Day 1: Evening

Evening: 5:00pm - Midnight

[ IRL Timeframe: March 11th - March 18th, 2019 ]

The first day has come to a close, the only things left to do are get some food and get some rest. Fortunately the residents of Bamborough are hosting a party to congratulate the heroes on their first victory, unfortunately it's running for several hours this evening. There's only so much time for sleep. What kind of balance will your hero try to strike?

Unfortunately for everyone, the evil-allured knights will be treated to a rude wake-up surprise when they finally go to sleep. No matter when they finally set their head down to rest, they all wake up at the same time, in the same place. Only the evil-allured knights will have access to this post, click to see if you've been chosen.

The good-allured knights, meanwhile, are free of a visit tonight with the Princess and the Protector. The two of them, however, are due to have a chat. Questions have to be answered, after all! He's dressed in his usual attire:

He's the same height as Luka with dark skin and vivid blue eyes that match the color of the sky. He has wicked winged white eyeliner to accent his eyes and curly black hair with white tips piled on top of his head, it's a wonder how it stays up there. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, he's wearing a pajama robe that looks either blue or silver depending how it's touched or how it moves. Most importantly is that he's got brass knuckles on both his hands, like he's ready to fight. But he's not here to fight, he's here to give a whisper about what comes next.

First Night Event: Bamborough: Everyone invited.

The Weather
Starry Night.
64°F / 18°C
Quite breezy, all the trees are rustling.

Prompts:

Bamborough Party: To celebrate the defeat of the first monster, a full banquet is being held near the beach in Bamborough. Unlimited food, unlimited drinks, and most importantly of all was a small stockpile of blankets, sheets, pillows, and toiletries to offer any knight who might've forgotten something on the way out here. Naturally, every item is sponsored.

You're all over Social Media!: Videos were successfully taken of all twelve knights and the princess during the first battle, and now the world is abuzz about what happened! What are they saying about your hero? How did they even get this footage? Or worst of all, how bad are they dissing your camera skills for those that recorded themselves?

A late night walk: The first day is over, the first monster is dead. How's your character holding up? Do they seek out support from a fellow hero? Do they spend it alone? What kind of night are they having now that it's all real?

A late night meal: Anyone leaving the Bamborough party late enough will be able to spot that a local late night ramen shop is open for business. If your hero hasn't quite eaten enough, they can drop by for a bite. But be warned, a certain sleepy villain is getting a bite to eat herself. Care to share a ramen bar meal with the enemy?

Procedure:

Reply to the appropriate toplevel comments for events below. Indicate if a post is a private conversation with "Private" in the subject otherwise all threads should be open to interaction with others. Plan OOCly how you'd like to toss everyone around.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All the energy sinks out of him as he actually registers the turn-tabling that's just happened. He sort of falls over his words and then falls silent, biting his lip and pulling his eyes off Garrot for the first time in a bit. He watches the water for a few moments, trying to come up with how exactly he's going to deflect this. Garrot has offered so much! He ought to return the favor, but he can already feel the creeping desire to run out of this conversation before he's given up anything that important to himself.

Deep breath. How to recover from this long silence? Maybe just act like it didn't happen?

"Uh... there's six of them. They're all grown now." Another searching silence, and he manages this weird, proud, melancholy smile. "One of my daughters had her first child a few months ago."

Garrot halfway shrugs at the assertion that his world is nonsense, he can't deny that. But it's the shaking finger that really makes him start to grin and laugh, at least until. Gyre just. Stops. Then there's silence, discomfort. Garrot's not the most empathetic person around, but he's a doctor; he's had to tell people all sorts of bad news. He knows what it looks like when he's hit a nerve, when he's crossed a line. And this isn't like before, where his pal just stormed off in a huff.

This feels so much worse.

"You're a grandpa?! Congrats!" His voice is soft, and the backrub quickly turns into a one-armed hug. Garrot's reading that smile, the unknowable depth to it, and he's not sure what to say. So after learning so much about how to work with Gyre, he knows what he needs to do.

"We don't have to talk about them if you don't want to." There's something here that shouldn't be disturbed, and yet, well, Garrot knows he wants to do the right thing. The helpful thing. "And if you're ever worried about them, I can make a couple calls and send a doctor out there to check on them." His family is okay. Both of them are okay. And hopefully they all stay that way. Garrot's arm starts to tighten a bit around Gyre's shoulders. This doesn't seem normal, so he sure as shit doesn't want to leave him alone to deal with whatever this is.

The arm goes around him and he's immediately leaning into it, shuffling closer so that he's tucked up against Garrot's side. He seizes the first moment for levity he finds, laughing softly, weakly, "You have a word for that...?" How weird. He feels weird just knowing she had a kid, but these people actually have a word for that relationship. So bizarre.

He's trying to cling to this feeling, this confused superiority, but then Garrot is... interfering. He can tell by the tone of the other's voice that he's trying to help, but his help is the worst idea in this case. He takes a deep breath, and lets it out in the heaviest sigh.

"No. No. Don't ever do that," he says with this grim, unhappy tone. "I have ways to keep an eye on them when I'm there. That's enough." He sighs again, trying to summon the will to say more then that. But it's too much. There's too much to explain, and he's suddenly very tired. He needs to go unwind out in the forest. For now though, he settles for turning his head and tucking his face against Garrot's chest.

"I'll tell you more later, maybe. It's late."

First Garrot's surprised that the wild elves don't have a word for grandpa, but as Gyre starts sighing and emphasizing that he shouldn't do that, it's even clearer that there's some weird baggage here. He's confused, he's sad, and as Gyre's head meets Garrot's chest, that arm just squeezes him a little tighter.

"You don't have to tell me at all, and I'm used to late nights." His tone is the warmest and most compassionate fuck-you he can manage. "Take as long as you need, I'm here as long as you want me to be." See, Garrot's always had his family to fall back on, to help fix his mistakes. And it sounds like Gyre doesn't have that, which is bullshit because he should!!! Sure Gyre's a bit of a prick, but he's a badass and clearly a good guy! So Garrot will wait, and he'll continue resisting the urge to snatch his friend up and full-body hugbear the sad feelings out of his spine.

Hey, at this point, he wouldn't mind getting his spine snapped by a giant man! He can feel himself beginning to wallow in this very terrible, deeply guilty feeling, and he knows he needs to cut it out. He's not close enough with this dude to dump the full weight of his misery on him. He knows he needs to pull up on the spiral now before he has to lay motionless in the sand for the next week to recover. No one needs that, least of all him.

And so he reaches up out of the side hug, pressing his palm flat against the side of Garrot's face, a gesture he's hoping is just strange enough to lighten the mood.

"You're very sweet, despite your first impression~" he hums, and he forces himself to slide out from under Garrot's arm, taking up the tea thermos. He can take a drink here and put a little distance between them again. Yeah, he'll be fine as long as Garrot doesn't press.

"I hope that offer's still standing the rest of the week." Knowing he can go pick up a hug from someone with no strings attached is a very pleasant thought to him, honestly.

The odd gesture works quite well, because Garrot finds himself raising an eyebrow and almost asking about it. But then Gyre calls him sweet, and he goes a little pinker and starts grinning. See? He's totally a nice guy, and not a big scary jerk!

"It's standing for as long as you want it to." Garrot smiles at that, because he's not gonna just get bored of his new pal's problems. But then he shifts a bit, embracing that Gyre wiggled out from his arm.

"Do you... want me to head out?" Take this awkward little chuckle. "Give you some space?" Of course, Garrot still wants to do a vicegrip hug, but this isn't about him.

"Mmn," he murmurs, pushing himself to his feet and stretching his arms over his head. He's quiet for a moment after that, watching the water, rubbing his fingers over his scalp and quickly through his hair. Deep breath. He's finding equilibrium again, quickly after forty years of practice at it.

"I'm gonna go for a walk. We can head back to the uh, the party together, if you like?" He offers a smile over his shoulder before he turns and collects his plate from the rock. "I need to drop this off." And a farewell in the party crowd seems less awkward and weird then just dismissing Garrot like he's finished with him or something.

Honestly, that's a surprising offer to Garrot. Things had been so weird and awkward between them. Gyre had just up and left before, and now he wants to follow rules and social customs of this crazy world? So he shrugs, because-

"Sure." It's no big deal to him as long as Gyre's gonna be okay. He'd have brought the plate back for his friend, but this is fine too. Plus, it gives him a chance to change the subject, to make a joke. "But I wonder what people will say when they see two Knights coming back to the party together...."

He's smirking as he closes the distance. Make him laugh, make him smile, distract him from whatever that problem is that he can't fix. Garrot will be the problem himself if he needs to, he's an old hand at being a nuisance.

Look, he's been inundated with these customs for almost a full day and it doesn't take long for survival instincts to start kicking in. Also like, he wants this encounter to end differently then the last one. He wants them to have an opportunity to clear the air instead of just leaving things tense like the first time.

He grins at Garrot's insinuation, beginning to head back towards the party with him. "I've never had anyone on a beach. It'd be a shame if there were rumors before I got to try it~" he purrs, winking up at the other.

Flirting! Garrot can do flirting! That's a fun distraction from bad emotions that they shouldn't be dealing with during a two-week monster slaying gauntlet! This is totally fine, and the big guy's smirking back down at Gyre after that wink!

"You're not missing much, but on a boat?" He taps his phone, casually trying to bring attention back to the photos of Sly and himself. It's not kids, it should be a step in the right direction! "The seas aren't the only thing that'll sing." Garrot raises an eyebrow and winks back at Gyre. Ham it up, maximum distraction!

"Besides, if we went at it now, I bet the party would be over by the time we got back, and then they'd have nothing to talk about~" Honestly, he just doesn't want to kill the mood by telling Gyre that medically, sex on the beach is a terrible idea. That'd be both a mood killer and a boner breaker, and it might keep him back on his sad spiral.

Maybe he'll text Gyre some articles later so he doesn't do anything reckless.

"Mm, you're right," he says thoughtfully, glancing up at the stars for a beat. His attention only sliiiides back to Garrot when the other winks at him, and he can't help smirking wickedly.

"Is that a promise you intend to keep later then?" All this talk of boats and making things sing... He knows it's just flirting, but he sounds like he's taking it absolutely seriously. Don't play with his heart, Garrot!

Garrot pauses for a moment, contemplating the question. As much as he could keep that promise, there's a million reasons why he shouldn't. At least not yet. And they're mostly logistical for their time on this island.

"Why don't we see if we can stay away from each other's throats before we do anything with our pants?" And he just smirks with an intensity that could kill. He can be as flirtatious as he wants, because his kids aren't here! This is a wonderful realization for Garrot to have!

"The last thing we want is to cause problems." For their group. For their combat cohesion. For the media... though they wouldn't see it as a problem.

Gyre smirks back immediately, raising an eyebrow. "Mmm, we don't have to. That kinda thing can be fun sometimes," he says, checking his nails like this is not an attempt to ease Garrot into a more willing mindset. He just a very casual boy talking about very casual things here.

After a moment though, he does concede, "Problems wouldn't be good though, no. Especially this early on." Team dynamics can be broken so easily when they're new, he knows.

Garrot just chuckles- it's good that Gyre's on the same page. If they can get into a good rhythm, well... anything could happen. But he's not going to stop the flirt cannons over something as trivial as team cohesion! He just won't go past flirting.

"Don't get me wrong, I like a fun romp as much as you do, but..." He grins just a bit evilly, as if to drive home why they need to be working together. "If things got a little hot and heavy and angry... I've got a very strong grip." Is that bragging? A threat? A warning about how he gets in the sack? Maybe all three?! But then he just starts smiling, nice and polite.

"Besides, I'm the doctor and you can make shields, we can really keep people safe if we're working together!" It sounds like he really doesn't want to be angry with you, Gyre. Don't give him reasons to be angry, he's got this whole thing with his anger...

Oh Garrot. It's not his responsibility to make you control your anger, sorry man. He is taking that threat/brag as just some more playful flirting, reaching up to fan himself.

"Ohh~ doctor, don't threaten me with a good time~" he purrs, and he sounds utterly in his element. If this big man wants to throw him around a little, he wouldn't mind that at all apparently, and he's grinning as the light of the party begins to fall over them. He'll make his way towards the nearest trashcan now that they're here.

"I know I can keep people safe and keep a secret at the same time," he murmurs conspiratorially, winking up at Garrot. He's at least playing like he doesn't see anything wrong with going past flirting here, grinning all the while.

Honestly, Garrot loves that Gyre either doesn't interpret his words as a threat or doesn't care. Most people who might get in his pants are either freaked out or fetishizing him, so it's a nice change!

"So can I, but delayed gratification is wonderful." Goodness knows Garrot is used to putting in long hours on his passion projects. "We get to build up a bit more of an appetite." And then he licks his lips, showing off some of those pointy chompers of his like he's a wild animal.

If this aggressive flirting is what it takes to distract Gyre from that baggage, he'll do it gladly. At least when it comes time to pay the piper, they'll be close enough that he could try to have a conversation about whatever that was. Or maybe they'll just cuddle.

All trace of his earlier coldness is gone, that's for sure. He either represses well or this is exactly the thing he needs. Truthfully, it's both. Truthfully, he's just happy to have found an equilibrium with Garrot at this point, and if it's this kind of equilibrium then hey, at least it's one he's comfortable with. He really doesn't think there's going to be a time to pay the piper as it were. If he did, he might be a little less comfortable with all this.

"Mmmm," he hums softly, tossing his plate and turning back towards Garrot with this wicked smile. "So you're that type?" he asks, and he licks his teeth as well, mirroring Garrot almost subconsciously. They're both animals here, but if the other isn't in all the way yet, then he can accept that.

"I suppose... this is good night then."

"I guess so, friend." He's emphasizing it because you're his friend now, Gyre, but... is he that type, or is it good night? Garrot isn't actually sure, he's just trying to force them both to acknowledge the rapport and chemistry so they stop yelling at each other for the next two weeks.

"Stay safe out there, Gyre." He nods, a smirk playing at the corner of his smile as he turns to walk away. The words are more of a kind courtesy than a suggestion, but if the elf wants to get the last word, now's his chance.

He tilts his head at that insistent friend, clearly amused at the way he plays the game. He can't deny there's something here, but he can't promise he won't be at the other's throat eventually either.

He doesn't have any last words when Garrot turns at least, raising a hand in farewell and then watching him make his way back into the crowd. What a strange evening this has been. He's got a lot to think about, and he's vanished from the party only a few moments later.

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Day 1: Evening

Evening: 5:00pm - Midnight

The Weather

Prompts:

Procedure:

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