Public Respectability Is Overrated

[Scherezade deWinter]

. : Taris : . ​

The first fountain turned pink just before midday.

It wasn't the soft kind of pink you'd find in a baby blanket or a flower shop. This was aggressively fluorescent pink, the kind that buzzed in your vision and made your retinas want to file a formal complaint. Worse? It glittered. Not poetically. Literally. Big, chunky flecks of suspended sparkle tumbled through the water like they owned the place.

Local enforcers assumed it was a prank.

Then a second fountain lit up. Different plaza. Different part of the Upper City. Same unnervingly enthusiastic pink. Same glitter. Still not acid. Still not poison. But still deeply, unsettlingly... intentional.

By the third fountain, security started to twitch.
By the fourth, the HoloNet had opinions.

And that was before the messages appeared.

People were now taking to the bets, trying to gamble on where the fifth fountain would turn pink.

There was no signature. Not really.

But somewhere in the Upper City, probably much too close, someone was watching. Waiting. Laughing their ass off. And maybe buying boots. Or knives. Or skewered meat sticks.

Because whatever this was…

It wasn't a trap.

Probably.

 

[Pari Sylune]

The fountains were turning pink. How odd. Pari had never been to Taris before, but something told her this pink fiasco wasn’t exactly normal. Still it was pretty, in its own way.

The young girl was taking a break from her studies on Naboo to satisfy her wanderlust. She had boarded a transport randomly and ended up on Taris during the middle of this pink fountain kerfuffle.

She was currently sitting by one of the fountains that had yet to turn pink, watching it closely. She wanted to see if it was some type of natural reaction or perhaps a new species of algae?

Curious indeed.



Scherezade deWinter

 

[Shinju]

Scherezade deWinter Pari Sylune

Travel was rare, best way to keep Dharma happy was to be there and well worth it... but the news from across the galaxy of strange happenings on Taris a world she knew semi well enough from the sith had been intriguing.. since it wasn't violent... possibly annoying but making the fountains run pink and red... someone was stealing her thing as the Dark Desire moved... the Harvester vessel from the blackguards getting her there fast enough. The smoothness of the highly form fitted bodyglove under the Terentatek Duster that had been dyed to match in a black look. The pale skin and crimson red hair over her shoulders when she landed the ship and exited. A smile tugging at her lips before she was walking down the streets and the man coming to the landing pad.

Her eyes were watching him as she opened herself up to the force... drawing in the emotions, the warmth, the force and ambient energies around herself. Swirling powers and thoughts, essences one could consume and she was the bottomless void it all fueled into as it gave her skin a more ethereal white glow. Her grin remained as her lips raised a little to reveal flawlessly white teeth with sharper points... the man pausing as he got close and seemingly feeling more unease... his skin going cold and clammy despite the heat. The scent of sweat and fear in the air before she walked past him and didn't bother to look back.. she could feel him trying to make distance while she went towards one of the fountains to look.

"Hmm." She said it and it wasn't from violence which was a little disappointing... her memories of Dranok and Lucien being right there in a horrible sith trio of destruction and atrocities was still fun. Though she wasn't covered in the blood of their victims so... less fun. Then she felt a stronger light here on the world and roved her eyes around the area before expanding her consumption outwards.. to draw at the heat in the air and pull it to herself. She knew there was bound to be others but she could have a little fun finding a place to sit and stretch out her legs and made it look like a lounge in the interest of a few others. Stopping only to tilt her head back as her hair cascaded down.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

. : Taris : .
Somewhere she shouldn't be​

There were no chairs in the room, but Scherezade was sitting anyway, her legs folded under her on a control panel like she owned the place. Maybe she did. For now. The real owners had been very cooperative after she'd shorted out the security grid with industrial glitter and a threat written in meat grease.

The screens around her pulsed with life. Fountains. Plazas. Pedestrians. Two particular figures held her attention now. Not because she knew them, but because the Force did.

The first one was small, soft looking, and all too clear about being completely new to the chaos.

Scherezade grinned.

"Let's play."

She reached over, slapped a glitter-smeared button, and activated Box Drop One.

Far below, a nondescript maintenance droid wobbled through the plaza and deposited a small metal box beside the bench where Pari Sylune sat. The top bore no markings. The inside, if opened, held:

• A pink candy knife (cinnamon flavor, probably)
• A folded note, ink smudged with glitter:

"Take this. You might need it."
"This is absolutely not a bribe. Unless you're bribable."

Scherezade tilted her head and watched the reaction unfold in real time.

Then her eyes flicked to the predator.
Shinju

"Mmm. And for you... something with a beat."

She hit a second button.

Somewhere near Shinju, an abandoned speaker in a planter box came to life. It was loud, obnoxious, and sickeningly cheerful. A remix of a tune that might once have been a children's song but had been warped by tempo, bass, and glitter-pulse synth. The moment it played, the glitter around the fourth fountain shimmered brighter, and the urge to move began to creep into the muscles of anyone nearby.

If Shinju tried to resist it? She might hear a whisper. Not in her ears. In her blood.

"Party pooper."

Back in the control room, Scherezade took a bite of her meat skewer, eyes glued to the screens.

She didn't care who came for her first.

She just wanted to see what they did when they thought they were in control.

 

[Shinju]

Scherezade deWinter Pari Sylune

The music was the first thing that came to her.. the sounds of it chaotic.... vibrating and she practically shivered as someone was talking to her... someone was playing with her and she turned her head to look... eyes partially gleaming as she looked to each of the buildings with a smirk showing teeth on one side of her mouth. Whether she managed to look into the camera for the controller without knowing where it was for something fun was not known to her... she was just getting into the music as she stood up and her body moved to the beat. One hand flinging out and her gloved finger hooked under the skin.. the throat of a man who was trying to help someone get clear.

The spray caused the one he was helping to panic... and then she was moving into another and the throng of bodies became like a crashing wave as Shinju's movements was more like a dance... her toes the only thing touching the ground before she was slashing out with a small blade... nothing special just sharp and... the crowd did a great deal more damage to each other trying to escape. A laugh vibrated up from her chest as she stepped onto the leg of another and it crunched when she stayed there for a moment and twirled. She could see another out of the corner of her eye who was being selected as a droid came and gave a package only sparking some interest.

"Oh this is a treat." She said it with a sense of glee while moving and the carnage continued... allowing the force to pull in and she was feeding off of the emotions and the panic... the fear and everything was pulled towards her while the coat came off leaving her in just the bodysuit. She slashed into the shoulder of another to hook her and tossed her into a smaller group... moving over them as a foot came down and the crunch of a leg could be heard close by. The pain sending a surge of emotion and pain to her as she drank it all in.... her eyes glowing brighter and brighter as the force built up.

 

[Pari Sylune]

"What...." Pari opened the small package and was surprised at its contents. She got up and looked around, but saw nobody close watching her. She spun a few times, checking high windows and alleyways but still nobody seemed to be watching. Then her eyes fell upon a security camera. She pursed her lips, wondering if whoever was doing this was behind those?

"What would I need these items for?"

This pit stop was turning far more interesting than she had originally planned. She heard panic coming from close by and as she turned once more people were running, some of them looked like they were sprayed with blood.

"What is going on?"

Scherezade deWinter Shinju

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Taris Upper City – Control Hub Echo-9
The next round begins now.

Scherezade lounged sideways across a control desk, one leg kicked over the arm of a chair, a handful of gummy worms made from some sort of animal tallow tangled in her fingers and a manic grin stretched wide across her glitter-streaked face. Somewhere in the rafters, music played. It was too upbeat, too off-tempo, far too enthusiastic about destruction.

Monitors blinked all around her, each a window into glorious, blooming chaos.

"Yesssss," she hissed, chewing with her mouth open as she tapped a gloved finger on the glass. "Look at her go!"

One of the larger screens showed Shinju , caught in the full throes of dance and carnage, twirling with bodies, painting the street red, glowing like a rave demon under the pulsing lights. Scherezade zoomed in, delighted. "You beautiful freak," she murmured. "You're feeling the glitter beat, I knew you would."

Below that feed, a different angle flickered, showing Pari Sylune , caught mid-spin in a quieter alley, holding the contents of the surprise drop box like someone had just handed her the key to a very confusing birthday.

"Oh don't look so confused, kiddo," Scherezade said aloud, even though there was no mic. "The bubblegum bullets are for sharing."

She tossed the empty gummy worm bag into the air, watched it drift down onto a droid's photoreceptor, then lazily punched a glowing pink button labelled "Hydration Event: FLUFFY APOCALYPSE."

Moments later, four of Taris' public water fountains exploded skyward, fountains of glittery pink water fountaining up like celebratory champagne gone rogue. People screamed. Some laughed. One person took a selfie mid-deluge and promptly slipped in the sparkle puddle.

A second button was already glowing. "Snack Attack".

"Right," she said, rolling her neck until it popped. "Let's give them something to chew on."

She slammed her palm down.

Half a click away, a droid whirred to life and zipped toward a random person who'd definitely not signed up for candy diplomacy. The package was dropped at their feet with a bow and a happy little melody:

"YOU'VE BEEN SELECTED FOR A SURPRISE MORALE BOOST!"
"GLITTER IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL."

Inside was a single pink balloon, slightly deflated.

Back in the control room, Scherezade stretched luxuriously and flipped upside down in her chair, legs dangling over the back.

"Alright, my little chaos muffins," she said to no one and everyone, "Let's see who picks up the next breadcrumb. Place your bets, Voidlings."

Outside, the fountains kept flowing. The glitter kept falling. Somewhere in the background, a billboard glitch-looped between three different slogans:

– Respectability Is Overrated
– Finders Keepers, Sparkle Bleeders
– No Refunds

Let the fun continue.

 

[Shinju]

Scherezade deWinter Pari Sylune

The eruption was a surprise.. the beats of the music were good.. the chaos... swirling. The violence.... enjoyable and when the eruption came she could see some taking pictures.. some enjoying it as her hand came up and grabbed the throat of a passerby... her blade digging into the flesh at an angle for a moment as they paused and were shaking from the pain. "Fun." She said it and more was going on.. she could feel the others around. A spray of the fountain as more people seemed to be getting excited to take their own pictures. Some slipped as she moved through them with a small weave here and there... the interest getting only more and more larger when she heard a voice. "Well it is kind of dangerous to be holding a knife sweet child... perhaps you should relax and not go around stabbing people... all of these bodies." She said it looking at the alley where the girl was with a knife... her eyes following her for the moment as she looked at the knife... and then the people. "Certain a shame to not be enjoying the moment."

 

[Pari Sylune]

Standing in an alley with a knife was certainly not something that worked to her advantage. She didn’t know about the carnage in the other street but a police droid did, and when the droid spotted Pari it made a beeline for her.

Moments latter the girl was being taken away for questioning. The knife was being placed in an evidence bag right as more fountains exploded.

Hopefully the glitter terrorist would be stopped and the entire fiasco wouldn’t get pinned on an innocent Pari Sylune.


((Exit post - sent dm))


Scherezade deWinter Shinju