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

6:00pm Rock Sugar Tea Cafe, Bamborough

[wizardseason]

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.

[fop_lop]

"So this is going to be terribly silly if you're simply a thirsty local," Terrence prefaces while taking a seat at the same table, "but would you happen to be the Protector?" He certainly hopes so, at any rate. While there aren't many specific questions the rabbit knight has, it'll still be nice to get some straight answers for a change. Sucecq is certainly helpful enough, but there's only so much he knows, and multiple perspectives are always useful...

[wizardseason]

Terrence picked one of the few moments that Luka had stepped away from the table to get another drink, take a phone call, or use the bathroom otherwise he would've been a glaring giveaway that this was, in fact, the Protector. Social media's been surprisingly off-point with only posting pictures of Luka and omitting the Protector sitting nearby.

It's almost like they didn't realize who he was, either.

"I am." He answers, looking up from over the edge of his clear glass tea mug. The scent of spiced apples is wafting in the air, leaving no mystery to what he's drinking.

"And you're Terrence Torrence, the unaligned rabbit knight." He says it, narrowing his eyes at him to test for a reaction. Does he know Terrence isn't wizard aligned? Is he making a bold statement to catch this actually-wizard-aligned knight in a trap? His expression doesn't give away what purpose he has behind the statement, but he sure did say it.

[fop_lop]

"Not aligned officially, at any rate," he quips back, maintaining a remarkable poker face if the Protector's comment even fazed him at all.

It had certainly crossed Terrence's mind if the supernatural being knew exactly who was on what side or not. The princess and their knights, of course, but... The prospect was a large part of why he was bothering to approach the fellow at all, even if he was convinced that no answers would come of it even if the Protector did know. No, the rabbit knight had a different angle this time.

"Is that good?" he asks, idly waving a hand to indicate his host's cup. It certainly smelled good. "I haven't ordered yet and I've never been here." The one spot of common ground between all of them - Wizard, Princess, Knight, and even the Protector, evidently - was a good flavor.

[wizardseason]

Smooth, Terrence. The Protector doesn't know him well enough to get a read on him, and that poker face is impressively unhelpful. He just has to take Terrence's words at face value here, and that's what he does.

"It is. Princesses in the past have visited this place, and this tea was the most enticing offering available." He answers, motioning towards the seat in case Terrence wanted to join him.

"It is not a regrettable beverage."

[fop_lop]

"Suppose I'll have one as well, then!" he chuckles, pointing his choice out to a passing waiter while handing him the menu. It's not like there's anyone else to serve at the moment - for as popular as both are, the moment definitely commands a sort of personal space that the natives seem more than willing to observe.

"Unless he was lying to me - and I don't suspect he was - the Princess has already shared your other two knights with me," Terrence admits while folding one leg over the other and knitting both hands atop said knee in a nearly impossibly casual maneuver. The Guardian was on their side, after all, so it made him far easier to fuck with than the Wizard. Terrence was remarkably more in his own domain with this sort of situation where the bargaining chips were far more even.

"I'll get the unpleasantness out of the way first," he prefaces. Manners dictate they'll both have to stick around for the new drinks to arrive at least if nothing else. "You don't know who the Wizard's knights are, do you? Pardon - I know you don't know inherently, but both yourself and Mr. Eutychia are clever, but you haven't figured it out yet either, have you?"

[eutychia]

Luka sits at the table with the Protector, arms folded -- his expression a mix of frustration and exhaustion as a cup of jasmine tea slowly cools untouched in front of him. He's been quiet for awhile, reflecting on the chaos of the day and mourning the dramatic defeat of Four he'd planned out in his mind.

After awhile, he speaks up.

"Sooo... is this whole 'existing in the physical realm' thing new to you?"

[wizardseason]

The wafting scents of Luka's jasmine tea mixing with the Protector's apple tea make for a simultaneously delicious and overwhelming cloud around the two of them. The servers of the restaurant are used to it, though, and don't seem to mind. The Protector has been similarly quiet, lost in his thoughts, and it's only Luka's question that finally snaps him back to reality.

"It has been many years since I have walked this world." He answers, slowly lifting his tea to blow gently on it.

"I remember now why I avoided it."

[eutychia]

Luka can't help but laugh a bit. "Is it really so bad? I'd imagine spending all your time alone in that tower gets awfully lonely."

[wizardseason]

The Protector first answers with a low "Mmn" sound in the affirmative as he sips at his tea. He'll elaborate in a moment, but for now there's just the soft sound of him taking a careful sip of the nuclear-hot liquid.

"I have always preferred solitude." He answers as he lowers the mug, careful to not make it impact the plate on the table with much more than a soft 'clink'.

"It is simpler."

[eutychia]

"But... all the time? That's so boring." Luka frowns. "What do you do for fun?"

The clinking of the Protector's teacup reminds him of his own, and he finally picks it up. He sips the lukewarm tea while waiting for the Protector's response.

Re: 6:00pm Rock Sugar Tea Cafe, Bamborough

[silentwords]

Seth, after the disaster that was the previous day, the calamity that was this morning, the absolute nightmare that was the Game Show...
Had only managed to fall asleep for a few hours, after a mental breakdown, due to well, actual nightmares. So he honestly looked absolutely haggard.

And considering he was already sleep deprieved as all hell, he needed something to wake him up, stat. But since he hated the scent of coffee, he had to find a place that had a good selection of teas to choose from, in the end having bought a spiced black tea. He needed the caffeine in it.

And then as he's looking for a place to sit down...he spots the Protector as he passes by the table the Protector is sitting at. It takes him a while to process what he sees, but considering the attire, he's already pretty damn sure that he is in fact THE Protector. What was up with the sleep wear theme btw?

And for love of, what were the odds of running into the Protector? Why was he here in the real world anyway??? Seth thought the Protector was supposed to stay on, their own plane or whatever, which is why they communicated through the Princess.

And thus you have Seth staring at the Protector, as if he had just seen someone jump from a 10-story building's roof and survive it without a scratch.

[wizardseason]

Seth had chosen the exact correct time to happen upon the Protector. Terrence had either just left or hadn't arrived yet, and Luka was taking a moment to handle a personal matter. How convenient for Seth to have a moment alone!

The Protector is in the middle of a sip of his cup of tea as Seth stands, staring, and he's not one to just let that happen.

"If you intend to speak with me, Seth Samara the unaligned rat knight, you will need to take a seat." He says it with such confidence that it has to be true. Seth, unaligned? Or is he intending to intimidate him into admitting that he's actually an evil knight? What kind of game of knowing or not knowing is the Protector playing here?

[silentwords]

You know what...fuck it why not, this might as well happen.
So Seth sat down, and promtly took a long drink from his tea as he digged out his phone to communicate with.

"I thought you were supposed to exist on...some other plane or something and not, well, here."

[wizardseason]

The Protector moves to take another sip from his spiced apple tea while Seth settles in and drinks. He responds after taking a moment to be sure Seth isn't going to continue again.

"I am not meant to be here. The monsters moved in a way I did not anticipate."

[silentwords]

Seth raised an eyebrow at that.
The monsters could do that??? I mean sure they had so far pulled up some ridiculous stunts but he hadn't thought they could pull the protector out like that.

Well, it did give him the chance to chat with him, something he wouldn't have normally been able to, not directly anyway.

And while some other questions might technically be important...this he just really had to ask first.
"So what the heck is up with the whole nightwear theme?"

[scandeled]

This is precisely the kind of place Matilda Hamilton would pick to spend time at. While the Protector may opt for outside under an umbrella, Matilda can be found inside for most of the evening, relishing the gift of air conditioning and the lack of humidity. Her hair falls in perfect delicate waves indoors, lacking the poof and frizz the humidity of the outdoors has gifted her with the past few days. Here, she’s content to sip on a tea that smells of rose petals and a hint of chocolate, to daydream her life away while she sips away at her tea, her content expression only drifting away when her eyes flicker to her phone on the table. But for the most part, she’s playing the role of the perfect, delicate young lady, and much less like a ball of disaster and energy like she normally does.

This of course, vanished on her way out, near the very end of the Protrctor’s visit— she’s spotted who is sitting out front through the window and she hurtles out of the building, as energetic as a puppy. “Oh! What peripeteia!” She declares, barely coming to a stop before the table.

[wizardseason]

For the Protector, it's hardly a surprise to see Matilda here. He knows the heroes are roaming around and encountering him at their leisure. But in this case, this was another opportunity to confront a knight about their allegiance.

"Good evening, Matilda Hamilton, the unaligned dog knight." He says in a surprisingly even voice. But his eyes lock on her, watching for any sign of a slip-up. Any sign of relief. Does he know she's unaligned and he's confirming what he knows? Or is this a trap in case she's an evil-aligned knight? Or does he have no idea one way or the other and is just grasping for straws?

Give him the details he needs.

[scandeled]

He’s looking for a sign of a slip up, and boy does he get one. But is it the one he’s looking for? Matilda giggles nervously, cheeks flushing, as she begins to pull her goggles down over one eye, her other hand pressed to her cheek.

She’s just being Matti. “You know me!” It’s still a splendid surprise and delight to be known, and she lets out another giggle- more awkward than delighted. “S-sorry! I don’t normally stare at—-“ ....men. “How terribly rude of me!”

[wizardseason]

Unfortunately the Protector doesn't have a good enough of a read on her to get much out of her reaction one way or another. He doesn't have any more information than he'd had before, and now she was in a giggling state in front of him. He allows her a moment to work through it before he speaks.

"I know all those who are fighting for the sake of this world." He explains simply, locking his eyes on her. He has no qualms with staring.

"There is too much at stake to not know."

[scandeled]

"Isn't that the truth." Matilda lets out a little huff that's half a sigh, looking sad and distant for a moment-- then just managing to pout. It's a good thing she's distracted by her own pouting too, or the staring might just throw her into another tizzy.

"I didn't know you... I thought this was a Princess-only deal."

[zafika]

See, Zafika had decided that they're going to need answers from someone, either Luka or one of the Knights that actually get to talk to the Protector. Because that's what they're used to, digging up information in whatever way available. So when they spot someone who, absolutely is not a regular citizen, sitting outside a little tea cafe, they stop in their tracks to stare. That has to be the Protector, or they're going to possibly give an innocent citizen a heart attack.

Either way, they walk over to the Protector's table, and pull a chair for themselves to sit down across from him. "You're the Protector, aren't you?" Normally, they probably would be more polite, or impressed, but they've had a long day, and they have some questions, and they will get answers to those questions, or so help them god.

[wizardseason]

"I am, and you are Zafika the evil-aligned Snake knight." The Protector answers their abrupt arrival with an even more abrupt accusation. Does he know they're an evil knight and he intends to make them cave? Does he not know at all and he's testing for a reaction? Does he think they're unaligned and he's just trying to trip them up?

No matter what his reasoning, he's looking at them over steepled fingers. He fully intends to catch how they're going to react, how they're going to take the heavy-handed move he'd just made.

[zafika]

Well, the Protector is looking for a reaction, and a reaction he shall get. But probably not what he was looking for. Because, upon being accused of being an evil-aligned Knight, Zaifka just, stares, quirks an eyebrow... and stifles a laugh as they lean their arms against the table. "Wouldn't that be nice? The criminal ending up being one of the evil Knights for everyone to defeat without hard feelings." Sorry Protector, if they are one of the evil-aligned Knights, this isn't enough to make them crack.

"But, that's not the point. Because I just got back from a stupid quiz show Four yanked me into, and there was quite an interesting question there..." They look at the Protector directly into the eyes, the grey filter on everything and the low humming reminding them that they can do that now. "Why did Four call you a murderer?"

[wizardseason]

If they're an evil aligned knight, it's a clever response. If they're an unaligned knight, he's surprise they didn't move to defend themselves. Impossible to read. Congratulations, Zafika, you've got him stumped for now.

But their question doesn't leave him stumped at all.

"Through inaction, it could easily be said that I have been responsible for the knights who die each year. I have questioned my involvement after every death." He watches them with a steeled gaze in response. He meets their gaze without flinching away.

"But they are avenged each year that the world spins on."