Well, that happened," Ferham held up a hand towards the worm and what seemed like a super cooled shaft of air was directed toward it, possibly to try and ward it back, however she's forced to pull back even more in the air as the thing digs down and tries to reburrow into the sand. Her legs come into contract with earth and she winds up raking up handfuls of sand and the dirt beneath it as she skids along the ground, regaining some air and footing once she got her bearings again. "Are you alright, even!?" Ferham flicks her wrist and her whip is in her left hand, now turned on and active. Problem was she wasn't crazy about trying to lasso this beast, as she didn't wnat to get dragged underground with it!
Sarah Parsle	Tink! "Ugh, of course. Worthless-ass blocks." She mutters. Sunstone offers some tactical advice, and she nods. "I'm glad giant worms are as uncommon in your neck of the alien multiverse woods as mine. All right, I'll try that instead." With another flick of her hand, she withdraws another block and prepares to hurl it at the big worm, trying to aim at the area indicated when it reappears. "It's probably going to be worthless, anyway." Testament's response causes Sarah to scowl. "You think I care what you think? It doesn't matter in the end, you're going to do what you want to do no matter what I do or say or think."
Guest Lapis Lazuli	As the bolts of lightning strike the sand, lightning glass is formed from the intense temperatures, leaving inverted trees of glass beneath the beach's surface. Those that the sandworm hit at shattered instantly against the carapace. As the sandworm travels along under the sand, minding its own business and being rained down upon by Thor's lightning, suddenly there's a bloody tree under it. A segment of the worm is knocked up to the surface, but it just continues trucking on, the exposed part of its body slithering up over the tree and back underground. This thing is tough, and nigh invulnerable while underground. Lapis looks over to where the segment is exposed by the tree. Without any somatic indication, a hand made of water larger than the whole of her body emerges out of the water, followed by an arm as if the ocean were reaching out. The hand grabs the worm exposed by the tree and slowly it tries to forcefully pull the worm out of the sand. The worm is very obviously struggling against this, but for the moment there appears to be a bit of a draw with half of the worm pulled out. A couple more arms and hands emerge from the water around the first, all of them grabbing onto the exposed worm and trying to hold it there. "You're not going.. any where!" Lapis shouts at the worm. Looking towards the others on the beach, she shouts, "Hurry! I can only hold it for so long!"
Sunstone	Sunstone waits for the right moment, which happens to be when Testament's tree attack shunts the sand worm out of the ground. She takes aim at the massive beast's weak sections, but lets out a little 'hrnnnn' of frustration and her smile grows more tense since she can't line up a proper shot-- until Lapis grabs ahold of the beast with a massive hand made of water. The ability isn't unheard-of to Sunstone, but the sight of it makes her eyes widen and her mouth peel into an excited and toothy grin. "Haha!" She opens fire on the sand worm with several successive blasts of orangeish light, with an accompanying 'VWOOM' sound.
Guest Lapis Lazuli	Now is the best time to attack. The worm's weakness is showing. Give it everything you've g-tink. Seriously? Another jenga block?
Ferham	"Hold it there?!" Ferham too attempts to give some aid here, however rather than use her whip, she focuses and overcharges her cryogenics generator--a massive wave of cold hitting those hands made of water and attempting to freeze them solid. She was not sure if this would help or hinder the efforts made by Lapis, however all that water was soon to become ice, no matter how briny it was. Hard, thick, frozen ice. Like a giant ice sculpture of hands grasping and holding a err... worm.
Sarah Parsle	There is a low sigh from Sarah as she observes the continued effectiveness of her attacks. She knew it was going to happen that way, and loudly predicted as such. By now, her JENGA STACK is looking kind of spotty, making it hard to pull anything else out of it. She's been POKing at the side of this worm every time it's appeared to no real avail. It's hard to aim a Jenga Block, after all. "Stupid armored boss monster thing." She grumbles. However, there is a weak point exposed by some teamwork or application of unusual powers or some shiznit, because Sarah looks at the big thing getting wrassled up by Testament and Lapis with a squint. "Okay, fine. You want me to give it everything, let's do it." She leaps forward, using her small and light frame as she engages in an ACTION LEAP towards the enemy. Taking the JENGA STACK in both hands, she raises it up into the air as she reaches the worm... And brings it crashing down onto the beast with a loud echo of... JENGA! Blocks rain down around her as she falls into the mass of tree and glass-strewn sand. "This was a terrible idea." Sarah says, moments before impact. "Oh well."
Valentha Summers	"Oops. Thing got underground too fast." Valentha takes action the moment the worm's exposed. More frantic gesturing and she casts down a big GLOB of something bluish and sizzling. Where it strikes the worm the ground becomes almost INFINITELY sticky, sand or not. the worm's going to have a hard time moving forward or backward like this!
Testament	Testament just laughs at Sarah's words. It's always so much fun to toy with a human. He'd toy with her further but Lapis seems to be having some difficulty in wrangling the sandworm, and doesn't appear to be able to hold it still for long. That in mind, it seems something big is called for. Testament raises a hand before himself, and a large portal appears between himself and the section of sandworm kept out of the sand by Lapis's water-hands. He raises the hand up above his head, and the portal begins to open. And as he draws the fist down quickly, bending at the waist, he calls out words that echo even more than his normal tone. "NIGHTMARE CIRCULAR!" In a rush, a blood-red skull and long, pointy claws erupt from the portal, at the sandworm. They're sharp and pointy, yes... but they're also made of blood. Poisoned blood. So that means if they hit the side of the sandworm, they'll probably leak inot the cracks between its carapace. And because the blood's poisoned, should it leak into those spaces between its armored hide? It's probably not going to be very good for the worm.
Guest Lapis Lazuli	The massive arms of water continue to hold to struggling worm, and Lapis closes her eyes to assist her in maintaining concentration. The beach trembles as the even larger creature attempts to wiggle its way back into the eath. Loud screeches fill the air as sand continue to pour out of the worm's side orifices and down onto the beech along with the green goop from its earlier wound. More green goop dribbles from its mouth onto the sand. More wounds are opened as Sunstone peppers the carapace joints with her weapon. As the bluish goo hits the worm, half of its body becomes further restrained for the ripe attacks about to take place. As Test opens the portal on the worm and begins summoning the bloodied skull, Ferham's ice attacks hit Lapis' hands.
Guest Lapis Lazuli	Lapis sharply inhales and looks up, only to see her water arms have been frozen. "What are you doing?!" She shouts angrily, as two new arms sprout up to grab the frozen arms. However, it's a bit late and the frozen hands shatter against the worm. Fortunately, the bluish goo is there to keep the worm still. For now. As the worm appears to be working to just pull even the stickied ground under.
Guest Lapis Lazuli	As the nightmare skull grabs onto the exposed arm, its claws slowly work their way into the burns and wounds made by Sunbeam, and additionally find purchase in the sand output orifices of the worm. The final bit that finishes off the worm is JENGA. As wooden blocks with the mass of monoliths pepper the landscape, more than a few make contact with the worm. It makes one final screech before being silenced mid sound. Quite literally, the giant worm disappears all at once in a puff of sand and dust, landing in the sand as just one red faceted gem.
Sarah Parsle	The worm is slain, the horrific projection proving to be simply a manifestation of the gem's flaws in their own unknowable way. Perhaps the more learned people could understand it properly, but in the end, Sarah does not have to suffer the indignity of a massive worm smashing down on top of her when it is defeated. This makes landing facefirst into glass and debris-strewn sand slightly better. She lies there, on her face as she hears the rage dissipate around her, Jenga blocks raining down. Several bounce off of her, and eventually, the rain ends. From her position, she gives the others a thumbs up. This is moments before the ruby lands on top of her head with a loud KLONK, bouncing off of her head and rolling over towards Sunstone. "Ow." Sarah comments, muffled for once. She's going to just... lie there for a bit.
Sunstone	The attacks slam into the giant sand worm one after another, making Sunstone wonder who most of these people are that they'd just show up and fortuitously be willing to stop a giant monster. She winces when the gem hits Sarah in the head, and steps over there, smiling down at the prone teen... and decides not to help her up. She looks like she'll be OK. Then she reaches down to pick up the red gem, examining it in her palm. She puffs a little sigh, blowing her orange bangs out of her orange face, and then manifests a bubble of orange energy around the gem, with the gem floating in the center. "Can't have you regenerating and doing all this again," she murmurs to herself. She tucks the bubble under her arm and turns to regard everyone. "Thanks!" she calls to everyone present. She looks over to Lapis in particular, soon after, and decides to approach and stand at the edge of the water, feeling the ocean lap against her metallic boots. The Sunbeam vanishes in a spray of white motes of light, and the smiling Gem regards Lapis uncertainly. "As I was saying before the interruption... I think we should talk." Grin~
Testament	The attacks seem to deal the sandworm its deathblow, and when the thing disappears, Testament raises an eyebrow. A gem? Sunstone seemed to know what just happened, and with her in possession of the gem, she seems like the most logical person to ask. Banishing the scythe between his hands, as it seems that the danger's past, he turns to Sunstone. Just in time to see Sarah get klonked in the head by the stone. He smirks. Never gets old watching a human take a pratfall. He's also going to be rude to Sarah and not help her up. She's a human. He instead asks Sunstone, of the gem, "What exactly is that?"
Sunstone	Sunstone turns her head to look over her shoulder. She's questioned by the unnerving man with the scythe. Well, he had a scythe just a second ago, the absence of which relieves the orange-colored woman. "That was a gem monster," she tells Testament, and then she turns and taps the gem shown on her solar plexus twice (tink tink) to demonstrate her information, "Sort of like me, but..." She shakes her head. "For whatever reason, this one's corrupted. So I'm taking it into my custody for now. I hope that's alright...?" Seems like a rhetorical question, since she flashes a brighter smile at him and then turns back toward Lapis, prepared to speak to her. Provided she doesn't have to explain a ton of stuff because every non-Gem here is probably terribly confused about these things.
Ferham	Ferham lands with a sigh and clicks off her whip, the length of it disappearing back into the handle and she puts it away. "Well, we could have studied it's life cycle, but no, we thoughtlessly slew it," Ferham shrugged but didn't seem overly broken up about it, as it had sort of been attacking random bystanders, and all that. Least it wasn't one of those Saturn sandworms. "Is everything alright here?" she looks around. "If necessary I can airlift someone to emergency medical services," she stands admist a glassy portion of sand, a hand on her hip.
Sarah Parsle	Sarah wasn't really expecting anyone to help her. Finally, she stirs, and flops over onto her back, revealing a multitude of small cuts across her front. Glass is not pleasant. "How about you people explain what the hell happened here?" Sarah asks. "Least you can do for getting us involved. Oh, don't even start, the thing was going to kill and eat us all. There's no point in going 'a bloo bloo bloo, maybe it had a ecosystem.' It needed a good asskicking."
Guest Lapis Lazuli	Lapis looks towards Sarah just in time to see the gem clock her in the head. She can't help but giggle just briefly, a break in her calm. When Sunstone approaches the edge of the water, she turns very serious again and backs away a couple steps, arms outstretched downwards with palms facing back as she crouches ever so slightly. The calm in the water seems to follow her, and a pair of wings made of water form on her back. She seems ready to either attack or flee. "You're one of the rebel gems, aren't you?" She says with a grimace.
Testament	Testament doesn't seem to have any objections to Sunstone taking the gem. What would he do with it, after all? It was corrupted, it's not like he can do anything about it. He's corrupted himself, after all. Ferham's statement gets a raised brow, though Sarah speaks up regarding it before he can say anything. Perhaps surprisingly he notes, "The human has a point. It wasn't as if it was just attacking out of territorial fear, or existential fear. It tried to eat all of us. Just like in nature, it was kill or be killed. Besides, if it was a corrupted creature, it wouldn't have had a 'life cycle' to speak of." Though that brow raises again at the mention of a 'rebel gem'. It's obviously not something from his world, no. But the concept of a rebel is intriguing. And sympathetic. What could they be rebelling against? It makes him wonder. But he stays quiet to listen. And as he quiets, his raven lands upon his shoulder again. He reaches up to stroke the bird's back briefly.
Sunstone	Sunstone tilts her head and smiles with confusion. 'Rebel gems' seems to cause this in her. "... oh. You mean one of the /Crystal/ Gems? No. I... ahh... No," she assures Lapis, trying to calm her with a gentle placating motion of that free gloved hand. She looks off toward Sarah first, and then to Testament, and the others. She has a hard time maintaining her smile, struggling with their points. Not because they seem to bother her but... "I know, I know," she tells them, and then turns about to regard all of them. She breathes a sigh through her nose, her smile maintaining, even though this is obviously an emotional thing for her to talk about. "This is a Gem," she tells them, "And I'm a Gem." She touches the gemstone on her again. "It was a person like me once," she goes on to explain, "Sometimes Gems can end up like this, if they lose their sense of self enough. It's like... if you lose touch with civilization for too long, you start to lose touch with how to be a stable person." She struggles with explaining it. She lifts the bubble and lets it float somewhere behind her head. "Can you forgive it? It didn't know what it was doing, I'm sure of it." She interlocks her fingers behind her back and smiles at them hopefully, a blush (just a darker orange) filtering onto her face as she tries not to buckle from being put on the spot like this.
Valentha Summers	Valentha hovers down near Sunstone, tilting her head at the strange explanation. "I've no quarrel with it, if you think they can be helped. If nothing else, they have to be somewhere where people won't be... odd, though. Living gemstones?"
Testament	Testament tilts his head as Sunstone tries to explain, tries to... well, excuse the gem's attack. Surprisingly this seems to work with Testament. And he explains why. "My kind are similar. But they were never anything else. I was once like that. I was lucky." He seems pretty calm about it. "So long as you understand that we had no choice but this and don't begin to blame us for its death." He pauses, and tilts his head. "Can anything be done for it?" he asks. "Or is it stuck as it is now, in that monster state?"
Sunstone	"I..." Sunstone's brow furrows, her smile straining even further. She looks more sad than cheerful. "I don't know. It could take years to bring it back from this. But... the Multiverse provides new opportunities." A beat. "I would never hold a grudge against you for defending yourselves. And without your help, it might've done far more damage than it already did. Now? I can keep it in this dormant state until a cure can be found for how it turned out." "... someday." She nods to Testament, and then turns to climb into the hovercar to find a place to put the bubbled corrupt gem.