Day 3: Evening

Evening: 5:00pm - Midnight

[ IRL Timeframe: June 16th to ~~June 26th~~ July 3rd, 2019 ]

No matter when the heroes defeated their monsters, or when the sixth monster was defeated and there were none left, everyone will be treated to an unfortunately familiar feeling. The world of the past will fade, slowly at first but gradually increasing in pace until they pass out to blackness.

Everyone will wake up on a beach, and not a beach in the town their residence is in. Looks like everyone will need to take the train back home or go for a really, really long walk.

More unsettling than that is that every hero will either have a decent suntan or a mild sunburn. Social media is abuzz with comments about the island "going still" and the knights "dead on the beaches". There are reports that all twelve knights and the princess were all defeated at the same time and left on the beaches as an advertisement that the world was over this year.

Naturally, the heroes will realize that they are not, in fact, dead. Better do some damage control, there. Anyone who tried to make any recordings in the past will find that the files are corrupted and unavailable. Looks like whatever happened is going to... stay in the past.

The heroes who are due for an evening visit in the Princess' Dream Citadel or in The Wizard's House will arrive there the moment they sleep.

The Weather
Warmer than yesterday.
77°F / 25°C
Everyone's in a bit of a panic!

Prompts:

05:00pm Beach Wake-up Call: Every hero will wake up laying on the wet sand of the beach. There's waves gently lapping at them, waking them up slowly from their abrupt return from the past. Everyone will feel a little groggy and their clothes will be uncomfortably crusted in sand. Here's to hoping that saltwater and sand will wash out? Make sure to remove the little crabs that have started crawling over you!

5:00pm, Craydon: The residents of Craydon are all safely at home up the mountain by now. The only people still lingering around the Craydon beaches are fishermen working to prepare for their sunset runs. The offshore cages aren't going to empty themselves, after all! Fortunately this means they have, and can offer, blankets and hot drinks while they're heading out. It's not much, but they're here to help. At least the heroes are hopefully not alone?

5:00pm, Bamborough: The residents of Bamborough are really just the locals, concerned for the future of the world and of the heroes. Instead of waking up alone, they'll find little boxes of dry towels and bottled water beside them. Looks like the residents were pretty sure they were going to wake up at some point because they've left little kits to help them wake up with. It's not much, but it's better than nothing. The boardwalks of Bamborough are empty, with not a single soul out and about. The local shops, though, are pretty much business as usual. They'll immediately bustle in excitement when the heroes show themselves. Also: Free showers near the beach boardwalks! Better get all that crusty sand cleaned off.

5:00pm, Far Haven: The city of Far Haven is simultaneously the most cold and impersonal and the most immediately helpful. Each hero in Far Haven will wake up with a little walkie talkie beside them. If they pick it up and reach out, they'll be immediately told to come to the Far Haven hospital for immediate medical assistance. Once there, they'll be offered a free shower, water, hydration, a medical checkup, and a free coupon for the Craydon hot springs. There are even little kits set out for the knights in other towns. But... there's no one to bring them to the other towns, whoops. Guess they're carry-out only?

5:35pm onward, Train station(s): The train has a pretty reliable schedule for the evening, ending in Far Haven at 11:25pm. One way or another, the train is going to be how your hero makes their way back home to sleep for the night. Will the ride be uneventful, or will it be spent with others?

• Bamborough: 6:45pm, 8:30pm, 10:15pm.
• Craydon: 7:20pm, 9:05pm, 10:50pm.
• Far Haven: 6:10pm, 7:55pm, 9:40pm, 11:25pm.

6:00pm, Bamborough: In the outdoor seating area of Slyder's Wizard Sliders, a Wizard-themed burger restaurant in the most touristy area of Bamborough near the waterfront, the Wizard herself is seated at one of the tables under a big umbrella. Despite the big umbrella, she's still wearing her massive hat: Double shade from the setting sun. Sitting on the table is a small wizard-themed drink with little lightning bolts sticking out of the blue liquid.

8:00pm, Far Haven: Social media is quick to add the #wizardsighting hashtag to posts made by officers at the police station in Far Haven. The Wizard is seated up on the rooftop ledge of the police station, legs dangling over the third floor edge, surrounded by fireflies sparkling in the night. All a hero has to do is tell an officer they'd like to go up to talk to the Wizard and they'll be escorted to the elevator to the roof. Up you go, heroes!

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

"Thought so" She answers, continuing to not address his irritation.

"Ten can do many things, he is the most curious of the dozen." She finally turns to him as she answers, watching his face and expression. Of course, her watching him means that he won't get any of the hints or cues he's watching for.

"Do you want me to call Ten over?" She teases, before she asks the real question: "Or is that small talk."

"Can you call it... them? Over?" he asks automatically, tilting his head. He's going to pluck at every single thing she offers him here at this point. If he can actually meet a monster before it shows up, then that's useful and might tell him more then Fen ever has.

Still, that's not exactly the reason he came up here, so he'll clarify, "I didn't intend it as small talk if you want to answer the question. But uh, I do have other questions. About today. Do you know what happened?"

"I can call him, though he doesn't have to answer." She offers, curiously watching Gyre as she shares that. But he brings up the day, and she can offer details about that.

"We were given a reminder. Everyone was shown something that someone doesn't want us to forget."

"Can I talk to him if he comes?" he asks, before falling utterly silent. What a vague and useless sentence!! He raises his eyebrows significantly, giving her a chance to maybe elaborate on what the fuck she just said.

She doesn't. Of course she doesn't. He grumbles to himself, reaching up to rub his brow. "Who is the someone? And who is us? What was the reminder?" he drones, listing the questions off just to see how far he'll get. By the end of it, he's frustrated himself all over again to the point that he snaps, "Was any of that real??"

"You can." She offers, watching him silently as he considers her words. He reacts exactly as she expected him to, and he asks the important questions followed by a silly philosophical one.

"I hope you find out when they arrive. Us is everyone. The monsters, the companions, the knights, the princess, me." She casually answers, settling her hands behind her to recline in place to answer the last two.

"The reminder of the first year, and is anything real?" Her smirk widens just slightly as she cracks the joke, watching for when he inevitably loses his mind about it. She waits just long enough to add:

"Was it real to you?"

"Why don't you just say who it is if you know? What is the point of keeping it secret. Is it the Protector?" he asks, noting that he's the one person she left out of the list of us. And then she springs that philosophy 101 question on him, and he could not roll his eyes any harder then he does right now. He almost turns around at the automatic motion of it. He can't stand this kind of attitude, like she has so much distance on him and can't be bothered to close it.

"Do you remember me? I met someone in a hat like that," he gestures at her big hat, "and they asked me if I wanted to help the world. That was you?"

"I can't." She answers, curious if he'll take that answer as-is or ask for more details. But he does ask something she can answer, and she shakes her head. Not the protector.

But then he brings up a very important memory, a fun interaction from forty years ago.

"An iteration of me, yes. Less refined, less experienced, more optimistic." She watches him, curious how he'll take the news. "But I remember you."

"You can't!" he barks, throwing his hands up in the air. "What do you mean, you can't? What's stopping you?"

He sighs and rubs his hands down his face, trying to calm himself down as he uh continues the question barrage, "What were you doing there? Why did you send me away?"

"The someone is, of course." she offers, continuing to not reveal who the one she's referring to is. He's so easy to rile up.

"You would have to ask me forty years ago, I was just reliving my memories." She answers, curious if he'll get all riled up again. But she adds in a lovely tidbit too:

"The Protector was there, too, did you find him?"

"Hm," he murmurs as he glances off to the side, taking a deep breath. He wants more then this, but if this is all she's got then what can he do. He sighs heavily after a second, and shakes his head.

"No. I don't think so. What was he doing?" He blinks and his face darkens as he remembers the other thing that happened. "There was a child. They said they weren't okay... What happened to them?"

"There was more than just one child." She corrects him, her smile widening just slightly.

"They are all still here, but they won't speak to you." She knows he's going to demand answers, so she switches back to the Protector instead. And she decides to give him the lamest possible answer she could ever give him.

"The protector? He was asleep."

Sorry, wizard, there's nothing he cares about more then kids. The news that there's more then one and that they're all still here makes his heart clench. He takes several steps towards her, closing the distance between them as he takes an anxious breath.

"Where are they? Are they okay? Wh... what was happening?" he asks all three questions in quick succession, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice. He needs to help them, especially if they're still suffering. Fuck all this stupid wizard shit if there are kids getting hurt.

He can try to keep the anxiety out of his voice, but she's good about picking up on things like that. She's heard worry from countless knights over the years and, while she's a little surprised that he'd worry about the children, she didn't find it out of place to hear Gyre worrying.

"No matter what happens, they're saved each year like I am." She offers as an explanation, before following with the last answer that mimics how she'd described herself in the past.

"They were less refined, less experienced back then."

That's not... a satisfying answer! Still, he takes it in, looking around them and trying to be reassured by it. He's not. He's not at all, and he can't help asking again, "Where are they?"

Unfortunately for Gyre, when he looks around he'll see yellow out of the corner of his vision. When he asks his question, he'll feel a hand on his shoulder.

Ten is standing at his side, hand on his shoulder, with all ten of his eyes focused intensely on the pig knight.

Incredibly slowly, he lifts a hand to his neck and trails a finger across his own neck at the exact same location that Gyre's neck separation is. Is Ten asking what's up with it? Threatening about it?

To the side, the Wizard is lifting her still-steaming coffee cup up to her lips to take a sip. Sorry Gyre, no answer yet.

He jumps when the hand lands on his shoulder, taking a step back and away from the monster. Just in time to watch him draw his hand across his throat, and a shiver rushes up Gyre's spine in response. The monster moved so slowly that he doesn't feel exactly threatened? But there's no denying that that gesture might be a threat. He ends up stiffly crossing his arms, staring down at this little... child sized monster.

He's reminded of how childlike the monster today had looked, despite its size and its arms. He hates all of this!

"Are you going to attack me?" he asks hesitantly. "Someone got to that bit of me first, unfortunately."

Ten shakes his head when Gyre asks if he's going to attack him but stays watching him with all ten eyes. He steps closer despite Gyre having stepped back, blatantly ignoring any concept of personal space. If he's observant, he'll realize that three of the eyes are intently focused on his neck while the other seven are on his eyes. Nearby, there's a soft click as the Wizard sets her coffee cup down.

"Do you prefer Bamborough or Craydon?" She asks, glancing backwards towards him. She looks deeply amused, curious how he'll answer such an off topic question with a monster right up in his personal space.

He does notice the separated attention after a moment, and it just leaves him even more tense. He doesn't want to overreact, but this is definitely making him visibly uncomfortable. It doesn't help when she asks that complete nonsequiter of a question. His eyes dart to her and then return to the monster, and he grimaces.

"Neither. Every city I've been to is too loud," he says, running his eyes over the monster with this cautious curiosity. He takes a breath, and then bends closer to him, tilting his head. "What are you interested in?"

"Craydon, then." She answers, not bothering to explain why she's asking and then deciding and-

Gyre blinks.

And he's sitting on a rock in the Craydon hot springs. The owner, who was in the middle of setting out some hot towels, glances at him and then groans and shakes her head. 'Magic nonsense' she mutters before making her way back to the front desk through the building. Since she didn't ask Gyre to leave uh... guess he can... relax...?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Day 3: Evening

Evening: 5:00pm - Midnight

The Weather

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