Blueberry Jam in the Park [OPEN]

She hadn’t meant to ignore Core, but she didn’t want to explain, again, that Pin had no idea she even existed, to her knowledge. How was she supposed to get word out intergalactically to her android half brother without even knowing where he was to begin with? Namek was so far away, and Pin’s last location had been the ‘Broccoli Planet’ as she’d heard her adoptive father call it time and time again. Core’s idea would have been perfect if she thought Pin knew who she was, cared enough to look for her, and wanted to meet his family. She didn’t know any of this and, as a result, only cried harder. “Thanks, Core,” she managed to say, giving his hand a squeeze with her own as she pushed away from Nana just a little.

Ban smiled at Chili and said, “Thank you, once she calms down I’m sure she’ll be more appreciative of that…” Wondering if Kay-El was just upset or in one of her more cantankerous moods, Ban watched carefully, debating whether they really should go or not. She was grateful for Celmaru forcing into the crowd and giving them a bit more breathing room, and it space also offered a potential retreat path if need be.

Despite Arynx’s rap, or maybe in part because of it, she just wanted to go somewhere quiet and think for a while. Maybe the forest, she liked going there alone when she got homesick, but the people gathered made her feel more than a little claustrophobic and afraid. Not a rational reaction, but it was how she felt nonetheless. The Purple Man went on and on and on and she just didn’t care enough to pay attention. Couldn’t he see that people just weren’t into his antics? Why not channel all that energy and, yes, a certain minimum of skill with that backflip and ‘charm’ into doing something more positive for the world? Like shutting up and letting everyone get on with their lives or, better yet, he should be more like Hannibelle Evensong and do charity work. Belle was totally and completely Kay-El’s idol and rumor had it she was also joining the Galactic Patrol to help keep the world even safer. Jax should be more like her, Kay decided, but also thought it better not to say anything just yet. She was also too preoccupied with her own problems. Selfish? Maybe. But she was five and, every once in a while, was known to act her age.

At Phae’s ‘interruption,’ Kay-El’s tears did slow, the surprise and appreciation for this stranger’s concern a little overwhelming. Sometimes, like with Chili, a stranger offering help and love could made people more emotional. “I…” she held up the picture of Pin, not stained in places with her watery tears. Oddly enough, her own biological father some unknown demon of the sea, she felt a strange connection with Phae that seemed to resonate and calm her a little at a time. Taking a deep breath, she held out the childish drawing of Pin again and said, “My brother...he’s the only family I have left. I’ve been trying to find him…” she trailed off, feeling down, lost, and like she failed both Pin and herself by ‘losing her cool’ just now. Back home on Shikk, crying like that would have earned her a beating from ‘Never show weakness’ Pea Coliflo. Inside, she felt ashamed at her outburst. “I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to…” but sometimes little girls just needed to cry and let it all out and now seemed to be one of those times. Whether it was how she intended to help, or not, Phae’s interference did make a difference for the good. Maybe it was because she was so nice, or because she cared or had natural maternal instincts both Kay’s biological and adoptive mother clearly lacked, but Phae got through to her. She looked up to thank Chili but he was already talking to The Purple Man, possibly knowing him from somewhere. Having been ‘throwing a fit,’ as Pea would call it, she missed a lot of what happened there.

Defrosch

As Arynx was essentially declared the winner by default - as it SHOULD be - he slung his guitar into place on his back.  He raised an eyebrow, however, as the purple suited nutcase seemingly faked his own death before springing up and acting like it was all some super funny joke.  Pathetic.  Simply pathetic.  Arynx brushed him and his compliments off, eager to just be done with the man.

"Yeah, whatever, rock on."

It was then that he finally heard the little girl crying.  Oh, shit.  Oh, shit, oh shit oh shit.  If this hit the media, Hannibelle Evensong's PR people would have a goddamn field day tearing him down over it.  He could just see the headlines - ARYNX MAKES CHILDREN CRY.  Great.  He quickly got down on Kay-El's level and tried to look her in the face.

"Hey, hey," he said, slight panic apparent in his voice.  He could stand in front of a thousand screaming people, ward off a hundred clawing groupies.  He'd been shot at, for fuck's sake.  But he was not very good with children.  "It's okay, it's over.  I'm sorry if I...ah..."

He looked up to Defrosch, who was apparently quite cross with not only Jax, but with himself.  He then looked to Ban, the little girl's nanny who had been so fond of him.  On his face he wore a look of desperation, pleading for her help in finding some way to make the little girl feel better.

The more he tried to calm her down, the more he found himself caring more about the girl and less about public approval.  He felt for the girl, though he couldn't possibly relate.  He'd never been a child, not really, and he'd never had and would never have family of any kind.  All he knew was rock and roll, and if somebody suddenly took that from him, well...

His stomach growled at the thought.

Celmaru Waterfield

The scenario was slowly descending into madness at this point. A child was softly sobbing, a flamboyant man in a violet suit had disturbed whatever quiet this park had, an arcosian had suddenly relieved himself of the apparent Ki Suppression he had placed upon himself, and the rockstar himself was losing his cool and supposedly becoming hungry. The hybrid folded his arms, shaking his head in disappointment; he had hoped that the others around him had more composure than this. Sighing, Celmaru closed his eyes, focusing on a power he had only used once before; his own Trained Potential. His own temper began to become piqued, and he wanted this mess to be corrected as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this might disturb Kay-El, however it might rectify this conundrum, allowing some peace and quiet to return to the immediate area. Meanwhile, the seaweed woman was hoping to comfort Kay-El in any way possible, shifting her gaze along the thin slice of paper that held a simple drawing of a man named Pin.

"...Might there be a way to procure an image of this man without his helmet? That may help some recognize your brother. I'm sure you'll find him soon, just be patient! Now, I do hope-"

"Phae, excuse me for a moment."

"Hmmm?...Ah, don't be long now, Celmaru~"

"I won't be far, don't worry."

Celmaru was surprised that Phae was compliant with his leave, however the hybrid's idea required as much. Stepping cautiously over towards Arynx and Defrosch, the hybrid clenched his fists together. The hybrid prepared to allow his Ki to explode, however it would likely frighten the nearby Humans. Accepting the consequences, Celmaru spoke to both of them, a harsh tone within his voice.

"Can you please learn to control your own urges before you end up attracting a crowd? I realize that you may be more famous than the average person, and that you must crave publicity of any kind that isn't negative, however I don't appreciate music artists that eventually make a child cry. As for you, Defrosch, I must commend you for your willingness to assist this child, however you must at least attempt to calm yourself before allowing your Ki to come to light like this. However, I must apologize as I will be making a hypocritical action here....regardless, I feel that this may be necessary."

The hybrid shifted his gaze towards Jax, more irritation within his eyes. The hybrid's aura burst to life, his Potential slipping past its normal boundaries. Without even consciously activating it, Celmaru had set forth his Trained Potential once more. The flickering aura of the hybrid was a pearly white, lashing out at the nearby rockstar.

"As for you, Jax, you're lucky that this young canine here knows of you! If you had done any more I would hesitate to silence you! You've already disturbed the people here and irritated many beyond belief! I'd recommend that you leave, soon, if not now!"

The hybrid didn't want to resort to violence, however the current scenario was tense. This could escalate to brash movements soon enough. Celmaru and Phae both didn't want it to be so, however the hybrid had one last thing to say.

"All I had desired was to have a quiet day with Phae.....was that a bit too much to ask for?"

---

I truly apologize for the delay, but I finally posted! You're up next, Chili Pepper!

Trained Potential activated: PL is now 189,624! (....Less than my current base, wow.)

As the Arcosian that had been so amicably getting along with people flared up and strode over to Arynx and Jax, Kay shrunk in on herself a little. So many people, too many people, and she began to feel claustrophobic. Not liking being the center of attention with this many strangers and with Core already gone, her hand found Nana’s and held on tight. The saiyan squeezed Kay’s hand in a reassuring fashion and started to pull her out and away from the hustle and bustle of the crowd only to be stopped by the rock star.

With the eruption of everything going on around them including, but not limited to, Defrosch’s spike in power and then Celmaru’s, the huddling feeling Arynx gave off as he tried to coddle her Kay felt more and more like a scared, cornered cat looking for the first escape route through which to bolt. The last thing the little girl ever meant to do was cause any kind of commotion, and now she seemed to be in the center of this giant maelstrom and it only brought a fresh surge of tears to her eyes. And then Phae - wonderful, caring, loving Phae - asked if she had another drawing and she didn’t. It wasn’t for lack of trying but having never actually seen Pin, she’d gone off of Sam’s description of his armor because it was distinct and unique and, really, who else wore a purple cape? The Purple Man would totally wear a purple cape, but his outfit didn’t include anything but purple so that was different.

Nana took over and looked at Arynx, “It’s alright, children are resilient and she’s been through a lot lately.” And then to Phae, “Thank you for all your help, it really is appreciated, but I think she needs to get out of this crowd and maybe get some rest." Neither of them cared about how this would look to anyone else, let alone the media, but they weren’t famous so what did they even know? Kay was too distraught and locked into her own world at the moment and Ban just wanted to get her out of this toxic environment.

And with another look at the men coming to a head over this disgraceful performance of musical ability (or lack thereof in Jax’s case), Nana picked Kay-El up and channeled her own Ki to lift them off into the air. With everyone so tense and even the patrolman seemed to be getting in the face of one of the people complaining, who knew how much further the scene would devolve from here… No, it was best to get Kay-El away from all of it before things got worse, somehow.
--
Thread exit | Zeni please

Arynx watched as the little girl was taken by her Nana off into the distance, away from a situation that had turned pretty damn sour pretty damn fast.  He felt genuinely bad.  They'd probably come to the park for a nice quiet afternoon, a stroll, maybe a hot dog or something.  His presence had added a little excitement, but then Jax had turned it into a powder keg and it all got out of control so fast.  A pleasant day in the park had turned into this farcical duel between himself and the purple nightmare.  He didn't even care how social media painted him anymore, he knew he'd fucked up.

Celmaru, however, seemed to be taking direct offense to Jax's continued presence.  He seemed to want the strange man to take responsibility for his actions.  Arynx couldn't blame him for his anger, but out-and-out hostility wasn't going to get them anywhere.  Hell, if he could think of ANYTHING to admire about this Jax dude it's that negativity kind of flowed off him like water off a duck's back.  The little Galactic Patrolman and even the chill arcosian dude were trying to talk him down.  Arynx decided not to get involved any further, instead sitting back on his bench and setting about tuning his guitar.

Not that he needed to tune it.  It was always tuned.  But tuning a guitar looked cool.

Chili was pleased to find Defrosch backing him on this, both the Arcosian and the Zoanthrope seeming to be enough to make Celmaru reconsider his actions. The hybrid turned away quickly as Chili continued to separate Jax Punchlust from the rest of the group, and how the purple suited man was taking this would I'm sure would be explained.

The pup felt bad though as his face morphed into a frown, he could feel the sadness in the hybrid's words, he had not wanted to upset him. Before Chili could pipe up and make some sort of apology he was addressed by the emotional man. With a firm nod Chili replied "I can do that Celmaru."

The hybrid flew off as the little party in the park had now shrunk a bit, with a few of the participants hanging around. However the crowd seemed to final thin a bit with the whole spectacle now over and even the Rockstar had resigned to a calmer state while tuning his axe.

Chili looked to Defrosch, then Jax, Arynx and the silent Core. He gave a unsure shrug of his coated shoulders "Whelp... this has been fun. Kinda." He scratched the back of his head, and was unsure what to do next with the air now feeling less electric but more dense and awkward.

Arynx had zoned out slightly as he'd tuned his guitar, losing himself to the mindlessness of a task that didn't need doing.  The man named Celmaru took off, getting himself under control.  Shortly after, the Arcosian Defrosch took to the skies as well.  It wasn't long before it was himself, the little dog named Chili, and whatever other parkgoers hadn't run for their lives when the kazoo came out.

Arynx looked at Chili and raised a hairless brow.

"So, uh...where'd you get that sandwich you were eating?"

_________________________________________
I think this is a solid place to end it.  Chili, you can post an exit if you like.

PL Please!