Day 7: Evening

Aftern-Evening: 3pm - Midnight

[ IRL Timeframe: January 22 - January 29, 2020. ]

After all of Seven's fights, ending in Luka taking Ten's hand as the other heroes arrive. The knights will be treated to the sight of something entirely unexplainable: Seven is wounded, laying on the asphalt with a bright white crossbow bolt sticking out of their body. They're still pouring black goop off of their body, but they appear to be wrapped in some kind of cloth tarp. Five is kneeling over them, dressed in a skin-covering assassin outfit that only reveals her five eyes peering out. In her hand is a phone, and that's really all that can be seen before she and Seven disappear into a portal in the ground.

Luka, meanwhile, is standing with Ten's hand in his and his crossbow laid on the ground and not in his hand. No matter what the arriving heroes cry out in order to get his attention, it's too late to stop him. Abruptly, the portal opens and both the Princess and Ten disappear into the ground.

Naturally, the hashtag #princessnapped is forged.

That doesn't prove to be the only hashtag to get some heavy use this evening. The #wizardfound and #robotwizard hashtags find a sudden, new reason to actively discuss what's going on.

The remaining heroes: Garrot, Gyre, Haizea, Matilda, Olivia, (and... where's Terrence?) will find that the events from earlier in the day have caught up to them. There's a crack like thunder as both the Wizard and the Protector flicker into existence and both land in the superhero pose in the center of the intersection that Luka just disappeared from.

The Protector, if possible, is looking even worse than before. He's sporting a black eye and numerous cuts on his forehead, cheeks, and arms. It looks like he's been lit on fire at least once, but even so he's holding his rapier out in anticipation of the next strike.

The Wizard, meanwhile, is finally openly visible to everyone after her absence. She looks rough. It's as if the areas where she'd been harmed have been replaced or repaired with robotics. The left side of her face is no longer bandaged, instead revealing that she now has a robotic eye with a glowing yellow ring. The cables that were visible in the video before are very clearly plugged in just behind her ear, trailing down over her shoulder and down her back beneath the robes.

And of course she's still wearing pajamas. But they look like they've seen better days, charred and ripped and shredded at every edge. In her hand, though, is a massive axe. One side of its head is a giant half-circle axe head while the other side is a heavy weight like a hammer. The entire weapon is jet black, but it has a glossy shine.

What's the worst that could happen?

The Weather
Cloudy, breezy.
48°F / 9°C
Brrr.

Prompts:

3:00pm The Garden, Unknown Location: When Luka falls through the portal with Ten, he'll become immediately aware that the monster has slipped himself closer and snuck his feet beneath Luka's to stabilize him. Despite the falling, he seems surprisingly stable in the air.

And then there's the soft crunch of grass beneath his feet and he shifts slightly, waiting for Luka to step back on his own. Wherever they are, the air is filled with the scents of wildflowers and scents that are both beautiful and entrancing in their complexity. It's clear that there are dozens, if not hundreds of flowers and plants in the immediate vicinity. There's the gentle warmth of sunlight on Luka's skin, clearly advertising that they're outside (or in a very clever indoor garden). But most calming is the gentle sounds of moving water. If Luka focuses, he'll be able to pick out that there's a small waterfall, several waterways, and multiple water features with water tumbling down over rocks. And, of course, a pool or a pond with fish gently swimming about beneath the surface.

But he'll be interrupted twice before he can lose himself. The first is Ten.

"We're here." He says, but if Luka's not shaken enough he'll realize that he doesn't hear Seven and his Seven sense isn't going wild. But the second distraction happens as Luka's phone bloops from an unknown sender with a text:

"Welcome to the Garden, Princess." The text reads... with no explanation of who or how they sent him the text. That's totally normal!

3:00pm Street Intersection, Bamborough: With the arrival of the Wizard and the Protector, it's very clear that shit is about to go down. But that absolutely isn't what the Wizard has in mind for this situation. She's the one running this game, and she isn't about to get five heroes wrapped up in her duel with the Protector. Before anyone can take an opportunity to make any attacks, and especially not the Protector, she snaps the fingers of her free hand five times.

And reality fractures. The way that the cracks in midair begin to fold and reflect the area and people around them, it's like the world is folding up into a trick mirror house. It's... actually exactly that. Reality twists and folds, forming reflections and containers out of the air itself until every single hero is enclosed in one. The hero in the middle of their own box, reflected on two opposite walls. But on the opposite two walls, the Wizard is visible beyond in one of them and the Protector is visible beyond in the other room. Uh. This conversation might get awkward. Worse is that they can't get distracted by their Seven senses, because no one can feel them anymore.

3:15pm To Everyone: In the middle of the earlier events, every hero in Bamborough receives a text from an unknown sender. The only one who's spared this text is Luka, because he got a text earlier. The text reads: "I can give you one teleport to anywhere today. Tell me when and to where. Don't be unreasonable!"

8:00pm Onward, Everywhere: The day is done, the events are finished. How does your character get home? Do they go home alone? Do they seek the company of their fellow heroes? Do they stay alone, or do they get a room together? Either way, it's a rough night for everyone.

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: January 2020

[ IRL Timeframe: January 1st - January 31st, 2020 ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The response to Gyre's text comes immediately, in Amarosian to match his no less!

《No. Only you. Don't mess up her plan.》

After uh awhile, Gyre finally returns to this, surprised to see the Amarosian. If they can speak one of his preferred language, he's going to stick with it.

《I'd like to go to Twelve's garden, whenever you have a chance.》

Edited 2020-01-24 00:59 (UTC)

Where the heck has Gyre been?

《Yeah. Eight seconds. 》

Edited 2020-01-24 01:01 (UTC)

As the portal beneath Gyre opens up, gravity asserts itself over him and drops him like a sack of potatoes through it. On the other side, the portal is sideways and launches him out of it from the momentum of his fall.

Which of course means he's horizontal in midair in the garden. He'll immediately remember this place, but he'll have absolutely no idea where he is.

But he'll know he's in a vegetable garden. His arrival is at the edge of the veggies section, past the rows and rows of tall green plants with vegetables dangling off of every branch. Some are supported with little poles and ropes, others stand on their own. Some have vines climbing all the way up trellises, others cover the ground of the little wooden box they're in. There are some in long boxes, some in short ones, but the one consistent thing is that they're all in rows with walkways between them. At the edges of the space are bushes, perfectly manicured to form a barrier around the entire space.

Gyre will probably have noticed by now that he isn't falling, and the reason for that is that he's landed in a rope hammock. It holds him up no problem, swaying gently from catching him.

Nearby, a cowboy hat pops up from where its owner had been kneeling by some plants.

"Who's that?" Six asks, peering over, before brightening up.

"Oh hey."

Oh no!!! This is his initial thought as he's thrown through the portal sideways, preemptively flinching as he anticipates landing on all his nasty cuts. It takes him several seconds to realize that he's not falling. That, in fact, he's cradled in a pile of woven rope?

He's seen things like this before, once or twice, but it still makes his skin crawl when he realizes he's about one good knot and a little gravity away from being caught in a trap. His breathing quickens, and he tries to push himself up, his muscles tensing as the hammock wobbles and threatens to twist, the rope digging into a long cut on his leg.

"Augh--!" he hisses to himself, clearly struggling to figure out how to get out of this thing. He glances up briefly at Six, acknowledging them before he returns his attention to his greatest challenge yet. He has a long gash from his chin to his temple, the inside of the cut a few shades redder then his natural skin tone and not bleeding. He has similar wounds across his front, none of them bleeding, but all of them huge and nasty, his shirt in rough tatters around each injury.

"Hey, ki'ta," he answers after a few more moments of fighting, right as he dares to move his leg for the first time, sending the hammock swinging immediately.

Six watches Gyre struggle for several moments, trying to figure out why he looks so rough. He brushes himself off, setting a hand shovel down by the plant he was working for before starting to make his way over to Gyre.

"Uh. Do you need help?" He asks, ready to offer a hand.

"Yes," he says immediately, trying to lift a hand to take Six's which uh just unbalances him further. The hammock finally tips, and he swings all the way around, yelping and clinging to the rope as hard as he can.

He winces hard even as the swinging comes to a stop, glancing over his shoulder at the ground just underneath him. He doesn't want to drop.

He's pretty sure he's going to have to drop to get down, unless Six can pick him up somehow, ughghgh--

Fortunately for Gyre, he's going to be surprised.

Six tries to steady Gyre as he just fucking loses control of the hammock. But once it's stopped, Six kneels down and--

"Up!" Just fucking hooks his arms under Gyre and stands up with him in a Princess carry like it's absolutely nothing. How strong was Six? He gives a laugh before taking a few steps back and shifting one arm down to allow Gyre to slide down and onto his feet.

"Five likes that thing, guess you don't."

"Oh-- fuck--" he yelps as he's just uhhhh lifted up? Just like it's nothing. He can't help clinging Six's neck, certain that the monster is going to drop him immediately.

But he doesn't. He's still happy when his feet touch the ground again and he can hold himself up with his own power, but he looks amazed at Six for a beat. That was entirely unexpected. How strong was he? He hadn't seemed like a fighter at all yesterday, but here he was lifting a grown ass man like it was nothing.

"No, I... trap food in stuff like that," he says hesitantly, realizing as he says it that it might get him bombarded by questions. He tries to change the subject immediately to avoid that fate, asking quickly, "Is this Twelve's garden?"

Six makes a face when Gyre says he traps food in a hammock, but he lets it slide when he changes the subject so fast. Okay, elf man, keep your secrets.

"Yeah-- wait, but you've been here before?" He counters, confused.

"Five said you came here."

He can't get bogged down trying to explain things to you Six!! Sorry, buddy, he'll teach you how to catch food someday later. For now, he's looking around, trying to find something familiar.

"I was. Just for a moment. It didn't look like this. There was a big rock, and Twelve," he says, standing up on the tips of his toes as if to see further. All at once, he sets off down uh just a random path, beginning to explore the area on his own terms. He keeps talking to Six though, as if expecting him to follow.

"How big is this place?"

Six makes another face!

He immediately starts following Gyre, trying to see if he can at least guide him somewhere decent? If he roams around the vegetable gardens, he'll just see that they have a sizable amount of variety here. Enough food for twelve people at least, probably double that at most.

But if he starts heading for the path out of this area, he's likely to run right into Five at the far crossroads.

"It's-- uh-- big?" He tries to answer, before realizing the place Gyre had described going was--

"Wait-- that's. That was the private garden, you don't just go there!" He sounds surprised and a little worried.

"She didn't hurt you, did she?" Okay he sounds a lot worried.

He has definitely just picked a direction and walked. If Six is trying to direct him someplace in particular, he's easily swayed in the monster's direction. For the most part, he's just taking in details, occasionally bending down to look at some of the plants. He's never grown anything with his own hands, but he has to admit he's always been fascinated by farmers, once he learned they existed.

He turns curiously at the tone in Six's voice, pausing on the path near the crossroad. Near enough that Five might see them if she keeps coming this way.

"No, she was... meditating. And Five made us leave pretty quickly," he says, hesitating for a beat. "Why would Eight have sent us there if we weren't supposed to be there?"

Six at least tries to guide him roughly to the entry for the veggies area? He doesn't want to try to control where Gyre does and doesn't go, though, so he's always a few steps behind. But off in the distance, where the path crossroads for the house, lake, and portal paths is Five is coming into view coming from the Lake direction.

"He was doing a lot that day, I think Five rushed him." He offers, trying to remember what happened.

"It's good that Twelve didn't hurt you." Because Gyre probably would've died.

He lets himself be guided, glancing back a few times to see where Six is leaning. He doesn't know where he's going, and as curious as he is, he still has a lot to do today. He still has to look at Seth's body, and now he needs to check that the Wizard made it whenever she's finally able to escape.

It's a lot, and quickly as he's trying to move, there's still signs of exhaustion settling in around his eyes. His body hurts, and he's not even halfway done with the day. Ugh.

"I'm glad she didn't... I'm going to have to fight her later though. That's what... she said," he says, perking up a little as he sees the 'she' in question down the path. He speeds up now that he has a direction he actually wants to go, no longer idly wandering as he approaches Five.

"Hey. Are you alright?"

Six gets a little hop in his step as he follows Gyre, confused by the high-energy-low-energy of the man.

"Oh no. Is everyone here?" Is the first thing out of her mouth as she sees Gyre approaching.

"Yeah-- Hey are YOU alright? You look like you got in a fight with a saw and lost!"

He pauses in the crossroad, arching an eyebrow at that reaction.

"It's just me and the princess, isn't it?" he asks, making a note that uhh he'll have to talk to him too sometime. There's too much to do!

"I'm... fine. Mostly. Is Seven alright? Where are they?"

Five makes a face.

"Ugh okay, just two, that's fine. I just saw him. And them. Seven's inside, in Nine's machine, they're not dead at least. Hopefully the machine works." She answers, shrugging before glancing over at Six.

"Got any good veggies?" She asks him a moment before he holds up a little chili pepper. Her face brightens with a big smile, she loves those.

Gyre goes very still when she mentions that she saw Luka, expecting a report about how they got into a big fight, or at least a nasty remark about the princess. Instead, she just moves on and he lets out a breath, nodding as she answers his question. He wants to see Seven honestly. He wants to see what this machine is she mentioned, but the Wizard told him to talk to Twelve.

He watches the two of them in silence for a few beats, tilting his head curiously at how excited she looks by the pepper. There is this faint confusion in him. He had thought her diet was more similar to his, given her teeth, but he supposes Garrot had teeth like his too and still ate like the rest of them.

"Hm," he starts, trying to gather his scattered thoughts up again. "What is the machine? I'd like to talk to them, but not if they're busy..."

As Gyre asks his question, Six is offering the pepper out to Five and she just annihilates it. The whole thing goes into her mouth and she munches it to pieces in moments.

"Um" She starts to say, mouth full of pepper. She swallows before she continues.

"Nine's probably busy still, Seven's not out until they're better. I guess you could look for Nine? She's probably in the... driver place." She pauses, glancing at Six.

"Bridge?" Six offers.

"...No? Those go over water." She counters, confused, pulling out her phone to text Eight and ask what it's called.

This is a baffling exchange. His eyes bounce back and forth between them, trying to understand what they possibly could mean.

"Car," he says after a second, trying to supply some kind of answer. That's the only object he's ever associated with driving, and it's not even really a place. He frowns deeply, trying to focus back into his memory. But there's nothing for him there. If only he'd been in the navy forty years ago he might have an answer.

So he shakes his head slightly, murmuring, "She told me to talk to Twelve. Where's she?"

Five gives an immediate "not that" in response to Gyre's contribution. Sorry buddy, she's trying so hard to rem--

"He says it is 'bridge'." Five says, dejected, as she looks at her phone and Six looks smug. It takes them a few moments to abandon the topic and--

"Oh, uh, that could go bad. Or it could go fine. It'll probably be fine right--?" Five comments, uncertain, looking over to Six who gives her a nod that yeah it'll probably be fine.

"Yeah totally fine. Uh. There's a path through the garden, where Ten and the jerk Princess are, it goes under an arch and then-- You'll see her, just uh, don't be rude?" Five tries to explain. How did she make this make sense? Fuuuuuuuuck.

What is a bridge? Those go over water, right? Five had just said that. He stares at her with a decidedly incredulous expression, not quite believing her despite being pretty sure Eight wouldn't lie to her.

Luckily, he doesn't have to admit this ignorance. He can see what sort of bridge they're talking about once he goes to meet Nine and Seven. For now, Five reassures him, and he nods slightly. He still looks mystified, but this time it's over what rudeness means in this context. He'll be himself. Hopefully that satisfies whatever conditions she has.

"Okay. I'm going to go to her," he says, tapping his fist down into his open palm. He has a plan, and so he sets off towards Luka and Twelve.

Edited 2020-01-25 02:18 (UTC)

"I'm going to keep working in the garden?" Six offers, blinking.

"I'll make sure he doesn't drown." Five counters, shrugging as she walks after Gyre as he makes his way back to Luka.

After a tense conversation with the Princess, Gyre is more determined then ever to get to Twelve. The sooner he's met her, the sooner he can start planning around her. His mind keeps trailing back to what he said to Five. Twelve wants to fight, and he's going to fight her. He has to keep the knights safe. But he also can't bear for another one of these monsters to die, or nearly die at their hands. This sucks!

Which is to say, he's walking in a brooding silence, his eyes beginning to shine as if he's about to cry. The stress of the day, of the week, is settling onto him more and more with each step, but he just keeps walking. This is the next step, and he's waiting for whatever direction Five is eventually going to have to give him here. Lead the way, buddy, he's stuck in his own head for now.

The Weather

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