Day 4: Evening

[wizardseason]

Evening: 5:00pm - Midnight

[ IRL Timeframe: August 14th - August 28th, 2019 ]

As the sun sets on Harsen Island and the curtains close on Four's games that abducted all the heroes up into hours of entertainment, things absolutely refuse to wind down.

When the knights return, they'll be placed right where they were when they were added into the game show. The Princess, unfortunately, is the one that doesn't wind up where he was taken from. For everyone else, whether they were climbing up the mountain or existing elsewhere, it looks like all they lost is time.

And maybe a bit of patience.

Every hero that participated in Four's game show reeived a personalized 'Thank you!' card at the end of it, apparently the monster was excited about everyone participating! (Disclaimer: One knight did not receive a thank you card because he refused to participate like a big ole' jerk).

The bright, glowing blue fissures are still open throughout the ground, they haven't gone anywhere while the game show happened. All the cracks originate from the mountain up the slope from Craydon! Social media has finally confirmed that all the cracks converge on one location up the mountain: At a big glowing stone door. It's absolutely not a manmade door and it's definitely magic in some way, but why is it there now?

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The Weather

• Insects chirping all over.
• 66°F / 19°C
• A surprisingly cool sea breeze.

---

Prompts:

• ??:00pm Mountain Door, Craydon: Any heroes still climbing the mountain, or who choose to climb the mountain, can reach the glowing door. As they ascend, they'll have to endure unrelenting wind blowing right in their face the whole way. When they reach the top, send a ping saying "they've reached the door" to receive a description.


• 6:00pm Rock Sugar Tea Cafe, Bamborough: Not wanting to spend the entire evening in Craydon, the Protector has made his way via train out to Bamborough to find a cafe that serves tea. Three Princesses had come here during previous years and the experiences had been good enough that he sought to try it for himself. He'll be found sitting under an umbrella-covered table outside the cafe, sipping carefully at a nuclear-hot cup of spiced apple tea.


• 6:30pm Sushi, Far Haven: Of all the places for Ten to end up in all this, he's arrived at the conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Far Haven. Situated off to the side from the lobby of the Crossroads Hotel, the restaurant is simply named 'Sushi' and is filled with numerous tables wedged up against a slowly-progressing conveyor belt filled with plates of sushi. The entire path is in a refrigerated tube to keep the sushi safe to eat, and when a hero arrives they'll see Ten reaching in to obtain a new set of rolls. There are already ten empty plates in front of him: How many more will he eat? Social media is already taking bets on the final count!


• 7:00pm Door Crater, Craydon: It's the end. Any heroes still lingering at the door on the mountain will be treated to the biggest nightmare of all time: The door starts to emit a high-pitched tone moments before it explodes outwards. Pieces of solid stone go flying outward from the blast, and when the dust clears from the event there's still smoke billowing out from inside of the cave entrance and rising up off of the small crater that the explosion made.
  
  Just inside of the cave entrance is the figure of a child, laying slumped facedown on the ground. They're wearing nothing but tatters over their translucent cyan skin. They look as if they're made of colored glass, their hair looking very much like solid, shiny obsidian but moving as if it wasn't stone at all. Their eyes are closed where they're laying, but there's an unmistakable glow even through their closed eyelids.

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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

[wizardseason]

If Terrence was expecting anything out of that, he's going to be sorely disappointed for roughly ten seconds. His breath is calm, steady and smells vaguely of apples from his tea. At this distance, it's obvious that he didn't even flinch at Terrence's approach. His eyes stay locked on Terrence, searching him and his emotions. It's only after those ten seconds, after he's certain Terrence isn't going to ask for more than that, that he abruptly stands. He grabs Terrence's collar as he stands, fingers gripping into the fabric as he lifts the rabbit knight up with him. He keeps a firm grip on him as he stands, leaving the rabbit knight up on his tiptoes as the Protector lifts him up.

"You know well enough the sordid reputation she's made for herself. What you and the others cannot fathom is who she is. She would sacrifice this whole world, every one of its people, for her fatalistic view that this world must end. She wants to stand at the precipice of oblivion just as it all crumbles." He suddenly releases Terrence, this time allowing a raw hatred to steep into his voice.

"She, and her unthinkable spell trapped us here and she wants us to die here."

[fop_lop]

Terrence is shocked, but only for a moment. If anything, he seems pleased by the Protector's reaction even as he struggles pathetically against the taller form's grip.

The rabbit knight loudly coughs after falling to his feet, obviously exaggerating just to get the attention of more passersby than would normally hear...

"So you're just as fucked as we are..?" he asks through a strained throat, though his amusement is plain. He doesn't even have to reiterate his previous point about the Wizard's omnipotence and omnipresence rendering their effort pointless.

[wizardseason]

"No." He answers immediately, the word still dripping with hatred.

"I refuse death. Such a crude method would free me of this cycle, but I will not willingly leave a mountain of bodies behind me." He sighs after he says it, shaking his head.

"None of you will survive without intervention."

[fop_lop]

"I'm certainly happy for your interference then," Terrence chuckles, still rubbing one black-furred hand on his throat more for theatrics than anything. The Protector was clearly more making a point than actually trying to harm him, after all.

"I'm sure this situation isn't easy for you, either," he acknowledges, moving his seat back to its original position and sinking into it, "but you've got to understand how it makes us feel as well if we're going to work together. Even when we win, it's only because of some weird technicality, or the powers granted to us, or some other form of outside assistance... As you've just said, we have no chance under our own power. We have almost no agency in our own destruction, and that's immeasurably frustrating."

Again, the Protector isn't an idiot. Terrence is sure he understands all of that - but then maybe he's so far removed from humanity that he actually doesn't..? Either way, the rabbit knight is at least in part just using their ally as a sounding board to vent his frustrations in a form of self-therapy.

[wizardseason]

If there's one thing he specializes in: It's making a point. He watches Terrence as he returns to his seat, curious what the rabbit knight is thinking in this moment. But then he goes off on, honestly, just a ramble? The Protector's eyes narrow as he gives a fairly straightforward response.

"Yes." He confirms, they do have almost no agency in all this.

"Which is why I am here." He watches him with a completely unreadable expression. What did you expect him to say, Terrence?

[fop_lop]

For once, the rabbit knight's pokerface is absent and his heart is completely on his sleeve. If his speech seems disjointed and rambly, that's only because his thoughts are as well. Still, he seems to be more entertained than anything and in a good enough mood despite it all.

"Not that I'm complaining," Terrence chuckles, "but before you made it sound like you were here for reasons beyond your control. You're helping us now because you're not an asshole, but we're not why you're here in the first place, right..?"

[wizardseason]

"Correct." He answers, not pulling his gaze away.

"It was the plight of this world that drew me here. It is something beyond my control that keeps me here. But so long as I am successful I will leave when it is all over." He explains simply, leaning back in his seat.

[fop_lop]

"Despite my accusations and frustrations, I'm really not trying to get rid of you," Terrence offers along with a smile. His tone is quieter and softer than before. "I wish we weren't so dependent upon you, but seeing as we are then I'm glad you're here. I've no ill-will against you personally, either." The CEO chuckles bitterly to himself at his next thought, but his voice stays light. "I'm sure it the idea of me holding a grudge would just keep you up at night for hours."

[wizardseason]

"I would not lose a moment's sleep." The Protector's overly harsh reply comes without much delay at all. It's hard to tell if he's joking or being serious because he doesn't inflect it either way.

"Our interactions will cease in seven days." He follows it, also equally as harsh. Yikes, dude.

"We are united towards a common goal, no matter our feelings."

[fop_lop]

"I see where Sucecq gets it now," he mutters, in that 'under-my-breath-but-still-loud-enough-I-obviously-want-you-to-hear-it' kind of voice. "To be fair, though, you didn't seek me out. I've been the one pestering you during a moment of rest."

With a resigned sigh, Terrence rises from his seat to right the table again, assembling the fragments of cup and saucer on top. Included is two-thousand dollars, pinned beneath to stop a breeze from carrying the cash away.

"Any advice before I leave you be?"

[wizardseason]

If he takes that as a compliment, he doesn't show it. He also doesn't show if he's taken it as an insult.

"When the time comes, do not allow uncertainty to stay your hand." He states simply, keeping his gaze locked on Terrence's face.

"Soon, there will no longer be room for hesitation."

[fop_lop]

"How ominous," Terrence tuts, winking slyly at the Protector. "I'll be sure to take that to heart, though. Sorry again for interrupting your evening." For what it's worth, he seems to actually mean it.

With a flourish, the rabbit knight straightens out and dusts off his sleeves before heading for the exit.