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

"I'll walk if I think we need to keep up appearances." He echoes defiantly. "And I decided that we don't."

Luka's attempt at asserting his authority is undermined by the noise of surprise he makes as Garrot pushes against his back, with Luka's tightening grip on Garrot a further reminder of just how much he actually was at the man's mercy in the moment.

"Oh, you wouldn't be the first." He continues, playing along. "Needy isn't a good look, but I understand I'm particularly hard to get enough of." This wasn't true. Plenty of people had had enough of Luka after only a few minutes, but Luka would say those people just had bad taste.

He wasn't prepared for the sudden tone shift, and Garrot's statement leaves Luka feeling defensive.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He asks, suspicious.

While Garrot was plenty tempted to disregard Luka's question and act like it never happened, that would be incredibly rude. So instead, his fingertips give a subtle stroke across Luka's back, if only to keep that from getting utterly buried.

"What, you think I've just been doing push-ups for six days?" Garrot's eyes roll so emphatically that the back of his head digs into the Princess's stomach for just a moment. "I get around, I'm usually pretty likable, and then people talk." Sure, sometimes he harasses them to talk, like with Gyre, but the point still stands. And his steps start to slow down until he's almost skulking around... with someone on his shoulders.

"If you're not sure about anyone, I probably know something." They can flirt until the sun sets, Garrot doesn't mind that at all. But if the Princess wants to trust him with power, wants to try and get his insights, he can at least offer to spill the beans from his almost relentless socializing.

“Actually,” He begins, a slight flush to his cheeks as he admits to his assumption. “I half expected you to tell me you knew more about them because you could see.”

It was embarrassing for him to admit he had gotten defensive over his own jump to conclusions, but he relaxes after the matter is settled.

“That’s a very interesting proposition.” He says, leaning forward slightly. Luka wastes no time cutting to the chase. “Anyone you suspect is Wizard sided?”

He of course knew by now that Gyre was one of the Wizard’s Knights. But he wanted to hear what information Garrot’s socializing had brought him regardless.

Garrot allows himself a sharp exhale, an almost-voiced oof, as his steps slow to a halt. They're not having this chat on the move. Not a bit of it.

"Luka, I..." He knows how privileged he is, deep down, and that's part of why he's so bombastic all the time. So it sucks to have to confront Luka's struggle like that. It tells him a lot about how he's been treated, fame be damned. "The only thing you're missing out on is what happens when I take my shirt off." One of his hands grabs Luka's and guides it gently across one of his pectorals. Maybe the flirting will keep him from feeling bummed? Either way, he doesn't stop to let Luka savor the moment.

"I'd bet that one of them might be dead already. Not sure who, but... it's possible." He gently sighs out of his nose. It didn't feel right to see death as a potentially good thing. "Seth and Gyre, the Rat and the Pig, can be... difficult. And Gyre broke your nose." There's a little chuckle at that one, because no shit.

"Haizea and Zafika, the Dragon and Snake, they just want to survive. Some of them, like Matilda and Terrence, the Dog and Rabbit, are excited to be heroes." He shrugs. "Their hearts seem like they're in the right place for now."

His eyes widen in surprise when Garrot brings his hand forward to feel his chest. Luka himself is pulled slightly forward and down, an awkward shift which has him momentarily worried he might topple forward off of Garrot's shoulders. The motion is so quick and brief that Luka has barely any time to let it sink in, and he barely stumbles over his next words as a result.

"I-Impressive. But I'm not really missing out." He says, mischievously. Luka's playing it cool, but his face is still flushed hot. "Because when you can't see, that's all the more reason you should get to touch instead. Any maybe I'm biased, but touch is so much better than sight."

But Garrot makes the jarring switch from talking pleasure to business again, and Luka follows suit accordingly.

"Gyre is... misguided, yeah." He's not sure how much he should lay out on the table just yet, so he plays it safe with a vague remark. "Zafika has never been interested in speaking much with me. That's kind of suspicious, I think."

Garrot does quite enjoy toying with Luka, and the Princess is very lucky they had business to discuss. Otherwise, he'd have to really take his time and get more aggressive with his teasing. But as there's more Knight Business bubbling up, Garrot sets all of his whimsy aside. For now.

"Zafika was locked up until now. They don't really want to talk to anyone." There's a hint of a scoff in his words as he rolls his eyes. "But they wanna do good. And if they're lying..." Garrot tilts his head one way, and then the other, prompting his neck to pop and crack. "I'll handle it." As much as he hopes he won't have to. But he doesn't let the remark linger in the air.

"Why do you seem equally suspicious of the prisoner and the guy who broke your nose?" Garrot sounds plenty suspicious at the observation. Maybe Zafika did something he didn't know about?

"Just a guess." Luka admits, shrugging. "If I were in prison I'd go stir crazy waiting to be normal again, not further isolate myself once I got my freedom back."

It's a presumptuous conclusion to come to, as Luka hasn't the faintest idea what being in prison is actually like.

He continues making his case. "And if I were a Wizard-allured knight, I'd probably avoid being friendly with the Princess, since they have the Protector in their head, right? No one else has been quite so resistant to my charms as Zafika."

Garrot, though he doesn't often act the part, takes extreme umbrage at societal ills and abuses. Zafika's plight in particular stabs to his emotional core, and the way Luka just pushes forward like that despite the doctor's assurance, it makes him furious. So much so that Garrot doesn't even realize he'd started growling as his shoulders tense.

"The Snake Knight won't get their freedom back." The words are almost snarled out, a sobering acknowledgement of the assassin's chances, despite all his encouragement otherwise. But he doesn't stop there.

"Imagine you're chained up in a tiny little cell so your body can barely move. They give you just enough food and water to survive, and nothing healthy." His words are cold, forceful, and he pauses for a moment to let all that sink in. "No exercise, no sunlight, nobody to talk to. For years. Unless the guards decide to beat you." Garrot exhales, trying to keep his tone as even as possible. "Zafika thinks they don't deserve kindness. Our Snake Knight is scared they'll lash out and hurt someone else... like you."

And finally, he takes a few moments to take some deep, calming breaths. In and out, in and out. He's snapped at Luka twice now. That's no good.

"Maybe." Luka's response is emotionless, more of an automatic response than one that held any particular weight. He felt Garrot tense beneath him, heard his low growls, and wanted nothing more than to get back on his own feet in that moment.

He's quiet for awhile as he thinks over Garrot's words. Zafika was not just a criminal but explicitly a murderer, and Luka wonders if kindness is really something that someone who chooses to make a living by ending lives deserves. He, perhaps wisely, holds his tongue on the matter.

"You know a lot more about them than I do." Luka says, finally. "Not for lack of trying. I just wonder why they'd be so comparatively open with you, is all."

Garrot takes his time to compose himself after that outburst. He feels terrible, really, that he's treating the Princess like this while he's trapped on his shoulders. It's very awkward. Frankly, he's glad nobody's stumbled upon them like this, having an argument, stacked like idiots. He takes another deep breath in, and after hearing Luka's frustration, he just sighs.

"Of course they're open with me." Deep breath in, deep breath out. "I'm their doctor." He says it like it's nothing, because well, it isn't a big deal to him. He's doctored many people over the years. "I was just as worried as you were about the infamous assassin Knight." He breathes a short sigh, but then his tone gets ice-cold.

"So I didn't give them a choice in the matter." But he chuckles cynically at how sinister he must sound, doubting it'll do much to break the tension. Blackmail, bribes, Garrot will do whatever it takes to keep the world alive another year.

Initially, Luka thinks it’s an amazing coincidence that both a doctor and one of his patients would end up as knights together! But then Garrot continues and Luka realizes that wasn’t his implication.

“Can you... do that?” He asks with a curious tilt of his head. “I guess in a situation like ours, normal rules don’t apply though, hm.”

He laughs imagining the scene and wonders how Zafika ever agreed to such an arrangement.

“No one else is outwardly suspicious. I doubt Seth would have it in him to be a Wizard knight at least.”

Garrot's glad he got some kind of laugh out of Luka. Under normal circumstances no, he probably couldn't get away with that. But they're responsible for saving the world. All of them. But then Seth comes back up, and Garrot can't stop his groan.

"That kid's a moody little ball of neuroses with a victim complex." There's a venom in his voice- someone's actually not on his good side. "He doesn't know how to talk to people, he doesn't listen to reason, and he doesn't respect boundaries. I mean, have you read his online feeds? He-" But he sighs, trying to relieve his obvious tension.

"If the Wizard can get him alone, we might have an outcast who falls in with a bad crowd." Kind of like how he turned to a life of violence and drugs for a while... but worse.

"He is a strange one. So timid, you'd never expect he'd be capable of vindictiveness." Luka's amused as he says it, no longer harboring much of any resentment over Seth's actions on the first day. "I heard he was something of a thing online, but I haven't seen his stuff. Sounds funny. Sounds like someone the Wizard could sink her claws into, too."

Luka goes through the names of the remaining Knights in his head, thinking over who else might be suspicious, if not just interesting to gossip about.

"Terrence is intelligent. In a few different ways. He'd be dangerous in the wrong hands, too, but he's never indicated any particular loyalties from what I've heard."

Garrot shrugs, unwilling to discuss Seth any further. He's said his piece. So of course, changing subjects is entirely welcome.

"He's clever and eager and well, fun to be around." There's a noticeable positivity in Garrot's tone now. "We were together for the first three monsters. I trust him." Then he lets the statement sit for a moment, until he just can't.

"He isn't combat-trained, so if he tries anything fishy he's done for." A slight shrug. "Plus his family's business needs a lively, not-dead planet."

"I don't feel like a dead planet is particularly beneficial to any of us." Luka adds. "We all live here. When you think about it, siding with the Wizard trying to destroy the world doesn't make much sense at all."

It's a slight nudge toward the suggestion that maybe the Wizard's intentions weren't as evil as they'd been led to believe.

"I've teamed up with Terrence a few times now. I don't outright suspect him of anything, but he's the sort to go poking for information... and someone could lead him astray that way, too. I think most of us are just trying to figure this whole thing out and survive."

"Figure this out?" Garrot is clearly unamused, because there's an edge in his voice again.

"There's nothing to figure out, Princess." He grumbles for a moment, shifting his stance to gently reposition Luka's body. "We deal with the Monsters, we beat the Wizard, we save the world." The words are stern, confident, but the edge is still there.

"Anyone who's misguided enough to think it's okay to destroy the planet and everyone on it is..." He trails off, sighing in contemplation for a moment. It's undeniable that the Wizard is manipulative, but even so... "Sometimes people do stupid shit under extreme pressure, you know?"

Being told to defend the world or die trying, no matter how prepared or excited you are, is pretty fucked up.

"I mean, the Protector is an extremely vague person and speaking to him leaves you with ten more questions than you'd started with. You'll know when you meet him." Luka explains, backing out of his previous implications based on Garrot's reaction. "Not to mention the enigma that is Sxicq."

See? There was a lot to figure out without necessarily questioning the importance of defeating the Wizard or questioning the methods of the past. At least Luka hopes Garrot takes it that way.

"This world isn't getting destroyed and the people on it aren't going to suffer. That is something I won't allow to happen, no matter what." Luka says firmly. "Anyone getting in the way of that, misguided or not, has to be subdued."

All Garrot can really do about Luka's opinions on the Protector and Sxicq is... grunt. He's doing the stern thing and sticking to it. That plan is immediately abandoned however, when Luka plainly states his intent. There's a slight chuckle when Garrot, though Luka can't tell, starts smiling.

"Sxicq's okay." The statement is offhand, as if the blue magic child didn't matter at all. But Garrot takes a moment to stabilize himself and Luka before gently sliding a hand onto one of his knees.

"And I'm glad we're on the same page, Luka..." His fingers drum gently across the Princess's leg, softly breaking the silence. "...even after your little meetup with Gyre last night."

That's right, he just got out of the hospital and he knows. He did say he knew a lot...

Luka freezes up when Garrot so casually drops the fact that he apparently knows about his visit to Gyre's camp. Luka had been so careful not to let anyone know where he was going, and here was a third party already alluding to it the very next day.

The list of possible culprits for sharing this information was fairly short: Gyre or the Protector, and Luka doubts that Garrot has had time to rendezvous with the Protector between now and then. Luka bristles with anger and embarrassment as he thinks about Gyre gossiping about their meeting, betraying his trust, and about how Garrot seemed to be lording that information over him in the moment.

"I... um." Luka hesitates, uncharacteristically unsure of himself. He considers denying it happened altogether. It's not hard to believe he wouldn't have wanted anything to do with the guy who punched him that very same day, after all.

"I don't know what you think we talked about, but you have the wrong idea." His words are curt and barely concealing his anger. "Put me down. I want to walk again."

Garrot can't help but chuckle as he feels the Princess lock up on his shoulders. Exerting power over people is great when done properly, but Luka's reaction shows he may have gone a little too far.

"As you wish, Princess..." His words are calm, and there's a slight shrug. Suddenly, the second Garrot sticks his arms under Luka's shoulders, bodily lifting him and taking a few steps forward, towards carrying-Garrot. This means that as the second Garrot's arms begin to bring Luka down, he's coming down in front of the Garrot he was riding. After a point, the carrying Garrot lowers Luka down so his feet touch gently against the earth, and the clone disappears. But then he'll step back, and give Luka some space.

"I was worried that your little playground scrap could cause problems." His tone is cool and calm, but he's definitely amused. Are outwitting and innuendo all it takes to get under the Princess's skin? "I'm glad it's resolved, and that I didn't have to take sides." There's another chuckle at that one, specifically to put a fear of discord in Luka's heart. A Princess must lead their Knights, after all.

"Good job." Those words, in stark departure from the playfulness and not-so-veiled threats, are genuine. They're stern and confident, but warm and... parental?! "I'm proud of you."

"For what? Making up with Gyre?" He asks, emotionless as he folds his arms and tries to keep pace with Garrot. For as irritated and angry as he was feeling, he wasn't quite at the point of dramatically exiting the scene. "We made those plans before everything went to shit. I was just keeping my promises."

"You make it sound like you'd have trouble picking a side." He says, quirking an eyebrow. It was an odd and unexpected implication to come from Garrot. Luka hadn't sensed he had any particular loyalties to Gyre. Well, besides the recent revelation that Gyre had felt comfortable enough to have revealed their private meeting to him almost immediately after it happened.

He decides to wait for Garrot's response and gauge his reaction before jumping to any conclusion.

"You kept your word, and you even gave him a second chance after he hurt you." There's a faint chuckle as he shakes his head.

"He's lucky." Garrot puts his hands gently on his hips, facing Luka with a towering intensity similar to their earlier tension, just... not directed at him.

"If you'd have declared him public enemy number one, my boot would've spent the morning grinding his face into the dirt and breaking his neck." It's gruesome, it's uncomfortable, but Garrot says it so casually. The world's at stake after all, and he woke up from a coma to this shit. But a moment later, once he's made his allegiance to Luka plenty clear, he sighs.

"Thank you." There's a clear, almost raw vulnerability in his voice. Garrot knows he probably couldn't have done what Luka did the day before. And he won't say it in as many words, but he respects the Princess for it.

He's halfheartedly nodding along while Garrot explains his reasoning, until he drops that very specific and violent imagery that makes Luka do a double-take.

"Y-Yeah." He says, shaking off the surprise. Garrot was nothing if not intense. "Lucky for all of us, really - I don't think Gyre's against us. He's not evil. His intentions are coming from a good place, even though he knocked me out cold."

The statement makes Luka reflect on what a mess they were all entrenched in. There were a lot of people with the best of intentions making a lot of dangerous, passionate moves.

"I said something awful to him. Before he hit me." Luka admits, shrugging off Garrot's words of thanks. "So, there's that."

Garrot easily picks up on Luka's surprise. He couldn't exactly leave his allegiance to chance, and the elf is lucky that Luka had fixed things. But aside from a grunt and occasional nod, he quietly listens to the Princess. Apparently Gyre's well-intentioned, and... Luka said something awful. Something worthy of making Gyre punch out the Princess.

"Do you want to talk about it, Princess?" That vulnerability hasn't left, and in fact the violent bluster of before seems like a distant memory. This is where the Monkey Knight's emotions are camping out for now. Sure, Luka's trying to shrug things off, but... Garrot's still on his side. "I've said my share of terrible things."

To Gyre, even.

“Mmmm.” He’s hesitant, not wanting to risk tarnishing Garrot’s image of him any further than it might have already have been tarnished by now. Sure, Garrot had admitted to having said similar awful things, but it wasn’t nearly comparable to Luka. He had a reputation to uphold!

“You must have seen the talk online about... the hospital. And Gyre’s head. The media had a field day with that one.” He beats around outright saying: so you know how Gyre is dead, right? It felt like something too personal for Luka to be sharing brazenly, despite it being covered by every trashy tabloid out there.

“I was trying to convince him to let me finish off that monster.” Again, his phrasing is distant and othering - she’s ‘that monster’ here, not Five - cushioning the unpleasant truth. “I told him they aren’t really capable of death. Not like us.”

Luka is hoping Garrot can extrapolate the meaning from all of his indirect phrasing.

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