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Elsewhere in the park, also hiding in the treeline, Parsifal was having a grand evening. He'd secreted himself in the trees near the concert and had been dancing and moving and grinning along with the music. The music combined with his magic mushroom-shrouded brain made for pretty lights and aural fireworks going off behind his eyes and fun trails left by his fingers as he moved them through the air. Those shrooms had come from a different source than his usual, and boy they were potent. He'd have to remember this guy and use this latest batch of mushrooms sparingly, to make them last longer.

Hopping down from the tree branch he was perched on, the Senshi continued to dance through the woods, happy and high as a kite. It took awhile to sink in at first, but the unpleasant tingle of a Chaos aura nearby finally penetrated the hallucinogenic haze, duly harshing his mellow. "Well, s**t," he muttered as he stopped dancing. This put a damper on everything else tonight. This Chaos person was probably going to try to suck one of the concert-goers dry of energy or something like that, since that was how Chaos people rolled. And as an Order person, it was his job to not let that happen.

Parsifal kept himself concealed in the trees as best as he could and slowly crept up on the source of the Chaos signature. The Chaos vibes were giving him funny visuals, and he had to fight to keep from being distracted by them. Finally he saw the Chaos person, a corrupted Senshi by the look of her, with long vibrantly-colored hair.

"Oh wow, your hair is so cool!" he blurted with a wide-eyed grin, forgetting for the moment that he was supposed to be trying to stop her from stealing the hapless roadie's energy. "It's almost like mine, 'cept longer and curlier kinda!"

"ANYWAY," Parsifal continued without pausing, "I kinda have to stop you from draining that guy–" A splash of liquid, thrown by the startled corrupt Senshi, hit his face, interrupting his warning announcement. He reached up…

Then his tiny world went all neon technicolor and completely bizarre. Even more than it already was.

And he giggled.

"Whoa, what the ******** is that? he laughed, pointing at the bright pink and orange crab that drifted down from one of the dancing neon trees. "I don't even like those things!! This is WILD!!" There were funny-looking things crawling all over the ground, singing happy little songs as they scrabbled over his bare feet. "What is that stuff you threw at me? This is trippy as ********> I wanna get some!"

Twirling around in the woods in front of her, he sang along with the crawling creatures, then steadied himself. There was something he had to do… "OH YEAH I have to stop you!" Parsifal doubled over, pointing at the corrupt and cackling hysterically. Stop her? Just bottle up the liquid in the little cup first! Share and share alike! He straightened and sputtered as he tried to give her a stern, serious expression. "Eeny– wow, the colors are so intense – Eeny Meeny Miney MO hahahahaha!"

Suddenly he appeared to shimmer, and there were three of him, all with pupils so dilated their eyes looked brown instead of amber and big laughing grins on their faces as they spun around in place. "Catch a Senshi by the toe, if she hollers let her go…" they sang in an eerie unison, refocusing their spinning on the corrupt Senshi and forming a ring around her. "Guess which one of us is the real Parsifal?"

eldritch stardust

Eeny Meeny Miney Mo!
Parsifal can create up to three alternate copies of himself. He calls out the attack name and gestures to either side of himself, and three copies of himself appear and immediately spring into action. The copies obey Parsifal's intent at the time they are spawned, like "create a distraction" or "act as a decoy", and while they don't have physical mass they can be plenty distracting and annoying. The distraction caused by the copies allows Parsifal to physically attack the enemy, since it's hard to tell which is a copy and which is really him. Parsifal can use this once per battle, and only on himself; the copies can be easily destroyed with a good solid hit from a fist or a magical attack, at which point they POP and dissipate. They last no longer than 15 seconds regardless.

It was the luckiest of lucky punches.

The corrupt Senshi hauled off and took a roundhouse swing at Parsifal and managed to connect with the real one, right across his jaw. Head whipping to one side from the impact, the pink-haired Senshi went down like a rock; the remaining two looked at each other wide-eyed, said “Oh NO” as one and simultaneously POPPED loudly into a million rainbow sparkles.

Parsifal lay still for a moment on the ground, blinking stupidly. That was QUITE the punch she threw at him. He slowly pulled himself up to a sitting position and rubbed his face where she’d hit him. “Wow, s**t,” he murmured, not quite as high as he’d been. One of the colorful little bugs came up to him and chirred querulously; shaking his head, he waved the hallucination off. “That ******** hurt.”

Cautiously he got to his feet. “Look,” he said to the corrupt, still rubbing his jaw, “this has been a trip — hahahah literally, huh — but I’m too high to stop you. You totally won this one, okay? ….Wow, your fuku-outfit-thing is swirling… the colors are wild…. Um. So. ANYWAY. Hi!” The bright smile returned to his face. He’d completely forgotten what he was going to say.

“Hahahahah wheeeee!” Parsifal giggled as the corrupt Senshi scooped him up in her arms. How nice of her to take him somewhere safe! He knew somewhere through the haze that he was way too high — that stuff she’d thrown at him only intensified the already intense effects of the mushrooms he’d dosed himself with. And she was right: if any other Chaos people ran into him in his current state, he’d get flattened.

The pink and orange crab and the multicolored bugs (that had somehow sprouted wings) drifted alongside them, singing happy little songs even as they began to fade from view, their little voices sounding distant and tinny now. “What was in that joy juice you splashed me with? That was FUN! I didn’t even get that high the time I tried peyote! And I was tripping balls then! And puking in Aztec-kinda patterns, but that’s peyote for you.”

He watched the hallucinations fade away, until all that was left was the original effect of the shrooms, and even that was beginning to wear off. “You need a favor? You got it! You’re being awfully nice to me, even though you did hit me, but that’s okay, I probably deserved it,” Parsifal grinned up at her. He liked this corrupt! Why couldn’t they all be so nice?

“Whatcha need me to do for you?”

Parsifal shook his head. “Shame you don’t know what’s in that stuff. You could make a killing selling it as an acid alternative,” said the Senshi of Alternatives.

Accepting the corrupt’s scolding with good grace and a grin, he shrugged. “Sorry I startled you. I really didn’t mean to — it’s just like sometimes when I’m tripping I say the first thing that comes to mind.” His grin widened. “But dude, it was so ******** worth it.”

He listened carefully as the corrupt Senshi gave him the message she wanted him to relay; he almost summoned his Senshi phone from subspace on the spot, but common sense finally prevailed. He’d probably already blabbed too much while high, but that was the chance he took tripping before powering up. It was really not a choice for him — it was the only way he could cope.

“Okay, so. Senshi Saiph, tell her to meet her corrupt friend at the goth club on Village. Got it,” he grinned with a thumbs up. “I should be able to figure out some way of getting the message to them.” He knew he’d be able to find this Saiph in the phone — wouldn’t even need to bother one of the cats.

Parsifal chuckled at the latest scolding.”Yes Mom,” he moaned in a mocking teenager manner. “You can leave me at the edge of the park. And yes, I’ll go home and drink some water and won’t get high again tonight, I promise.”

Of course he wouldn’t get high again tonight — he had a race tomorrow! Riding a horse stoned — now that was stupid!

Finally standing on his feet again, Parsifal pinwheeled his arms slightly to steady himself. It was fun being carried! "Okay, I'll never call you mom again, I promise," he grinned at the corrupt Senshi. "And I promise I'll deliver that message to… um…. Saiph, that's right! I got this." He shot her an enthusiastic thumbs up and a vigorous salute.

As she turned to walk away, he did the same, unaware of how lucky he'd been in the long run. "Water, right!" He was unsure if he could behave or not, and gave a little giggle at the thought. Neither could he guarantee he wouldn't sneak up on her again. Still, he was clearly coming down from the high he'd started the evening on, so maybe it was a good idea if he just went home.

Parsifal let his Senshi form fade away, and as Peregrine he ambled off back into the city, the little song those colorful bugs and the floating crab had been singing to him echoing off the buildings as he sang it to himself.