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

"Ah," he murmurs, holding a hand up, palm out, as if to comfort them. He still has that weak smile on his face, and it gets a little tighter in this moment.

"I'm... fine. I was reminded of some things, but they're long past." He shrugs very slightly, and waves a hand as if to brush the whole conversation away. He wants to think about other things, and their concern for him is, honestly, unbearable to him in this moment.

"What did you think? About all of that? Did you meet a kid?"

Zafika watches Gyre's expression and body language closely, at this point out of habit, and they don't believe him at all when he says he's fine. They reach to take Gyre's upheld hand into theirs, holding it gently and stare at their hands instead as they speak again. "You don't sound fine. And you don't have to talk right here, right now, but you're hurting. And I want to help. But I can wait until we're somewhere more private, if you're willing to talk today still."

They'll let Gyre decide if he wants to answer them or not, but give him a break to do so as they think of his questions. 'Are you a hero?' The kid's words still ring in their head, and they shake them away quickly. "It was... it was weird... I don't really know what to think about it. But I did meet a kid. Sort of."

They takes his hand and keep their eyes there, but he's watching them with a careful interest, pressing his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he thinks about how to handle this. He remembers them saying sorry to him when they heard about his death and even that was too much. He doesn't know how to say enough to sate their curiosity and their terrible kindness without getting another reaction like that. And he doesn't want to hear that right now.

His lips press together for a beat, and he... takes the worse way out. Instead of coming up with something to say, he takes their out, his eyes widening with interest. He wants to exchange information with as many of them as he can, and he leans closer as he asks, "Sort of? The child I met, they kept disappearing and reappearing later. Do you mean like that?"

They glance at Gyre when he remains quiet for a longer while, and when he takes the worse way out, their tail curls underneath the water, out of sight for the both of them, and they hold back a sigh. They expected this, but they'll try to offer some comfort. After helping distract him for a while.

"Nnnnooo, not like that... the one I uh, found was... inside a floating crystal obelisk? There were plenty of them floating around, I think there was a kid inside all of them but. The one I found, it, spoke to me, I guess? Asking if I was looking for them and then telling me I'd found them. And aske if I... if I was a hero." The last part is harder to utter out, because they're everything but a hero. Or, at least they feel that way. But they don't let it show, but luckily they look tired enough to not obviously be bothered by that.

"It was, something."

He brightens as they begin to describe it, not because he's happy but because he's intensely interested. This has clearly got his mind racing as he sits up straighter, watching them closely. His eyes dart from their face to the side as he remembers his own experience, and then back to them.

"Right, right! Yes, the kid I met disappeared and I found them in one of those crystals, but when I tried to get them out, they reappeared in front of me. But they were... electrified? They said they weren't okay, a-and the wizard said they're still around," he blurts out, speaking quickly and with his hands. There's a distant look in his eyes though. He's not all here, or he would've taken notice of the way they talked about being a hero.

"I don't think they're safe, but I don't know how to find them."

They watch him closely still even as they speak, and oh, oh they don't like his body language at all, the way his eyes dart all around, and the way his speech is honestly just rambling. He talks with his hands normally too, but the movement is too twitchy, and that look in his eyes isn't good either.

Talking most likely still isn't an option, and even then they could only listen to what he's saying, but so far he hasn't been willing to talk about things himself. What was it that their mother used to do when they were upset as a kid...?

They reach out for Gyre with one hand, slow enough so he can see it coming, and gently card their fingers through his hair until their hand rests at the back of his head, and they pull him forward, carefully, but with enough strength and insistency to get him to move.

They back away enough so that as they position him, he's practically laying on their lap, his head nestled comfortably to the crook of their neck, and they keep their hand at the back of his head to keep him there, but also rub circles to his scalp with their thumb. Their free arm goes around him to rub his back, and the entire time their hold on him is gentle enough that he can get free from it without any real effort. "It's okay... we can try looking for them, if you'll let me help. Two people will have better luck at finding them than just one."

There is a rigid tension in his body that's obvious the second they put their hand on him, and he doesn't sink into them right away. It's only a moment of resistance, but then he folds against their body, sinking down in the water and letting his hand wrap loosely around their thigh.

"Yes, I... they need help, I think. If there's children involved in this..." he murmurs, and there's a dark tone in the back of his throat. He doesn't know what he'll do, but he knows he needs to do something.

"I need your help. We need everyone to know so we can all look."

Oh, now if ever it's set in stone that they're going to keep him close and comfort him. So once he does fold against their body, they give him the gentlest squeeze and press a kiss onto his shoulder.

The dark tone at the back of his throat worries them, but they agree, children being involved in this is horrible. "I'll help you, I promise... and we'll get others to help too. But..." They stop for long enough to give him one more kiss. "It's been a long day, everyone's been through shit, we're all exhausted. So for now, you need to relax and rest, alright?"

He seems to focus a little more each time they kiss him, coming back into the moment and turning just slightly to kiss against their neck.

"I know," he murmurs softly. He just can't stop thinking about it. He doesn't want to dwell though. Not when they're holding him like this, reminding him he needs to relax.

"Hm, the monster didn't give you any trouble, right?"

There's a tiny smile on their face when they feel the kiss against their neck, and they go ahead and take that as a good sign, since if nothing else, he's at least calming down.

That doesn't mean that they'll stop comforting him though. They still continue rubbing those circles to his scalp, and hold him just as close. "No, it didn't... those arms made it hard for close combat but, it still wasn't hard to kill." It was almost too easy, actually, but they don't want to talk about that.

"I met Luka on the train, he said you finished your monster off after he'd made fire shoot out of the ground at it?"

"Mm, mmhm, that's right. It was... awful. The monster boiled and then it was falling apart," he murmurs, in his own thoughts again. The monster had looked so much like a child. It makes his skin crawl to imagine the monsters are more then just constructs. The one he'd met this evening had almost seemed like a regular kid, and he forces himself to speak so he doesn't dwell on what's going to happen when they have to fight that one.

"I finished it quickly after that. It seemed a mercy." He swallow roughly, tucking himself closer against their body. "I don't like the way the monsters are changing."

Day 3: Evening

Evening: 5:00pm - Midnight

The Weather

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