Day 6: "Monster Arrival"

Afternoon: 12:00noon - Evening

[ IRL Timeframe: November 13th - ~~November 20th~~ December 4th, 2019 ]

Following the events of the morning, with the Wizard and Protector locked in a heated duel, Gyre has paved forward with his plan to gather all the heroes to show them something. Be proud of him, he texted EVERYONE!

The fight between the two powerful entities continues, they won’t be joining anyone just yet. Sxicq, meanwhile, is… somewhere. No one really kept tabs on them, even social media has lost sight of them.

Monster Arrival: Far Haven: No one! Six is preparing to “arrive” in the evening.

The Weather
Clear with a few clouds.
52°F / 11°C
Bring your heater, the chill continues!

Prompts:

12:30pm Mounain, General Post:

I.
Gyre arrives early to the main hiking trail at the base of the mountain. There’s a big sign advertising where it starts, and he sits against one of the legs of the sign. His legs are neatly folded, his arms crossed over his chest. As people begin to arrive, he greets each of them, standing after a second or third has arrived.

Once they’re all gathered, he raises a hand to get everyone’s attention. “Is this everyone?” he asks, clearly counting heads. A flicker of angst crosses his face as he realizes how much smaller they look without Rory and Web and Gail. As he counts, he realizes Zafika and Joanna are missing as well. He wasn’t able to talk to either of them, so he supposes he’s not surprised, but there is a little bubbling concern in his chest. He’ll have to address it later.

He waves at the lot of them once he’s done counting, gesturing for them to follow, “We’re going to the top. I’m going to move quickly so we can get back down before dark. If you need help, ask me. Rely on each other,” is all he says before he turns and heads up the trail.

The ground is worn enough to make the climb relatively easy, but it’s still climbing a mountain. How is everyone taking it? It’s a long trip. There’s time to catch up now that they’re all together again.

II.
This is the top of the mountain. When the heroes arrive, they’ll find Five and Ten seated at a small foldable table playing cards. Five is wearing jeans and a black hoodie with a computer error screen printed on it. She looks at the group of heroes arriving, giving a small wave once she’s seen some familiar faces-- but she immediately moves to hide behind Ten when she sees Luka.

Ten, meanwhile, is wearing a shirt with a picture of himself wearing a shirt with a picture of himself wearing a shirt-- you get the idea. How did he pull that off? The shirt is printed with a picture of him here, on the top of the mountain, outside this cliff door. Did he plan for this? He gives a wave at the group, greeting them with a Microsoft Sam voiced phone message:

“All around me are familiar faces. Ha ha, hello.”

Did he just reference a song? He definitely did. That was definitely “Mad World” by Jary Gules.

12:30pm Onward: Mountain, The Mountain Cave Entrance:

When the heroes decide to descend into the cavern, what they’ll find is a strangely winding corridor that’s barely lit at all. The ceiling is rarely higher than six feet, sometimes shrinking down to four feet and even three feet near the bottom, and most of its length is only wide enough for two people to fit through. The floor is slick with water, the slope of it acting as the perfect place for water to drain into from above. This means the descent is cramped, dark, and slightly slippery.

Good luck, heroes.

The corridor suddenly opens up at the bottom into a wide-open cavern, the walls spreading out too far in every direction and disappearing into the darkness of the cavern. The walkway into the space narrows as it crosses over a massive pit that surrounds a central circular platform. There aren’t any other walkways leading to the middle.

The circular platform in the center has twenty-seven metal rings that make up the floor, smaller ones in the middle surrounded by one massive ring around the outside. It'd take a lot of counting to see the 27 rings but, believe me, they're there. What the heroes will be able to spot, though, is that a few of the rings on the floor are rotating very, very slowly. It would be easy to miss, but once noticed it’s clear that there are exactly ten rings moving and seventeen that are not.

Surrounding the center platform are twenty-seven raised platforms in a big circle around the center. Floating above four in a row are bright yellow blobs with one, two, and three eyes respectively. The fourth and fifth have the slain bodies of Four and Five. Four is wearing the game show garb they’d worn on the day of their games. Five is wearing a set of heavy black robes, not the assassin garb she’d worn on her day. The other side has five occupied platforms each with knights floating in them. Web, with Aqrisqi floating above them. Rory, with Sefaq floating above her. Gail, with Giqra floating above him. Joanna, with Fius floating above her. Zafika, with Muraj floating above them.

Wait. When were Joanna and Zafika defeated? Both of them have a single red mark above where their hearts are like they’d each been stabbed with a blade.

Five and Ten have followed everyone down to this room, looks like they’ll be able to answer questions… maybe? But everyone knows that neither the Wizard nor the Protector will be here, they’re still fighting up on the island’s beach.

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: November 2019

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Garrot absolutely starts guffawing when he's asked his age. It's still quite bizarre that Luka couldn't just... do the research and figure that out. He has people he could pay to do that!

"I'm forty..." He trails off for a moment, apparently unsure. "...sev...en...?" He stops, blinks a few times, and lets out a quizzical little grunt. Hold on, he's doing math. "Yeah. Old enough to start goin' gray at least." He does sound a little sad about that one.

"But I guess I have had quite the life. It helps that when I want to, I can just kind of... run away from it all." The Monkey Knight can't help but chuckle and sigh as he says that, absolutely earnest. Not only is he affluent and connected and pretty much his own boss, but Garrot's lifelong tendency of avoiding his problems means he's gone on quite a few intensive vacations in his time...

He had hired people to do research for him, kind of. It was more of a briefing on the Knights that didn't delve too deeply beyond the basics, and somehow ages didn't factor into it.

Forty-seven tracks, Luka thinks. Old enough to be an accomplished career-man and a father but young enough to carry the energetic spirit that Garrot embodied.

"Run away from it all, hm?" Luka says as he rises to his feet again. "Where do you go when you're running from your own life?"

As Luka rises to his feet, Garrot pulls down his pant leg and does the same. And then he asks the obvious but still intrusive question.

And Garrot yawns. Not out of boredom or exhaustion, but... to try and distract. There's a very fine line between sharing personal details and getting too personal, even with the Princess.

"Got a family cabin up in the northern reaches of Koskenkorva." He shrugs gently, because while it's surprising to some people, he's been going there since he was young. "And when I'm looking for somewhere warmer, I'm always welcome at a couple Tellan islands."

It sounds like he has some places in mind.

"Oh... that sounds... nice. Cold." Luka wasn't much for snow and ice, which he imagined the north of Koskenkorva must have in spades. "But a Tellan island retreat is much more my style."

Luka stretches his arms above his head and yawns too, a contagious reaction in response to Garrot.

"Maybe you'll be sick of islands for awhile when we're all done here. I'll bet you'll be packing for your cabin soon enough."

"Maybe. Those islands basically have family, though." He pauses for a beat, contemplating dropping a detail or two. But the elaboration, thinking about family and people who treat him just the same, it kinda hurts. "A lot happier than this hellhole, at least." Garrot catches himself before he complains anymore, however, and with a little chuckle he... blazes onward.

"I think you're right. I'll just pack my whole family the moment I get back." Garrot could absolutely go for collapsing into a snowdrift right now. Or throwing literally any of his loved ones into one. Whichever.

Luka avoids bringing up Sxicq's insistence on leaving and making their home planet uninhabitable, instead allowing Garrot to have this fantasy of returning to a familiar place after the dust settled. But the thought of leaving their home has rattled Luka since he first considered it, and its always at the back of his mind.

"That sounds fun." Luka smiles. "I think I'll have a big dinner with mine when I get home. Traditional Faridian cuisine. It's the best."

He too allows himself to dip his toes into fantasizing about returning home. It was a comforting thought, as much of a pipe dream it may be. Even if the world stayed intact, nothing would be the same as it was before.

"I'd bet they're all worried sick about me." He laughs.

While the notion of Luka's family being worried made the Princess laugh, it sort of made Garrot's stomach turn. His family was worried sick about him, and he was worried literally sick about his father all those years ago. So he blushes a bit, sighing gently before, well-

"Are you... not updating them?" The words are stern, but... fiercely concerned. "You should call them soon. Let them know you're okay." Garrot's been there, and it's not something he'll let the Princess of all people skip out on.

"I'm updating them! I promise, I promise." Luka insists. "Just... not as much as my mother would prefer. She's always been overprotective, but this whole situation is, you know, life threatening so... she's gone into overdrive, right?"

Luka says those words without nearly as much gravity as they demanded. He's aware of the danger of being a chosen Knight or the Princess, but doesn't seem to apply the risks to himself as much as one in his position should.

"If she had her way, she'd make me video call her three times a day."

Garrot sighs, long and deep and brimming with fatherly disappointment. What's worse, Luka will undeniably feel, in the core of his being, the equally disappointed glower that's crossed the bugbear's face. This is utterly unacceptable.

"That's once per meal. She can get used to the sound of you chewing." He's deadpan about the remark, enough that he might even sound serious. "Call her twice a day. Once in the morning, and after each monster." The fierce concern is still prevalent, but it's overridden by what is absolutely an order.

"And you're going to text her. Right now." And all of a sudden, he's back to being threatening. "Because if you die, the world is more interested in reacting than letting her grieve." Someone sounds like he's speaking from experience...

Luka completely detects the Stern Fatherly Disapproval that is absolutely radiating off of Garrot. He shrinks into himself uncharacteristically, because Luka knows that he's right.

"Hm, twice a day. I could manage that." He admits quietly. It isn't until Garrot mentions grieving that Luka realizes just how close to home they must have been hitting. But Garrot was absolutely correct - of course he would be, it was his lived experience - and Luka can only surrender to his demands.

He takes his phone and snaps a picture of himself before tapping away at a text to his mother:

'Love you, mama. We're doing okay. I'll see you in a week.'

He sends it off when he's finished and near immediately his phone is buzzing with dozens of texts. If Garrot can keep up with his screen reader he might catch what's being said, but Luka shares regardless.

"Ah, she's not too happy about the face."

There's a near-immediate chuckle from Garrot as Luka's mom floods his phone with messages. He doesn't even try to eavesdrop on the screen reader, he's got a pretty good idea already.

"You know, I could talk to her if you want. Parent-to-parent, doctor-to-parent. Get you some breathing room." There's another chuckle, because he fluently speaks frantic, worried parent. And of course, swooping to the Princess's rescue doesn't hurt.

"If you want a world-class doctor to vouch for you, that is." What an absolute smugbear.

Luka exhales a quiet laugh. The thought of a doctor talking about him to his mother makes him feel like a child again, and all the times he'd sat quietly while his mother fretted and some coldly voiced doctor did their best to reassure her.

"Are you sure you're ready for that conversation?" Luka laughs again. "You might be stuck talking her down for the rest of this trip up the mountain."

He's still texting with her as he walks, trying to quell the incoming flood of messages.

"I wouldn't want to do that to you."

Garrot, being a bit nosy, can't help but try to sneak a peek at Luka's phone. But then he realizes he's trying to snoop on a conversation with someone and their mother. Have fun dealing with that moment of unexplained looming, Luka.

"Sounds like someone needs to learn better boundaries." Pot, kettle. Fucking pot, fucking kettle. "It'd be mean, but if I tell her she could distract you and get you killed because you're not keeping an eye out for monsters..."

And of course, it wouldn't be too necessary, given that Garrot ran into Six this morning and was in zero danger. But it could give the Princess some breathing room.

"Mm, I don't know..." Luka purses his lips. "What if something actually did happen to me? I wouldn't want her to think it was her fault, you know?"

The idea of his mother losing her only son was enough, but her thinking it might be her fault too made Luka's heart sink.

"She'll get over the broken face eventually. Hopefully calling her after the monster battles will keep her at bay."

"She'll blame herself anyway." The words are sudden and invasive, nearly blurted out were it not for the poise with which he said them. "I know I did. So..." He trails off, having made things incredibly real once again. Oops. How can he fix this?

"So don't die." The words are matter-of-fact, almost an order. "I'll take care of everything else. I mean," he chuckles, clearly a bit of a different intent creeping in. "Scars are a lot sexier than coffins."

The man very obviously has opinions on scars. Is he trying to steer away from depressing stuff by getting lewd again? Maybe.

"I won't die." Saying it aloud somehow made it feel more real to him, as though him saying it would ensure its truth.

"But I don't know - would scars suit me?" Luka's tone is playful again, eager to talk about anything but his own potential demise.

It's hard for Luka to imagine himself with scars, and then to imagine someone finding those scars appealing. It felt more like a turn-off to him than anything, as his only scars were those that took his vision and he'd detest someone finding eroticism in that.

A simple nod and grunt is all Garrot offers. Of course Luka won't die. The Monkey Knight will protect him. That's the job.

"I think they could..." Garrot trails off, taking a moment to eye Luka up and thinking about the needs of his job. And then his hand starts to move.

"If they were here..." He runs a single clawed finger from Luka's shoulder down his collarbone. It continues, dodging the abdomen until it touches down on the opposite thigh, like one giant slice. "Or here... places that most people won't see." His words are dripping with a brazen sort of intimacy. But then he chuckles, removing his hand altogether.

"I've got some on my arms if you wanna touch 'em." And suddenly Garrot is rolling up one of his sleeves and, lo and behold, if Luka gets handsy there will be a few faded gashes along his toned forearm. Is he... is he comparing cuts and gashes to, like, something serious?

"Hmm." Luka sounds unsure, still considering the idea of himself with bodily scars. "Well, I don't think they'd ruin my look... but I'd rather not be sliced up in the first place. I'm not very good at handling pain."

And then Garrot offers to allow him to touch his scars, and Luka is all too eager to accept. He didn't like to admit just how much he enjoyed touching people. His desire to touch felt othering at times, and he never liked singling himself out in that manner.

But his hands reach to find Garrot's arm. He's utterly unconcerned in the moment with how he might be appearing to an outsider - after all, he'd already ridden the man's shoulders today.

"Show me where." He says, waiting for Garrot to guide his hands to the right position.

Admittedly, Garrot also isn't the sort to get overly concerned about how this all looks. They're climbing a mountain and are two of the most important people in the world right now. So he just chuckles at the order, his comparatively massive hand enveloping Luka's and moving his fingertips like he's operating a ouija board.

"This one..." He moves their hands to a small, curved scar near his elbow. "...I fell out of a tree when I was younger. Never been a fan of the outdoors." There's a cynical little laugh there, but he waits a moment for Luka to keep poking and prodding.

And then he keeps going, guiding their hands through the dense and thick hair to their next clearing, a straight line, about half an inch long.

"I tried to toss a scalpel in the air and catch it." A sigh, wistful and amused. "Fucked that one up." But he seems a bit caught up in the memory. Luka could easily spend some time getting handsy, maybe even take control of the tour himself..

At first, Luka is distracted when he notices just how big Garrot's hands are. Had they always been that big? It took a lot to make Luka feel small, but the simple act of Garrot's hand over his had suddenly accomplished it.

He listens and nods as Garrot explains the story behind the first scar. He had never been allowed to climb trees as a kid himself, and Luka wonders if he too might have had a scar like that if he had been.

As Garrot guides him to the next, Luka's cheeks flush when his hand moves through All That Hair. He's not listening to the explanation at first - his mind elsewhere - but when the story eventually sinks in, he can't help but laugh.

"Those feel pretty small, though..." Luka says coyly, letting his fingers drum against Garrot's skin. "Don't you have anything more impressive to show me?"

Garrot's been showing off his body for people to see and touch for decades. It's a side effect of his extroverted nature, his fitness, and the fact that he's half bugbear. This is all to say that, naturally, the Monkey Knight is analyzing every bit of Luka's reactions. So he sees the cheeks flush and can tell why, along with every tiny little change in facial expression and the gentle touch of those fingers. It doesn't prepare him for Luka's goading little stab to his pride.

"Hey." Garrot pulls his arm away suddenly, even huffing a little bit! He sounds a little hurt by Luka's words. "I told you I'm made of tougher stuff. Even if someone can hit me, I don't scar as easily." But he's bounced back easily enough with an incredibly intimidating flex, and the sound of his other sleeve rolling up might tell a different story. A moment or two later, his other arm is placed in Luka's grasp, his fingertips grazing a faded, jagged zig-zag that carves through the hair of his outer arm, about an inch from his wrist.

"Where do you think this came from?" All of a sudden, Garrot's just as much basking in the attention as he is lapsing into that brutal, vicious persona he's shown here and there. If he thinks it's a fitting tone for the injury, he might've been easing Luka in...

Luka giggles impishly at the response - he hadn't expected to wound Garrot's pride with that one, only intending for a little flirtatious banter.

"That's right." He says, still smiling. "I forgot you're not as soft and squishy as a human."

Luka feels the next scar with an intense focus. He's even making an exaggerated 'hmmmm' sound as he does, trying to conjure up the various scenarios Garrot could have landed himself in to end up with a scar like this. After a moment of theorycrafting, Luka presents his guess.

"A chainsaw." He says proudly, as if he'd landed on the only possible answer.

Garrot's face momentarily falters with Luka's mention of squishiness, it's not a fitting word for violence. But when Luka guesses, of all things, a chainsaw, he chokes out a condescending, barbaric sort of scoff.

"What?! No." He's judging you, Luka. So hard. Garrot is incredulous. "Chainsaws are heavy, I'd have a much bigger scar. And probably muscle damage." And then he literally flexes in Luka's grasp, showing that yeah, his muscles are fine.

"Someone bet on the wrong fighter. Not my fault he went down in two hits." He shrugs a bit, sliding from jokesy shock back into violent malice. He even gets that mean, predatory grin as his voice starts to drip with excitement.

"He tried that thing from the movies where he used a broken bottle as a weapon." Another scoff, and this time Garrot's entire body seems to move with the roll of his eyes. Filthy degenerate. "Fucker got me, but..." He chuckles, automatically deep and villainous. "He probably never used that hand again."

Garrot, please. It is entirely unclear if that is showboating or a professional medical opinion.

"Well!" Luka huffs, indignant that his perfect answer had been shot down so severely. "I'm obviously not a doctor or, uh, a lumberjack. How would I know any of that!"

He returns his focus to the scar as Garrot explains how he got it, paying extra attention to its shape and thinking about how forcefully one would need to stab Garrot's skin to make such a thing.

"It's close to your wrist." Luka points out as he feels it. "Isn't that dangerous? And... what did you do to that guy's hand?"

"Of course it's dangerous." Garrot laughs, both in response to the huffing and the incredibly obvious question. "I got lucky, because the bottle broke funny and most of the impact was on my bone. Should've been a smarter fighter back then, kept it from happening." The lament is offhand, his peace having been made a long time ago as his free hand guides Luka's fingertips to make contact with that outer bone. Bones are durable as heck! "That means the wound wasn't as deep where it counted. But I didn't know that at the time, so..."

His free hand balls into a fist and he starts gently punching down on one of Luka's hands. Bap. Bap. Bap. Garrot permits himself one (1) dark, cruel laugh at this man's expense. "Once I got him on the ground, I stomped on his hand. Over and over again." For a doctor, he sure doesn't sound remorseful or ashamed in the slightest...

The Weather

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