Day 5: Evening

Evening: 5:00pm until Midnight

[ IRL Timeframe: October 15th - ~~October 23rd~~ October 31st, 2019 ]

Evening is calm, evening is serene, evening is-- a time for everyone to catch up with all the nonsense that just happened today. For anyone checking social media, there are a number of significant events that went down to catch up on:

Gyre's head straight-up fell fucking off. Somehow he's not dead.
Gyre and Luka fought each other.
Gyre punched Luka in the face.
Terrence posted a Photoshop Phriday contest on the Hopeful Hearts homepage in the morning, when the Wizard was KO'd. It's finally gone viral.
Two hospital rooms are out of commission due to the floor collapsing.
The hospital's main lobby is inaccessible via the main doors, good thing the side doors work.
Rory is missing. Where did the Tiger knight go? Social media fears the worst.
The child teleported off of the pier, leaving anyone with them behind as they boarded a tourist boat. If the side is to be believed, it's headed back to Bamborough, but with the child at the helm where would it be going?

That's... quite a bit of bad stuff. Thankfully most of the afternoon events are still ongoing, so there's plenty of opportunities for the heroes to unwind in each others' company. The evil-allured knights get their own chance once they fall asleep for the night.

The Weather
Birds are chirping again.
59°F / 15°C
It shouldn't be this chilly?

Prompts:

5:00pm Onward: Hospital, Far Haven: After the rooms were destroyed and the lobby floor was ripped up, the Hospital is hardly in tip-top shape. Any heroes can drop by to try to gather clues with others, to try to help pick up the place, or of course drop by to get medical attention.

Most Evening Times: Gyre's Camp, Forest between Craydon and Bamborough: Gyre can be found in his camp for most of the evening. It's taking up a little clearing in the trees and it's extremely nicely kept even at first glance. There's a fire pit dug into the ground, and lined with rows of gently polished rocks. There are three delicately carved wooden figures sitting on the rocks, one per rock. There's a little boar, a curved antler that very nearly looks real and uh a wizard hat.

Off to the side, there's a canvas tent that's just barely big enough for a Gyre-sized bedroll and his emptied backpack. It's been zipped shut except for a couple inches opening left at the top. There's a little pile of chopped wood beside the tent, and a bowl filled with a dark purple dye and a few folds of leather. In front of the tent is a boot with the sole coming off, partially unsewn.

Across from the fire, there's a rack set up with one cleaned rabbit? skin, and a deer skin hung on a pole to dry. The deer's skull has been set on a pike up high to bleach the bones.

At least one person has promised to visit, but will he even after their fight? But perhaps he won't be the only one to drop by tonight.

5:00pm Onward: Unlimited Tacos, Bamborough: Even after the rails are fixed in Bamborough, the unlimited taco deal didn't come to an end. If the princess or any knight drops by, they won't even have to ask because there are free tacos for the rest of the day! Any hero may show up and sit down to dine on tacos of all types and flavors. Unfortunately this taco shop only specializes in flour-shell options, but their flavors are on point! Dine in with your fellow heroes and discuss all the nonsense that's been happening... and it's only day five.

5:00pm Onward: Free Drinks, Far Haven: If your hero is just tired of everything having to be So Much All The Time, they can drop by one of Far Haven's brightest night life bars called "Reach". They're offering free drinks all night to celebrate the Wizard getting put in the hospital. Things are looking pretty easy for the team this year! The special drink being offered is the "Wizard Bomb" which drops a blue shot into a bubbly red drink. It's pretty tasty and, best of all, free! Which heroes will find each other here before the night crowd shows up? Sun's going down fast!

5:00pm Onward: Free Admission Meditation, Craydon: Heroes need to take a moment to breathe, and one of the locals in Craydon has realized that. They've offered any hero a free meditation session in their garden room. Incense will be lit, hot towels will be offered, and the gentle serene environment of their garden room (complete with the carefully-combed and designed zen sand pit) will make sure any stress just melts away. Does your hero run across someone else while walking in or leaving? The Wizard can be found sitting outside, staring up at the sky, for the rest of the evening.

7:00pm Bed & Breakfast Helping Hand, Craydon: The owner of the Helping Hand Bed & Breakfast needs a helping hand! They threw their back out after carrying a large stack of firewood in for the wood oven. Looks like they're down for the count for at least the rest of the day. Care to lend a hand, perhaps with your fellow heroes, to get things taken care of? The laundry needs to be done, more firewood has to be cut, the food has to be cooked, the guests have to be checked in and out... Who's going to do all this if they can't even get up off the ground? They're in a rough spot! Social media was kind enough to report on what happened, but now that night's falling, things have to be closed up for the night. After the events of the day, Ten can be found here helping out. Looks like he's doing a little bit of everything!

8:30pm Protector Meeting, Far Haven: After the events of the day, the Protector sought out Olivia and spoke with Luka before he handled his own evening tasks. They both received a card from him with an address on it and a request to bring one knight that they trusted along with them. The address, not strangely at all, will take them to the center of a small local park in the middle of the business district. When they arrive, the Protector will be sitting on a bench overlooking a fountain. All around him are screens that are showing the events of the day, and he appears to be reviewing what happened.

Of course, this isn't his dream space so he can be found by just about anyone at this point. But will anyone else find him? Before or during the meeting? Will they spy on the meeting or make themselves known?

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.

Activity Check: October 2019

[ IRL Timeframe: October 1st - October 31st, 2019 ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Fine. Alright." Luka grits his teeth. Gyre has a point, as much as he doesn't want to accept it.

"What do you know about them? I know that they're abominations who shouldn't exist, that they only do because they stole the magic meant to save our planet. Their only purpose is to kill." Luka's only repeating back the Protector's words. "That's what he said."

"Princess," he says sharply, a uh nasty warning in his throat. If he hadn't just hit him a couple hours ago, he'd be tempted to again right now. His fist closes, but he stays sitting, teeth grit, his whole body tense.

"Do not discount their personhood in front of me," he clarifies that little spike of anger, taking a deep breath to steady himself. Once again, the more he hears about the Protector, the more he truly loathes the man. But that's not important for now.

"What she's told me is that there was something living in the center of the planet. When it started to wake up, her and the Protector noticed and... decided, I guess, that it was dangerous." He's still not entirely clear what they saw then that is not so certain for her now. She talks about a solution, as if allowing the child to fully awaken won't immediately kill them all anymore. He shakes his head slightly, continuing after a moment.

"They tried to seal the thing inside the planet and it went wrong. They broke it into twenty-seven pieces," he pauses to count out on his own fingers, "The monsters, the animals, the Wizard, the Protector and the child. Because of the way the spell broke, they have to play this... drama out every year, and at the end of it, the ones who survive go to a... a space, a dream space? They vote whether to continue the spell or not."

He pauses here, making sure he's got all the details he's been told for sure. "The Protector has killed all the other votes up until this year so it's always continued. This year is the last year. She says the child will force it to end one way or the other now that they're awake. She says she has a way for us to survive if we trust her." He sighs softly, clearing his throat after all those words. He thinks Luka will likely reject that last bit, that bit about having to trust her, but he can only say what he's learned at this point.

"I don't know how much of that he's told you already. But I think he's going to try to hurt the child, and if he does, I worry they won't show us any mercy at the end."

"Are you going to hit me again? I'm only telling you what I've been told, which is what you wanted to hear, right?" Luka says, turning his nose up at Gyre.

He clears his throat.

"Anyway, I've heard some of that. Some from him -- some from the Wizard. The Protector isn't big on the juicy details, unfortunately. He told me both he and the Wizard hail from the same planet, and that theirs was the first to be destroyed. That they're scientists of sorts, working to find an answer to all of this. But when they moved to save our planet, they got bound to it. That must be the spell you're talking about."

"He thinks they're going to burn themselves out, eventually, and that's why he doesn't want to end the cycle." Luka searches his thoughts. "I can't just blindly trust the Wizard. What makes you so sure about her? Did she promise everything you could want?"

He rolls his eyes at that stuck up, broken nose. If he were a crueler person, he'd reach over and squeeze it between his fingers. But as it is, Luka is right. It is what he wanted to hear even if he wishes it had been couched better first. Fuckin Protector honestly.

He listens carefully after that, chewing his lip as he continues trying to put everything together. Eventually, he scoffs, "No," and he shifts in his seat, forcing himself to his feet so he can start poking at the fire. His voice moves with him, further away and behind Luka as he goes to grab a log by his tent, and then eventually returning to his side.

"There's not much she could promise me. If it makes you feel better, I'm not completely sure about her. But what she says, it doesn't make sense if she's lying. She told us the very first day that her plan doesn't work at all unless all the knights live. If her goal is to kill us all and end the world, why did she tell us to protect everyone and make it to the end?" He shakes his head slightly, sighing. "Anyway, I'm not telling you to blindly trust her. Just don't blindly trust him either. Maybe try to talk to the monsters or, or the child without trying to hurt them."

He plunks back down in his seat all at once, laying his arms over the tops of his knees with another deeply weary sigh. "It would be easier if the two of them talked to each other. Or were just less... vague with us."

"I've wished that since the very first day. The Protector is even more vague than the Wizard, if you can believe that." He says. "They don't get along at all. If anythings crystal clear its that they hate each other. Well, he hates her. And she wants to kill him. She said there was no possible ending to all this while the Protector lives."

Luka taps his fingers together, trying to recall all of the exchanges and vague statements he'd heard from the two of them.

"I have spoken to one of them before, by the way. One of the monsters." Luka adds indignantly. "I had a nice, long dinner with Ten."

He snorts and smacks one knee in absolute amusement when he says the Protector is even more vague! How! How could any person be more vague then her! It'd be hilarious if it wasn't the world on the line.

"She's said the same to me. She has to kill the Protector at the end. I wonder if it's just because she feels powerless against him. Maybe the child can change things," he murmurs, musing out loud at this point. He wants to find some third path out of this, one where as few people die as possible. He doesn't like the Protector, but if there's a way to get out of this cycle with him alive then that would be the better option.

He sucks his teeth softly, clicking his tongue before his eyes slowly widen. Ten?? "That's... the small one, right? Did they say anything interesting? They wouldn't talk to me when I met them."

"The Protector has told me that the fate of the world is tied to him. That if he dies, the world ends. But, given everything else, I don't know how literal that is. He could only mean that if he's not there for the vote, the world ends. Not that his life is literally tied to it." Luka muses, before shaking his head. "Nothing is ever simple with them."

He unfolds his arms, relaxing his posture.

"Yes, Ten. I've heard they look like a child, and they don't really speak. They use a text to speech translator. We spoke over dinner, which was lovely. Ten didn't say much but told me a bit about the other monsters -- that Four had gone to a place called Twelves garden, and that Seven will always fight us, that it's fast and like an animal. He said he might choose to opt out of fighting, apparently that's a thing some of them do." Luka begins gesturing with his hands as he recalls his dinner conversation. "Oh! And he said he never misses the first three monsters when they get defeated."

"Hm," he murmurs in response to all that Protector business. It's interesting, but that dude seems like exactly the type to overexaggerate his own importance. It is nice to see Luka relaxing a little though, and he smiles slightly.

"Oh, I went to Twelve's garden. The monster today, she brought me there. She said it was good Twelve was meditating because she likes to fight," he muses, pursing his lips in thought. "I'm going to fight her at the end. So she can have her fun without hurting anyone."

"Just you? I'd hope there would be more of us left than that." Luka says, only half serious. "What was it like there? The Protector, he lives in a big spiral tower, and he's always at the top. It's surrounded by waterfalls."

Gyre hadn't asked anything about that, but Luka figured he should offer some of his own knowledge in exchange.

He snorts again, making a sound that's like the beginning of a laugh? "There will be, but I know I can survive it. That's the most important thing, especially at the end of all this."

He might not have asked about it, but he's definitely interesting, his boots shifting on the ground as he leans forward, getting closer to Luka again.

"It was nice," he says after a beat. "Manicured. It was a garden, like you all do your gardens. It was surrounded by cliffs, someplace high up. I don't know if it was this mountain or somewhere else. There was a huge... huge rock, and Twelve was on top of it, meditating. She was big too. I didn't get to see it for very long. The monster today, she got scared that I was there and we ended up in front of the hospital." He trails off there. Luka knows the rest of that story, more or less.

"The Wizard brings us to a farm on an alien planet. It's beautiful. There's a lake with purple water."

Edited 2019-10-18 02:36 (UTC)

"Eh?" Luka himself leans forward, hands on his knees. "You? And the Wizard?!"

It should have been obvious, given everything Gyre's said, but Luka is surprised nonetheless.

"Oh, uh," Gyre pauses, surprised at Luka's surprise. He certainly hadn't been trying to hide it. Whoops.

"Yes. I was going to tell you sooner. That first time I asked about the Protector actually," he says, rubbing at his cheek awkwardly. "Couldn't find a good moment before now, I guess."

"Huh." It's all Luka can say at first. "Well, a lot more things make sense then, don't they?"

Luka leans back, straightening himself as he sits on the rock.

"I wish I had some shocking revelation to tell you, but it seems our knowledge mostly lines up. It's just... interpreted and phrased in different ways. The only matter at hand is who to believe has the right solution. And... I don't know." He pauses, fiddling with his fingers as his hands rest in his lap. "The Protector would kill me if he heard that."

Gyre is halfway to opening his mouth when he sees that hesitation in Luka's posture. He's never seen the man be anything but certain, and it makes him pause as well. He doesn't know what to do honestly. He only knows what he'd do for another wild elf, and so he slides forward off his own rock, making his approach as obvious as he can so Luka can pull away if he wants.

As long as he doesn't though, Gyre sits down in front of him and sets a hand over Luka's, trying to quell that nervous little twitch in his fingers.

"He... would, yes. One of the first things she said was that I shouldn't say how much I knew because he'd hunt me down," he says, only to emphasize the danger of this whole thing. "Be careful. If you ever need help, I can try to keep him off you."

Luka smiles weakly at Gyre's gesture. "He could be watching us right now. He can see almost anything he wants to, unless the Wizard blocks him from it."

Though his hands have calmed, Luka's heart races fast in his chest.

"The Protector is singularly minded. He doesn't care about anything else. It's a useful trait, but not one that lends itself well to empathy. I could come to him on my knees, but if he knew even that we spoke like this -- that I even considered your perspective, he would kill me. Do you see now, why I want to believe him?"

Well fuck. He feels... bad. It hadn't even occurred to him that that man might have such oppressive access to them. His skin prickles at the thought of him watching him, and he glances down at their hands, frowning deeply. The silence is a touch too long, filled with his brooding thoughts.

"Yes," he murmurs, squeezing his hand around Luka's as if that will reassure him at all in this moment. "I'm glad you came anyway. I'll talk to her, see if she can hide us next time."

He chews the inside of his cheek for a beat, trying to find a solution. He desperately doesn't want another of them to die. "Um, don't be alone with him if you can help it. He cares what people think about him," he says after a beat. At least, that's the impression he got after that speech in the hospital. And the Wizard has said he kills people sneakily.

“Heh,” Luka laughs, a bit defeated. “I’ll be seeing him tonight but... Olivia will be there, too. We’re both supposed to bring another Knight we trust. I don’t know who I’ll be bringing yet.”

Luka's gaze drifts to the crackling campfire, looking as though he wants to say something more. He wonders whether it would be wise to ask Gyre’s opinion on the matter of who to bring, but decides not to mention any further details.

“Do you still want to hear me sing?” He asks, bringing his attention back to Gyre.

He looks off to the side at that announcement. God dammit, Protector. Did it have to be today? He makes a low amused sound and mutters, "If you'd said that yesterday, I would've volunteered."

He can't imagine that'll go well after today though. He still uh wants to go with him anyway. It makes his skin crawl to hear Luka worry about dying at that man's hands when he's going to have to go meet him later. Every inch of him says he should go, to protect him in case it goes poorly, but he doesn't know if that's the best idea right now. He hates this!

"The knights I've spoken to seem to have good intentions, as far as I can tell," he says after a beat. He doesn't know if Luka even wants his advice, but he figures he might as well say it while he can. He takes a deep breath after that though, letting the shift in mood come. He smiles and takes his hand off of Luka's finally, crossing them in his lap.

"I would love to hear you sing."

“I couldn’t imagine what he’d say if we walked up with you.” Luka laughs to himself imagining the ridiculousness of the scenario. “He’d probably call the whole thing off.”

His hands wander to his side, feeling for the case he had set down earlier. He pulls an acoustic guitar from it, it’s body worn and well loved.

“My first one. I learned to play on this thing. When I first got it, it was practically too big to fit in my lap.” Luka says with pride. “I can’t bring myself to get rid of it.”

“Do you know how to play?” He asks as he turns a tuning key, strumming lightly between his adjustments.

Gyre smiles as Luka starts talking about the guitar, looking it over. He can see the wear on it, and he thoughtlessly reaches forward, tapping the body of it lightly, running a finger over a couple aged marks. He has thoughts about going to see the Protector tonight, but he leaves them for now. There'll be time for more business later.

"The fiddle, yes. I left it when I came here," he says softly, musing to himself almost. He doesn't even know if it'll be there when he gets back, but he hopes if someone's taken it, they get a little love out of it. "Fen can make a metal one, but it's not the same."

"Oh. I could find you a new one too, if it's gone." He says, frowning slightly. "It wouldn't be any trouble at all."

Luka keeps tuning and strumming alternatively until he's satisfied.

"I suppose there aren't many songs we know in common, though."

He makes his weird half-laugh noise, purring, "You're very sweet, princess. I was actually thinking about learning to make one."

He listens to the tuning with a curious ear, wondering what exactly he's listening for. He seems like he's looking for something in particular, and it has never occurred to him that people might do music differently in different places.

"Probably not. I'm not much of a singer anymore anyway," he says idly, shifting to put his side to Luka so he can stretch his legs out. "Besides, I'm here to listen to you."

"Well then." Luka says, smile spreading wide across his face. He clears his throat, and there's a brief moment of hesitation until he launches into full on playing.

Luka's hand slides the length of the neck, his fingers snapping effortlessly into place across the fret board, as though playing were simply second nature to him. When he sings, his voice is low and honeyed -- a stark contrast to the energetic, flamboyant Luka Eutychia one might typically find on stage.

It was rare moments like these when Luka perhaps wished that he could see, or at least had some way of reading Gyre's reaction. It was one thing to play to a crowd who screams in adoration, but a private, quiet performance for someone who's not even your fan left for the tiniest sliver of doubt.

When he finishes, he says nothing-- but there is a curious look on his face. Luka's eager to hear Gyre's thoughts, though he tries to hide it.

Well! A thing about wild elves is that all art is participatory! He's here to listen to Luka, and a surprised little chill runs up his spine when he hears the other's voice for the first time. He would have never guessed that that sound could come out of this flamboyant man, but he adores it almost from the first word.

He's quiet for the first minute or so of the song, but once he's found the rhythm of it he's bobbing his head, and patting out this improvised drumline on his legs. As the song ends, he picks up a few bars of it, humming them, keeping it going and iterating on the tune for a few moments. He sounds happy, even if he clearly struggles to hold a note for more then a second or two around the scars in his throat.

He stops before very long, grinning up at Luka as he says, "You have a beautiful voice."

"Yeah? There's nothing better than playing. I think I was born to do it." Luka beams back confidently. "I'm sure there's something you feel that way about as well?"

The Weather

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