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

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.

Gyre isn't the only one who's a balled up collection of frustrations in this moment. Five leads the way, stomping with every step, as she makes her way down the path and under a hedge archway to an area that Gyre will recognize again.

Every space is perfectly laid out with stones surrounded by sand, bordered by rocks or water, and featuring flawlessly trimmed bushes and shrubs. There are flowers in several places, bringing a pop of color to the space. The sound of rushing water is obvious at the edges of the space.

The big difference, however, is that the edges of this area is no longer a cliff. There are no longer low-hanging clouds. Now, past the edges, is just water. Water as far as the eye can see, stretching out into the horizon. This place couldn't be that big...?

Twelve is no longer seated at the edge of the space.

Five immediately stops stomping once she's passed the archway, instead switching to a much more careful walk. She makes her way towards a set of cushioned seats and lowers down onto one while waving Gyre over. Sit.

"Sit, quietly." She whispers out towards him.

This space helps his mood. He's still decidedly brooding when he passes through the archway, but he can't help looking up and around, taking in the details of this place again. It's not anything like the spaces wild elves set up, but there's still something peaceful in it. It's so obviously well cared for, tended to with perfect detail.

"Ah," he says, blinking over to Five and the pile of cushions. He tilts his head for a moment, wondering why they would sit instead of going to find Twelve? He's not sure what's going on here, but he walks over and settles down into the seating area, folding his legs underneath himself.

"Where is she?" he asks, at a normal volume. He doesn't know why they'd be whispering??

Gyre.

You're an idiot.

In the way that a storm cloud blocks out the sun and drapes the area in shadows, Gyre will find himself in sudden shadow as a massive figure takes up a position behind him. How did he get snuck up on? Why wasn't there a sound?

He doesn't get long to think about it before at least a dozen points press against his body. At the sides of his head, the sides of his arms, the sides of his entire body all the way down to where he's sitting. It's like massive claws have wrapped around him from behind and the tips are holding him right where he is. They don't squeeze, they don't press, they don't do anything more than hold him in place. He can't turn around, he can't get a glimpse at what is doing this.

But what he does see is two massive feet come into view, to his left and right, and they settle onto the ground with alarming silence. There's no rumble from these massive tree trunk feet as they settle. They expand slightly like they're not solid, the weight of whoever this is causing them to spread on the ground to withstand the weight.

And then the massive body shifts overhead, numerous fabrics of all kinds of designs dangle down from all over in impossible angles and shapes. What kind of body are they hanging off of? What kind of monster is this?

From the massive body above, a huge neck lowers down, a face coming into view that moves right up towards Gyre to examine him. She is massive. Her head looks like a dragon's head, huge spikes jutting out of the back(?) of it towards her neck. There's a definite maw of teeth(?) and she breathes out a wave of steam over Gyre that is unmistakably scented with thyme, turmeric, fresh bread, and matcha.

She has two lines of eyes running up both sides of her face. Six in a row, at different angles, with black sclera and 12-pointed star pupils surrounded by irises of varying warm colors. Reds, oranges, and yellows. Since Gyre's so close, he'll realize that they aren't permanent colors, they're slowly shifting.

To his side, he'll hear Five very quietly offer: "Good afternoon, Twelve, this is the boar knight."

He tenses when the shadows falls over him, immediately beginning to turn to see who's with him. This, of course, means he's thoroughly caught on those claws as they close around him, the shoulders of his shirt shredding. He makes a grunt of irritation at this, realizing just how many holes he's going to have to patch before he can wear these clothes again.

Not that he holds this thought in his head for very long as she bends over him and he sees her broad jaw and her alien eyes, and he freezes in place. He feels very much like a prey animal in this moment, his eyes widening as he takes her in.

"Nice to meet you," he says after a beat, his voice cautious and careful. He has no idea what to think about this, and he waiting for her to make her intentions a little clearer.

Twelve is silent for several long, long moments before releasing Gyre. All the claws that were gripping him release, and she stands upright once again behind him. By the time he turns to see her, she's already returned to a more manageable form. Her arms have folded away, her huge neck has hidden... somewhere? She's mostly bipedal, but with all the fabrics dangling off of her form it's almost impossible to see what she's standing on. She looks like she's wearing a massive dress made up of individual layers of fabric where there could be anything hidden beneath. The only thing that is visible is the tip of a tail that, if the size is any indication, is massive hidden beneath.

Especially since since nearly ten feet tall. She is huge. There are only two sets of arms still visible above the fabrics. The first set is folded at her front, fingers wrapped around her forearms with huge claws visible. The other set is down at her sides, two claws of her left hand idly 'tack'ing together rhythmically.

Once again, her massive maw opens slightly and steam pours from it like she's hiding dry ice in her mouth.

"Gyre. Friend?" She questions with a voice that feels like a whisper. It's like she's beside him, whispering in his ear, but she's so far up that there's no way. How is her voice doing that?

"Yeah he's alright." Five answers, shrugging as she finally relaxes.

The Weather

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