Scene #2788: Vega and Lapis Meet

Owner	Pose
Guest Lapis Lazuli	Lapis has been visiting the planetary plains quite frequently lately. She wouldn't admit it, but she actually kind of likes being out here. It's away from all the crazy that is the rest of the multiverse. The bar and grill at the end of the multiverse, the fights out in the cities. The inefficient human technology. They still used some kind of combustion engine most of the time! But unlike Peridot, Lapis doesn't have an outright vendetta against humans. She's just.. indifferent. It's not her concern how they travel, or what they do. Maybe it's just the mess of planets wearing off on her. She's going to be trapped here for quite a while it looks like, and there's no sight of Homeworld. No home. But she has Peridot, and Steven. Things are a little bit better than they were. Perhaps they will continue to improve. Thinking about this, Lapis walks in the tall grass by a nearby lake. There isn't any farmland nearby, just the rolling hills with a few trees. To the west things continue developing into forestry. White flowers seem to dot the landscape randomly. She's not much of a nature gem, but the peace and solitude is a welcome change. Walking counterclockwise around the lake, she listens to the ambient wildlife. They didn't have any of this back home.
Vega	'Gem.' The word meant little on its own. It was, when you got right down to it, a name for a particular type of rock, with arbitrary value based on its beauty. It was given meaning by the human race because it shined. That was not the 'Gem' that the boy called Steven Universe had spoken of. Of this, the monstrous dictator known as Vega was quite absolutely certain. It took only common sense and basic logic to draw a pattern between the concept of a 'Gem' and the creature calling itself Peridot, as well as the crystalline colorization of the Lion and the boy's other abilities. 'Gem' did not mean 'shiny rock' within this context. Vega sensed profit there. Power. Something he could utilize. So he had set out to find more of them. Further experimentation would confirm his suspicions. Of course, perhaps he could've left it up to Sagat, or Balrog, or even Mike Bison. But Sagat's obsession made him unreliable, Bison lacked the depth of experience to deal with such an unusual situation, and Balrog...well. Only an idiot would trust Balrog's word. The man was an assassin through and through. If he saw some personal profit in aiding the Gems, or worse, if he decided they were worth protecting... And Killer Bee was...well. Reliable, but... No. This was a task Vega and Vega alone would act upon. Vega appears in a burst of purple fire. The atmosphere around him changes instantly, as his aura fills in the gaps in space with the oppressiveness of his very self. The sheer, palpable Evil in the air is present even for those who lack the ability to supernaturally detect such things, as though it was a liquid oozing to swell into whatever space it could find. The wildlife starts fleeing as rapidly as it can as the floating Dictator hovers forward, his cloak barely rippling around him. His horrible, soulless white eyes fall onto Lapis. It is to her benefit that Vega has some concept of honor, twisted though it may be. He does not personally indulge in sneak-attacks. He does not personally strike from the shadows. When Vega challenges, when Vega arrives, when Vega acts, he does so personally, loudly, and powerfully. Let Balrog and Killer Bee keep to the shadows. Gods do not hide. So Vega hovers there in the air, soulless white eyes fixated on the Gem. His lips spread backwards in that horrible, menacing grin that muscles had nothing to do with, the skin simply peeling back of its own accord to reveal his massive white teeth. It was time to do science.
Guest Lapis Lazuli	When Vega enters the area, Lapis /does/ notice the change in atmosphere. Her teeth gritting as a shiver runs through her body causing a minor vocalisation of discomfort, and the reflexive wincing that accompanies it. The exact nature of the reflex isn't obvious, something just feel /wrong/, and Lapis does not immediately see Vega, but she hears his entrance. Turning to face the origin of that uncomfortable stare baring on her back, she looks right up at the figure floating in the sky. .. What.. Is that? It would've behooved Lapis to fully read all of Peridot's reports, maybe she would've learned to identify said threat immediately if she did. She doesn't immediately recognise Vega otherwise, and certainly not by appearance alone. Still, any being with a modicum of connection to their surroundings would likely feel the tug at the back of their minds. Adrenaline, the fight or flight response kicking in as Lapis lowers herself to the ground a bit in hesitation. Is this person .. No.. Is this /thing/ friend or foe? Why would she stick around and find out? Turning on her heel, Lapis leaps up gracefully in the opposite direction, towards the lake, as a pair of wings composed entirely of water sprout from her back. The grass under her blows back in a small dust cloud as she flaps down once and takes off. Nervously, Lapis looks back at Vega. Will it follow?
Vega	'Thing' is the correct way to describe Vega, though the Gems probably don't realize exactly how 'thing' he is. Steven is still under the impression that Vega's a human being, after all. And Vega was in no hurry to correct him. Despair, misery, sorrow, anger, hatred...they were a sweet elixer to the dark Master of Shadowlaw, a potent palatable that powered and pleased him. Psycho Power is the power of negative emotions given physical form, after all, and spreading such misery, even in small amounts, ultimately aided its Master. Or, seen from another angle, its incarnation. Lapis spreads her wings, and immediately, Vega's soulless white eyes lock onto them. Every little bit of information, every further detail on the power of the Gems and how Vega might make use of them, was critical. He watches, dispassionately, his manic smile unchanging as she backflips away from him. "How quaint." His voice drips with Evil, with Unpleasantness, with palpable Not-Goodness, just like the aura that fills the air around him. That voice does not belong to someone who is Friend. That voice has never called another person Friend. Friendship is a foreign concept to any creature that sounds like that. "It wants to run." There's another burst of purple fire around Vega. The fire hangs there in the air, a line-art drawing of Vega etched in Psycho Power, and then fades. Vega himself... Vega himself reappears behind her, looming over the girl like a monster in a horror movie. Vega is designed to Loom. He's tall, broad, built like a truck, and has a grin only Freddy or Jason could match. "Show me more of your power, little Gem. Show Vega what it is your kind is capable of."
Guest Lapis Lazuli	Lapis sails along over the lake. It's a rather sizeable mass of water, maybe fifteen feet deep at its deepest point, and just a few hundred feet across. Algae has overtaken much of the surface, blending it green with the grass that's overgrown the field around it. When Lapis first looks back, Vega is right where he was. When she doubletakes? He's /right before her/. "Ah!" She startles, turning suddenly midair and just floating to a stop. They'll get to face each other momentarily as Vega trades lines. Lapis responds in semi-panick, "What? No, just.. I don't want to fight." She flies backwards a little bit further, it's interesting to note that her wings don't have to flap to give her flight. She can just sort of hover by the water wings alone. There's a bit of a pacifist streak showing, but anything that can just /teleport/ and feels this.. wrong.. Well, she is definitely in flight mode. Literally and psychologically. Knitting her expression, she angrily shouts, "Just leave me alone, this is your only warning!" And just with that, she dives towards the lake at full speed with her body outstretched. When she hits the water in a dive her wings instantly fade away. The water itself seems to pull her under and down to the bottom. If she can't outfly teleportation, maybe she'll be able to hide from 'it' down here, in her element. The water is a bright algae green under the surface. A few fish have made their home here, and the dirt has long settled at the bottom of the water. The small vegetation at the bottom flows with an invisible current, disturbed by Lapis' presence.
Vega	That grin should not be able to widen. It should not be able to spread further. It should not look like someone hooked wires around his lips and simply nudged them backwards to reveal more teeth. Smiles, human smiles, should not look that way. They should be full of things that make people smile - happiness, joy, excitement, that sort of thing. They should not be cold, empty smiles, smiling to express amusement not in something funny but in something horrible. Vega's grin is not a happy grin. "Then run," comes Vega's horrific response, filled with a dark and terrible glee. He was fine with shooting fish in a barrel if necessary. He takes note of the 'wings' briefly as she dives underwater. That was interesting. What else did she do that was interesting? Well, it was time to find out. One of the trees on the bank quivers as it's ensnared in purple fire. It shakes, as though afraid of what's about to happen - either to it, or to the girl. Then, in a single motion, it soars into the air, roots dripping with dirt as it's pulled free of its earthly moorings. For a brief instant the tree flies, shedding leaves like feathers. The leaves are torn off as it floats over next to Vega, blotting out the light below. The roots twine together, spinning furiously against their natural designs as they twirl like rope being knotted. As the leaves are purged, branches begin to come free, discarded into the water with little splashes, casting more tiny ripples and shadows throughout the lake. In short order, what once was a tree has been transformed into a massive spike of wood. The spike is fired, as if out of a cannon, into the water. It pierces the water, forcing it aside as it shoves its way down for the bottom. The purple fire that rings it propels it onwards like a missile, forcing it further and further down. The water may eventually stop its propulsion, but a sinking tree is still a problem for most things underwater. Undeterred, Vega rips another tree free of its moorings and begins turning that into a spike, too.
Guest Lapis Lazuli	Running. That is not usually something Lapis does. The last person she ran from was Jasper, and that ended badly, too. Something about this 'thing's' demeanor is just unsettling through and through. Humans were not like this. Not the simple hunter-gatherers that inherited the Earth. Though this is hardly Earth now. The only logical conclusion is that this thing is a product of the multiverse, or one of the things brought to the multiverse. Despite appearing human, much like the gems, appeances can always be deceiving. As the leaves cover the surface of the water in kind with the algae, Lapis watches in part fear as rays of sunlight slowly disappear by the foliage and debris falling to the lake. Soon, she's obscured by darkness, yet she remains gently floating in the water. It's not until the spike flies towards the water that Lapis reacts. The water shifts ominously, dangerously, as a cylinder of water four times the size of the spike juts out. The coned tip on the column is hardened and white with water pressure, heading to the spike with a velocity that splinters the spike and drives the debris aside. Under the water, Lapis shifts and barely manages to dodge a chunk of wood that splashes down near her. Yikes! The column of water lowers the lake's level by a foot or few, coming up to about thirty or forty feet in the air as it redirects its velocity, twisting like a snake as it heads for Vega. The coned tip ponderously morphs into a fist, and the contents of water become visible. Filled with algae, dirt, debris, and even a few fish. Certainly something someone would want to get hit with. She did give a warning.
Vega	When the water hits the spike and the tree explodes, Vega's smile is rewarded. That was what he wanted to see. Power. Real, honest, true power. It had taken some coaxing with Steven as well, but the Gem creatures had, so far, rewarded his efforts with displays of impressive force. Good. That was good. The fist of water come out of nowhere and smashes into him directly. Vega is flung backwards, the second spike falling straight for the water as the purple fire releases its grasp. He stops above the shore, jerking and jutting like a fish being electrified, dangling in the air harmlessly. This strange dance of pain does not match up to the rictus-grin smile on his face, lending the odd sensation that his body from the neck down is different than his body from the neck up. The spike hits the water. Vega pays it no mind, as he rights himself, straightening up like a puppet being yanked up by its strings. It was nothing but a distraction. He had more effective means of drawing the Gem out of the water - perhaps even while she was preoccupied with the second falling spike. His aura oozes outwards like so many tendrils. Grass, discarded leaves, sticks from his prior spikes, small chunks of wood; Vega's aura ensnares them all. He reaches outwards, grasping the tiny little bits of nothing with his mind, drawing them upwards, and... Discarding them into the lake. At first, this is nonsensical. What does Vega have to gain by scattering floating objects across the lake? What good does that do him, and how does it hurt her? How does it affect her? But the sheer scale of it - the mass of them - becomes apparent pretty quickly. As the hill's green grass is torn to shreds, uprooted and tossed into the lake, as the trees are robbed of more leaves and left as bare and brown as the land, the lake starts to fill, blotting out the sun from underwater - and blotting out the tell-tale shadows of Vega's presence. If she cannot see him, she cannot target him. If she cannot target him, she cannot target his projectiles, either. And there were plenty more trees left.
Guest Lapis Lazuli	As the fist strikes Vega with enough force to knock him away, the pillar of water immediately loses shape and falls back to the surface in a cacophany of splashing water. The thing was so gargantuan, it took ages to move with the mass that it had. Lapis' attention immediately shifts to the second spike coming down near her. It would probably miss given the size of the lake, but such a thing wasn't even /worth/ chancing. Everything threat needed to be dealt with, and she was on high alert. Holding out her hands in the rough direction of the spike, the water around the impact zone immediately coalesces into a harder mass. Without another energy behind it, it isn't able to break the spike like Lapis did before, but it does slow down its impact enough to let it float back to the surface. All the while, it's just been getting darker and darker under the water. Lapis has no idea what's going on, or what this thing is attempting to do to her. Is it trying to bury her under debris? It doesn't occur to her that this just might be another test, that it's playing with her. She's had enough of this, however. Shifting slightly, her bare feet touch the lake's floor as she stands upright. An invisible platform, as though solid, begins elevating her to the surface as waves part the debris building around the surface where she'll emerge. And she does emerge, standing with her fists balled up and an angry expression in Vega's direction. She knew where he was before even reaching the surface. When the 'platform' of water reaches the surface, it continues to rise, bringing with it the water around her. A literal tower rises from the lake, bottoming out the reserves as the entire contents of the lake are used to make a structure nearly two hundred feet tall. Water droplets are suspended in midair around the tower, catching the sunlight in odd angles. Debris is slowly pushed out the sides of the tower, falling in a neat circle around the base of the structure. And Lapis is at the top, walking on the flat cylindrical top surface as though it were solid. Despite this, the structure seems a little unstable. Not in the sense that it could be compromised in such a way to make it fall. Not easily, anyways. But in the sense that it's taking quite a lot out of Lapis to hold this together. She's uneased, and distracted.
Vega	Ah, good. As soon as Lapis surfaces, Vega's eyes fixate upon her once more, those horrible, blank white. Hydrokinesis. The tower of water. She moves upon water the way Vega moves through the air, unhindered by such things as physics or gravity. That was a marked difference from the boy and the Peridot girl. That was a power he hadn't yet seen from them. What a fascinating species, these Gems were! It was almost enough to laugh. Then Peridot brings things up on the radio. Vega hovers there as Lapis moves forward, slowly. He seems momentarily distracted, his horrible grin twisting furiously into a frown. He continues to hang as Lapis approaches, as if unaware of her, or as if disinterested. His silence echoes through the field as displeasure radiates from the Psycho Power monster like steam. And then... "Consider yourself fortunate, Gem-thing. Your life has been purchased at a most agreeable price." Vega's grin closes into a thin line. He floats backwards, away from Lapis's zone of control, both symbolically giving her space and making it clear that he's not going to continue aggressing. It's not quite backing off - Vega doesn't seem like the sort of person who accepts the phrase /retreat/ - but it's enough to make it clear that his aggression, at the moment, is ended. "You have friends in most useful places. Cross me, however, and know that I will show you no kindness. Your safety has been purchased only until you foolishly intrude upon my goals." With that, Vega turns away from her.
Guest Lapis Lazuli	Even despite the distance, Lapis can hear Vega's words. They're pronounced and travel, even given her power to hear and see from afar. However that works. As Vega turns, Lapis shouts angrily in return, "My name is Lapis Lazuli." She steps up to the edge of the raised platform, the tower vibrating momentarily, but still held stable. For a moment it seems like she might give chase, leap from the tower, or even attack further. But she doesn't, she stands at the edge with a breeze blowing at her skirt. Given the choice between peace and fighting, Lapis will always take peace if the violence doesn't feel necessary. There's no pride to overcome here, the disengagement is sought by both sides, and Lapis steps back from the edge. She doesn't necessarily trust that Vega is telling the truth, there are so few people who are actually her friend here in the multiverse. Perhaps Peridot will know more.
Vega	"Then I will give you this advice, Lapis Lazuli," Vega declares, his voice still as dark and cruel as ever, "Never warn if you run. Run, or fight. Commit to your cowardice, or stand and hold your head high." With that, he vanishes in a burst of purple fire.