Day 2: Evening

[wizardseason]

Evening: 5:00pm - Midnight

[ IRL Timeframe: April 14th - April 22nd, 2019 ]

Unfortunately for everyone, the second day's events are far less rewarding than the first day's. Now that things are starting to get real, there are consequences for what's taken place. Both monsters caused a bit of damage and a mess with their departure, but the locals on the island are trying to stay positive. Sometimes things just get messy, they've dealt with this for forty years it's fine.

But the heroes are sure to have a lot on their mind. Injuries mean it's less of a game and more likely to sink in as real. How will your hero cope tonight? The Princess and her two knights are due for a rendezvous with the Protector and, on the other hand, there are some evil-allured knights due for some private time with the Wizard. What will come of that?

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The Weather

• Still.
• 61°F / 16°C
• An eerie calm has fallen over the island.

---

Prompts:

• 05:00pm Clean-up Crews: Both Bamborough and Craydon were left with big neon-green splashes of blood that aren't going to just wash off. Numerous locals in both areas are hard at work cleaning up after the second monsters, scrubbing at buildings and assessing the damage to the island. In Bamborough, the locals are hard at work trying to salvage the damage to the boardwalk or put up caution tape around the destroyed areas. Is your hero lending a hand in all this? Is someone else helping? Bond over picking up the pieces, but hey... it could be worse, right?


• 5:30pm, Craydon: Despite being largely untouched by the monster's arrival, the citizens of Craydon have dropped by the train station to check in on the heroes. Anyone in the area will be given a small care package of items and offered a free coupon for any restaurant in the area. Will your hero go alone and run into someone who was craving the same food they were, or will they team up with their fellow heroes to drop by a restaurant together? Everyone needs to unwind, after all!


• 5:30pm, Bamborough: Despite the boardwalk damage, the Bamborough oceanfront diner is offering 'monster margaritas' tonight. They're set up as an open-air bar tonight, doors and windows open to let in the cool sea air. Every hero gets their first monster margarita free if they can stomach the bright green color, and they've got deep fried bar foods for half off. Come in, indulge, have a drink to get your mind off of the events of the day, heroes!


• 5:30pm, Far Haven: The Far Haven clinic has advertised that its doors are open to any hero injured, or just in need of a check-up, for the rest of the evening. They want to check in on all the heroes and make sure they're okay. Did your hero come alone and run into someone here? Or did they come together to get stitched up? Or maybe they just need to be reassured that everything will be okay.


• 8:30pm, 9:05pm, 9:40pm, Train station(s): As always, Social media is incredibly quick to report Wizard appearances. At 8:00pm they report that the Wizard is waiting for the train in Bamborough station. She does, in fact, board the train at 8:30pm and they start theorizing where her destination is. Social media points out that her train will be arriving in Craydon at 9:05pm, then it will get to Far Haven by 9:40pm. If a hero tries to find her when the train arrives back in the Bamborough station at 10:15pm, though, the train will be empty. Where will your hero find her? Bamborough between 8 and 8:30pm? On the train in Craydon at 9:05pm? Or when she disembarks in Far Haven at 9:40pm?

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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.

Comments

[zafika]

Oh, right, they should've specified what happened to Haizea, not just, gone off with the rest of what had happened. "She got hurt, but she should be alright now. Garrot patched her up and Terrence, I think he used his powers to sort of, speed up her body's natural healing? That bit is unclear still but she should be fully recovered by tomorrow at least."

They're glad they managed to get an update or two on how things went down, otherwise they'd be clueless on what happened after their part of the fight with Matilda. "You said you all managed to hit your monster at once? How did you manage to do that?"

[sustainer]

"Terrence can do that?" he asks, and he sounds shocked. He had no idea that guy had such a useful ability, and he's immediately a little more excited about their chances. The more healers they have, the better they're going to do, he thinks, especially with how few of them really know how to fight.

He looks similarly excited when they ask that, answering quickly, "Joanna. Her power is to freeze things in place for a short time. Then we were able to hit it all together and when her power released, I think all of that force... hit it at once?" He pounds his fist into his palm to demonstrate, both hands exploding out there from there in this remembered shower of gore.

[zafika]

"Apparently so. I mean, I only heard about it, I uh... I didn't stick around for long after the monster was confirmed dead.." They're bit embarrassed to admit how soon they disappeared, but hey, getting soaking wet and then cold is a bad combination for a Basilisk! Or any reptile for that matter.

They listen to Gyre's explanation about how the Craydon fight went, and watch him with this tiniest, adoring smile over how excited he sounds and looks. "Oh, that's really useful, especially against some faster monsters." They do reach for his hand to get it back once he's done with the exploding effect, because nope, they're not letting go just yet.

[sustainer]

He absolutely lets them take his hand back, squeezing theirs just slightly as they reclaim him. He's still smiling, still excited as he nods.

"Yeah, I think it might be one of the most useful powers I've heard of," he says, and he's about to continue, when a thought strikes him. His eyes widen, and he glances up into the corner, clearly trying to think of something. Eventually though, he realizes he doesn't know, and he leans closer as he asks, "You never told me what power you got, have you?"

[zafika]

They're more than happy to give Gyre's hand a gentle squeeze in return, and they really have to agree with him. Joanna's power is so far one of the most useful ones, it can help in making the fights less dangerous.

They tilt their head curiously to the side when his eyes widen and he glances away, and they remain silent while he's deep in thought, until he leans in closer and asks them about their power. They had mentioned it, quickly during the first day, but they had been interrupted by Haizea getting everyone's attention.

However, they realise that this, gives them a new chance. They can't fully make themselves invisible, but they're able to control their new power better. So, while they keep their tail behind their back, out of Gyre's field of vision, they lean closer, and there's this tiny little smirk on their face. "What, you forgot it already? How mean~" While they're teasing, there's suddenly a poke on Gyre's side, right before there's this very familiar feeling of something coiling loosely around his middle. Except. There's nothing there. Nothing that he can see at least, but it absolutely feels like their tail is wrapped around him. Even though the said tail is, actually nowhere to be seen? What's going on?

[sustainer]

He jumps when the tail taps him out of nowhere, turning quickly to ward off whoever snuck up on them while he was distracted. He wants his space, especially when he's this close to someone he likes this much.

But there's no one there, and then he can feel something around his middle. His hackles rise up as he recoils from the sensation, not understanding it for several seconds. It's not until he actually registers their teasing that he pauses, and looks at them in surprise.

"You can..." Oh wow, he remembers them saying they could turn invisible now. He'd been caught up in the rush of the first fight, but now that their tail is around him, the memory comes crashing back to him. The memory and uh the immediate desire to tease them? His hand goes to his waist, finding the coil of their tail after a moment, and he runs his nails lightly over the scales. His hand slips around the thickest part of it and there's a gleam in his eye that says he wants to tug on it very badly.

"I might be more mean if you give me the chance."

[zafika]

Somewhere in the back of their mind, they're so relieved that Gyre didn't freak out too badly about the invisible tail, but mostly? They're having fun with this, harmless tricks seem to be good for winding down after a fight.

They nod at him as he clearly remembers what their power is, but there's also something else in his expression. They watch his free hand go to his waist, and their tail twitches slightly when his hand touches it, right before tightening a little around him as he runs his nails lightly over their scales. And then he grabs their tail, and there's that gleam in his eye and he's talking, and now it's their turn to have a memory come crashing back to them. Namely, him tugging their tail in the Craydon welcoming party.

But they're in public, he wouldn't, right? Right? No, actually, they know that look now, he fully wants to tease them, and fuck does it already work without him not actually even doing anything! It's not noticeable on their face, but with the way their tail seems to just, snap back to being visible they're clearly flustered. And save themselves by removing their tail from around Gyre's middle, quickly sliding it out of his grip.

"How dare you, I was hoping for a nice talk but you just want to be mean.." Their tone is still playful enough so Gyre won't take their words the wrong way. Never mind that they're still keeping his other hand on their lap too. Yeah, they're still not going anywhere.

[sustainer]

Oh jeez, they pull back so fast, he's definitely worried he overstepped. His hands jerk up in front of himself, fingers spreading open to show he's not a threat. He looks entirely unsure for a moment!

Their tone helps, the playfulness of it letting him relax enough to lower his hands, but he still looks pretty awkward here.

"Sorry if that was too much," he says quickly, nodding towards their tail. He's glad they don't seem angry at least, and he squeezes their hand again to remind himself they still have him.

"It's a useful power, I think. Can you hide your whole body...?"

[zafika]

They feel a twinge of guilt over Gyre looking so unsure for a bit, so to make up for it they squeze his hand back gently. "No, sorry, it's fine... we just, both know how sensitive my tail is..." They leave the rest of their sentence kind of, hanging in the air while the gesture towards the full bar with their head.

"As for that... no, not yet. I can turn most of my body invisible, but only for a little bit. But I can keep my tail or one of my other limbs invisible for a while, even in motion. I haven't really had time to practise my own powers, I was busy this morning teaching the other Knights.." As they mention it, realisation hits them, and they suddenly look, almost excited.

"Oh, about that! Haizea, Garrot and I are teaching the rest of the Knights how to fight and defend themselves, since so many of them.. don't know how to do that. I think Haizea was helping with powers too? I mostly taught physical fighting and defence though... but, would you like to come help out? The more people we have teaching the more time we have to spend teaching each of the Knights."

[sustainer]

He's just happy they forgive him, his gaze holding on where their hands are entwined in their lap. He's smiling softly, nodding along as he listens to them describe their power. It's a nice moment, and he's relaxing, relaxing.

Right up until they suddenly brighten up, excitement radiating off them. He straightens up with them, eyes widening. Teaching...?

"Oh, uh... I'm not much of a teacher." Especially not for fighting. The only way he learned to fight was in an environment that it'd make him sick to replicate. He does chew his lip though, taking a slow, deep breath through his nose. There are so few fighters in this group, and he does want to give them the best chance possible. He sighs softly, clearly conflicted.

"What time does it start?"

[zafika]

They give this quiet, amused chuckle, and prop their free arm on the counter to lean their head against their hand. "I mean, I don't know a single thing about teaching either... all I know is how I was taught, but that's not exactly suited for what we're doing here."

"But... I think everyone are fast learners. They have to be. But they're doing well, even with all the stress." At Gyre's question of what time the training they start, they hesitate, remembering how that morning he was very insistent on sleeping more. "Well... very early in the morning. Today it started right after that video Garrot and Haizea sent to all of us... we ended up continuing until the monster appeared, but not everyone were constantly training, we're able to take breaks here and there so we're not completely exhausted. If you want, you can just come take a look tomorrow without doing anything, to see if you want to give it a go."

[sustainer]

He visibly winces when they say it's early, looking out into the crowd as he listens. He wants to help. He doesn't want to get up early. He doesn't know how to teach.

He sighs softly, squeezing their hand as he turns to look at them again. "Can I come after it starts?" he asks, smiling softly. He's clearly trying! He does want to help them help other people, and after another moment of though, he leans closer, curious.

"How are you teaching them? The way I learned would be bad to imitate too."

[zafika]

Yep, they'd figured he wouldn't like the early timing, so seeing Gyre wince is what Zafika expects. But the fact that he still clearly wants to help and that he's trying, that makes them happy enough to smile as they squeeze his hand back. "Of course. I mean, I was bit late this morning too, what with having to drop by Craydon first... so, no need to be there exactly on the clock."

At his question on how they're teaching the other Knights, they hum quietly in thought. "Well... I mainly focused on teaching the other Knights how to dodge or block attacks, depending on their experience... dodgeball so far seems the most harmless option for absolute beginners, I don't want to even think of trying to spar with them untill they have little bit more experience in general... can't say how Haizea and Garrot are doing it, I was mostly focused on the Knights I was teaching."