Day 6: Morning

Morning: 6:00am - 12:00noon

[ IRL Timeframe: October 31st - November ~~7th~~ 13th, 2019 ]

In the typically quiet town of Craydon, most residents know that the beach is only a short walk away from the train station at the base of the mountainous region they live in. They've constructed a long wooden path out to the edge of the sandy area, with a number of benches available for any residents. Typically there are a handful of locals either walking, relaxing, fishing, or ocean watching on this normally quiet and uneventful beach. But today, at sunrise, the Wizard and the Protector are on the beach. The Wizard has made short work of sending everyone away but a few have remained to post it to social media.

It's a stalemate, for the most part. For every blow one flings, the other parries it. For every shout, there's one in return. Most unsettling, however, is that they're arguing in a language that isn't native to this world.

Far Haven isn't having an uneventful morning but it is having a quiet morning. The Hospital is looking better after the events of Day 5, the front doors are now available for use and a construction team is hard at work undoing the damage that had been done the previous day. It's definitely not fixed yet, but it's clearly on the way.

That isn't the big event that's drawing people's attention, though. Six, today's monster, has borrowed a chair from inside the hospital's lobby and placed it in the courtyard right outside the front doors. He can be found sitting, one leg propped up over the other and showing off one of the cowboy boots he's wearing, with a clipboard leaned up on his leg. Two of his arms are sitting on the armrests, casually drumming like he's impatient. Two more arms are folded across his front, and the last two arms are holding and writing on the clipboard. His yellow skin is bright as the sunlight hits him, but he's clearly ready for the sun with a pair of aviator sunglasses covering his eyes. Are there multiple eyes under there? He's wearing a cowboy hat with a white bandana around his neck and thick hair(?) bound up in a ponytail dangling off the back of the chair. This monster's a cowboy!

Oh, and there's a huge double-headed axe propped up against his chair. Can't forget that, that's scary.

Bamborough is a strange blend of eventful and not. The Child's boat is back and social media has made no secret of where they headed: Breakfast. The Bamborough Diner, a staple location in the tourist town, has been serving them meal after meal all morning. They're on their sixth meal, stuffing pancake after pancake into their mouth. They've been using the diner's picture-filled menu to order item after item and they haven't repeated one yet. It's time to EAT!

But with all this happening, surely the heroes won't be up to anything else? There's definitely no reason why the Wizard has suddenly chose to go toe-to-toe with the Protector this morning, right? No way, no how.

There's definitely a reason.

Sixth Morning Event:: The Fight.

The Weather
A little foggy.
55°F / 13°C
Uh, grab a jacket, it's actually chilly.

Prompts:

06:00am The Beach, Craydon: Today, at sunrise, the Wizard and the Protector are on the beach. The Wizard has made short work of sending everyone away but a few have remained to post it to social media.

It's a stalemate, for the most part. For every blow one flings, the other parries it. For every shout, there's one in return. Most unsettling, however, is that they're arguing in a language that isn't native to this world.

The heroes can try to get close, but they'll eventually find a barrier in their way. Is your hero here? Are they talking to others? Is there anything they can do? Or do they know more about what's happening than they've told others?

07:00am Harsen Island Regional Hospital, Far Haven: Far Haven isn't having an uneventful morning but it is having a quiet morning. The Hospital is looking better after the events of Day 5, the front doors are now available for use and a construction team is hard at work undoing the damage that had been done the previous day. It's definitely not fixed yet, but it's clearly on the way.

That isn't the big event that's drawing people's attention, though. Six, today's monster, has borrowed a chair from inside the hospital's lobby and placed it in the courtyard right outside the front doors. He can be found sitting, one leg propped up over the other and showing off one of the cowboy boots he's wearing, with a clipboard leaned up on his leg. Two of his arms are sitting on the armrests, casually drumming like he's impatient. Two more arms are folded across his front, and the last two arms are holding and writing on the clipboard. His yellow skin is bright as the sunlight hits him, but he's clearly ready for the sun with a pair of aviator sunglasses covering his eyes. Are there multiple eyes under there? He's wearing a cowboy hat with a white bandana around his neck and thick hair(?) bound up in a ponytail dangling off the back of the chair. This monster's a cowboy!

Oh, and there's a huge double-headed axe propped up against his chair. Can't forget that, that's scary.

08:00am Bamborough Diner, Bamborough: Bamborough is a strange blend of eventful and not. The Child's boat is back and social media has made no secret of where they headed: Breakfast. The Bamborough Diner, a staple location in the tourist town, has been serving them meal after meal all morning. They're on their sixth meal, stuffing pancake after pancake into their mouth. They've been using the diner's picture-filled menu to order item after item and they haven't repeated one yet. It's time to EAT!

0?:00am General Post, Anywhere: Are your characters interacting elsewhere? Are they texting everyone? Put any threads here that don't fit elsewhere with the time and location in the subject.

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

Sxicq gives Garrot a look when he eats that bacon. Excuse you. There's only so much bacon in the world, and he just ate some of it. How will there be any left for them after that? Rude.

Xaljim, meanwhile, picks up a small bit of hashbrown to munch on.

"Magic. And no, dummy, we're asleep the rest of the time." He answers, rolling his eyes. He glances to Sxicq and makes an off-hand comment in whatever language Sxicq speaks followed by a 'ha'. Sxicq responds by scrunching their eyebrows a little and shaking their head before going back to eating.

"I told them you thought they had a cell phone. Of course they don't."

Have you ever aspirated syrup? Because Garrot just fucking chokes on the syrup for a second and follows it up with some water. What an absolute disaster. He knew Sxicq didn't have a cell phone, but knowing the context of that other-language interaction is just. Really embarrassing?

"So you two are..." He clears his throat. Damned syrup! "You're friends?" The bugbear's eyes dart between the two magical beings for a moment. "Sxicq, are you friends with all the Knights' companions?"

Honestly, if Sxicq can be so casually friends with Xaljim, they can be friends with anyone. That monkey is so difficult!

If Xaljim knew Garrot had just thought that, he would've pelted the man with more paper. But as it stands, Xaljim rolls his eyes as big as he possibly can and answers with the most sarcasm he can muster.

"Yes, just like you're friends with all the people on this planet. Just the tightest possible companions because you all exist together." He follows it with a tsk and then:

"Of course we aren't! Get your head together! I like them because they're no-nonsense like me!" He folds his arms, tapping his monkey fingers impatiently.

Garrot snorts air forcefully out his nose from Xaljim's sarcastic little remark and that pouty little stance. This monkey could really act like a moody child sometimes. So the Monkey Knight rolls his eyes just as theatrically at Xaljim.

"There's twelve of you and you've been talking. For all I know you have a magic Companions-and-Sxicq group chat!" Garrot chuckles at that, imagining Xaljim reacting to those internet memes that the Murta-kids send to the family group chat. He'd pay money to see that.

"If Sxicq isn't friendly with everyone..." He quirks an eyebrow and takes a moment to clear his throat of syrupy residue. Can't very well be coughing up sugar-mess mid-question. "Then who are your enemies?" His focus shifts right back to that hungry child, as if Xaljim was incapable of translating; this isn't a question he should be answering anyway.

Sxicq is staying out of the conversation, just enjoying their overly sweet breakfast foods. Xaljim's got this under lock and key.

"You wanna know?" Xaljim answers Garrot dryly, staring at the man.

"███ ██ ███ ████" he declares, his voice turning into a truly awful combination of glass crunching, birds squawking, and dirt piling into an open grave.

"I don't even need to guess that you couldn't hear that." He adds, rolling his eyes again.

Poor Garrot absolutely recoils at that, even letting out a startled little yelp. What the fuck kind of mouth noise is that, Xaljim?! What the fuck?!?!

"Fuck! Of course I couldn't, I-" The Monkey Knight pauses dead in his tracks. Something doesn't add up. Xaljim hasn't exactly been secretive, and he was perfectly willing to cheekily answer questions moments ago as they pertained to Sxicq. This wasn't cheeky, and Xaljim expected his words to be inaudible. This has happened before?

"Can- Are you- Is something stopping you from telling me?" And poor Garrot just stares at Xaljim, hoping the next thing out of his mouth isn't another horrible sound.

This has happened before.

And the next sound out of Xaljim's mouth is another horrible sound.

"████" he answers. But he's nodding as he answers, that much is clear as day.

Looks like the censoring isn't perfect, or Xaljim's smart enough to work around it.

The nod makes Garrot start snarling because this is censorship, and censorship is fucked up, even when it's someone as exhaustingly high-strung as Xaljim. The nod also tells him that Xaljim seems to know how it works, and that it can be worked around. It sets off a lightbulb moment and Garrot's entire face seems to light up.

"How about a little monkey business? A little monkey see, monkey do?" All of a sudden Garrot is grinning ear to ear, his sharp teeth looking more than a little predatory. "I'll ask the questions, and you just have to nod or whatever..." Garrot shrugs his shoulders, "else..." winks, "matches..." gives a thumbs up, "my..." makes an explosion motion with that hand, "guesses. Does that work?"

And then he stretches out a hand, the entire gigantic hand, to offer Xaljim a handshake for this little arrangement. Poor Garrot will feel real silly if he just did all those stupid motions for nothing, but alas, that's kind of his life.

Xaljim looks at Garrot like he's a child that's just discovered that you can have a conversation with two cups and a string. A little proud. A little amusement.

And when Garrot extends that hand, Xaljim makes the kind of face someone makes when someone with a buzzer in their palm asks for a handshake.

"I'm not shaking your hand." He counters, folding his arms.

"But sure. We'll play your game."

"Great!" Garrot's plenty excited, so much so that he has to actively start eating his Carnivore Family Feast. Big doof has been spending so much time talking...

"So... who's keeping you from talking about things?" He raises an eyebrow with the question. Xaljim can say something about Sxicq's enemies, so he might know who did this. It has to be someone with powerful magic, who's connected to this yearly Wizarding. "Is it Sxicq?" He gestures with his head towards them. "The Wizard?" He yawns. She's sleepy this year. "Or... the Protector?" He brings a fist in front of his chest, like he was holding a shield. There's really nobody else it could be.

"And... does it stop Sxicq from talking about things, too?"

As Garrot digs in again, Sxicq glances over while mid-bite of a gigantic sausage. They are annihilating their carnivore family feast. They're over 75% done with it!

Xaljim, meanwhile, shakes his head at the assumption that it's Sxicq or the Wizard, and then nods at the Protector. He's absolutely not repeating those silly movements that Garrot's making. He's just answering in real-time. He keeps his arms firmly folded, away from the monkey knight's shenanigans.

"They aren't stopped by anything." He answers the last question, motioning at Sxicq.

"You can't stop a planet."

Edited 2020-01-05 21:07 (UTC)

Honestly, Garrot's just thrilled that they're cheating the system, that they're collaborating, that the Wizard did thi- the Protector?! Fucking what. And then there's Xaljim's follow-up.

"A planet." He goes deadpan at that for a moment, and then just starts shoving food into his mouth like he's never had a meal before in his life. Garrot's clearly stalling so he can try to process all this nonsense. Sxicq can't be a planet, they're right there. And the Protector, you know, protects the world from the Wizard. So after about 90 seconds of voracious consumption, Garrot chugs some water this time and tries to press onwards.

"Why?" He squints a bit. "Why would he want to keep you from talking about stuff?" Garrot thinks back to why he'd keep people from talking about things, and surprise birthday parties came to mind immediately. Duh. "What does he get from keeping secrets?"

Good luck processing, Garrot. Prior knights had had similar issues with processing the information, too. At least the ones that had been able to hear it. Or the ones that wanted to. But those were a lot of dead knights in the past at this point.

Sxicq spends the time that Garrot spends eating by demolishing what's left of their meal. By the time he speaks again, they're stacking their empty plates in front of them. Xaljim nods when Garrot repeats "a planet" but rolls his eyes at Garrot's next question.

"You can't be this thick, can you? I know you know enough to draw your own conclusions." He says, before smirking.

"You don't need to hear me say ███████ ███ ████." He says, the horrible screeching sound coming out of his mouth. He knew he'd get screeched for that one, and he used it to make a point that he can't answer that.

Naturally, Garrot recoils at that hideous screech. Xaljim can't answer any of that, he can't do any of the legwork here. That's all for the Monkey Knight.

"When people keep secrets, they want to control what someone knows." Why would the Protector want that control? He's the Protector, so- "He wants to kill the Wizard every year. If there's stuff that you can't talk about, then that means that the only people on the island with information are him and the Wizard. But she's a liar and a cheater and a manipulator, so-" Garrot's eyes go wide, and he's glaring right at Xaljim all of a sudden.

"Does it stop the truth, or everything?" Garrot's staring right as his animal companion and he's not blinking. "Lie to me; who's keeping you from talking about all this with me?"

Xaljim listens as Garrot tries to be clever. This time, however, he brings his hands up to point at his ears. He's giving Garrot a chance to defend himself from what's about to happen.

And then he speaks.

"███ ██████████." He screeches the abhorrent sound, waiting to make sure he's seen Garrot flinch in response before continuing.

"It sucks."

Garrot takes Xaljim's cue and covers his ears, but it only does so much when his ears are big and kinda hard to plug. So he definitely flinches!

"Ow." He takes a deep breath, not letting himself be stopped otherwise. "So you can't lie." The wheels are turning pretty quickly, and Garrot's face is morphing into an angry scowl. "The only people who can give the Knights information are... the Wizard, who's a liar and wants to destroy everything. Trusting her is catastrophic, world-endangering treachery. And then there's the Protector, who saves the world. Defeats her. Every year." He strokes at his beard, utterly ignoring the food in front of him.

"You're telling me that the Protector wants to be the only person we could trust."

A little ball of paper pops into Xaljim's palm.

"Sure. Go with that." He answers, waiting a moment for Garrot to flinch at the censoring and acknowledge the paper ball. He lifts his hand, taking aim...

...

But Garrot didn't flinch.

"... Huh." Xaljim follows, lowering his hand with the ball. Well now they're both confused.

Garrot tenses as he sees the paper ball; not this shit again. But then a clear answer comes out, there's no censoring. So he blinks a few times.

"Has... nobody asked about this before?" Did they technicality the system, or is there just no censor there? Garrot strokes his beard again, mostly engrossed in this ridiculous puzzle. "I mean, it even stops you from lying, but... is that close enough, or would you say it differently?"

Xaljim looks like he's in the middle of thinking through this process.

"Hold on... What exactly are you asking...?" He folds his arms, eyebrows scrunched down in intense thought.

"Did you have multiple intentions...?" Did Garrot try to wordsmith his way through this and it worked? Was it just a fluke? Xaljim has no idea.

Unfortunately for both of them, Sxicq has finished eating. All at once, they stand up from the booth and move to leave. Talk about bad timing. Xaljim doesn't even move to stop them, he's too lost in his own thoughts.

Garrot's honestly pretty elated that Xaljim's caught off-guard. That didn't really seem possible, so if this were any other situation? Great. But now, with them talking about this?! Garrot zeroes in on Xaljim not knowing what his intent was, or what he was asking. His eyes light up with inspiration, and he's almost as engrossed in their work as his companion.

"I wasn't asking anything, I-" But his eyes dart to Sxicq, who's just up and leaving. He wouldn't really blame them, but he's not done with them yet. He can't really follow because he's so large, but... "W-wait!" There's a golden-bronze clone of Garrot standing in Sxicq's path, hands up in a non-confrontational, almost meek gesture.

"I just wanted to say that, uh." The Garrots look at each other nervously for a moment. There's a lot he doesn't know, especially about Sxicq being a planet, but... "It's a Knight's job to protect the entire planet, including you. Don't... don't be a stranger, okay?"

And then the clone is gone. Garrot himself can barely look at Sxicq, because that is one magical and kind of terrifying child and he may have just pissed them off.

Xaljim watches Garrot's interaction proceed and snags on the opportunity to announce his own departure.

"I need a bit to think about this." He declares, not really giving Garrot a choice as he vanishes from his spot. Congratulations on perplexing your companion to this extent!

Sxicq, meanwhile, stops when the clone-Garrot appears in front of them. But he's not even looking at them which is... wild. And then he says that thing and Sxicq tilts their head slightly just before the clone vanishes. They turn slightly towards real-Garrot in the booth as they speak, the air crackling slightly.

"Iv aq gifaq strangevi qu." They answer before resuming walking away.

...

Was one of those words in Common?

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Day 6: Morning

Morning: 6:00am - 12:00noon

The Weather

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