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 Wizard gives a soft 'hm' in response to Luka's determination on the matter. Especially since the Protector was so firmly entrenched in the opposite idea.

"As far as I know, they've never done what they're doing this year. What if they're wrong?" She counters, curious. What if Sxicq was wrong about what they were saying?

"There's no science to back up what they're saying. There's no information at all." She continues, swirling her coffee for a moment before taking a sip. How can she still drink when her face is half robot? Guess she's mostly alright?

"We kept information from where we'd been. All the worlds before this one. And our own." She answers, looking the two over.

"We didn't plan the next one, we hadn't even started looking for it."

"Well, you're right. There's no precedent, is there?" Luka says, pausing to set his coffee aside before rising to meet the Wizard. "But am I wrong to be here right now? I mean, in forty years the Protector has always won, and the world's always gone on. Siding with him is statistically safer, isn't it? If we're just going to do whats safe and proven I'll have to go back to slaying monsters for him indiscriminately."

It was surprising to him to hear this question coming from the Wizard, as Luka grappled with the same dilemma regarding her.

"Sxicq isn't a scientist, yeah - but I'd think they know well enough about what's happening to this planet. Aren't they like, connected to it?" Luka shrugs. "I trust their judgment."

"You're not the first Princess to disagree with the Protector." She answers, matter-of-factly as she swirls her coffee again. If Luka paid attention to the media coverage over the years, he'd remember there were some princesses that just didn't get talked about anymore.

Why would that be?

"Do you want them to be right?" She asks, curious.

"I know that. You told me that." He says, bringing one hand to massage his temple. "I just meant, I mean - I was surprised that you'd be so hesitant to go along with Sxicq's plan just because it hasn't been done before. There's a lot of things that haven't been done before, but we try them anyways, because otherwise you just do the same thing forever. Right?"

He turns to Gyre, expecting affirmation.

"I want them to be right because I haven't heard of any other possibility for saving everyone short of throwing Sxicq back into their prison. And even that isn't a permanent solution, right? It would just prolong their suffering and the planet dies anyway."

"Mmhm," Gyre responds automatically when Luka looks to him. "We have to do something different."

He continues to nod along to what the Princess is saying, adding, "People will be able to adapt to someplace new. There is no reason not to leave if we have the option, and it's safer then here."

He pauses for a moment here, trying to nudge the Wizard towards the bench again. He can't force her, and he wouldn't even if he could, but he clearly wants her to freakin sit down!!

"What do you think we should do?" She's been watching the game for forty years, and she also knows more then they ever could. She must have some opinion, right?

"I don't want to lead everyone down a path they don't survive." She answers, looking the two of them over past the rim of her coffee mug.

"I think you should do what you think is right. But you can't bring the Protector with you when you leave." She adds, focusing on what's most important to her as she looks Gyre over as he keeps attempting to move her. She shakes her head at him.

"And you can't bring me."

"Why not?" Luka asks immediately. "We can't just... leave you here on a planet that's falling apart."

He folds his arms, sighing. It was a ridiculous idea. What were they going to do on some space ruins forever? Fight? That would have to get old eventually.

"It's not you and him that are the catalysts for the destruction, right?"

"I'm not going to leave you here. Him either if we can take him without him hurting people," he says automatically. He wants to know the answer to Luka's question, but he's also incredibly quick to say he's not going to let her just uhhh die??

Does she think she's being some kind of hero or something? Going down with the ship? There's no point to it at all.

Edited 2020-02-03 03:00 (UTC)

"No. But he'll be dead, and then I can rest." She answers, matter-of-factly.

"I'm tired." She says, this time with the weight of not only the past day, but this whole week so far, and the forty years of this whole situation behind it.

To say that it's a heavy weight was an understatement.

Oof. This is subject matter Luka was not well equipped to address.

"But..." He starts, then stops several times to rethink what to say. He couldn't even begin to put himself in the Wizard's shoes and imagine all of what she's been through.

"Does it have to be... like that? Can't you come with us to the new planet and rest there?"

Gyre is, perhaps, better equipped to handle this emotionally, but he doesn't have half the tact he should probably take with it. He's actually a little frustrated that she just completely ignored him, sighing roughly through his nose as he takes a step back and looks down at her. Looks her over.

She looks awful. But while he might not be able to relate to dying forty times (forty-one times?), he did die once. While he can't relate to not being able to sleep at all, he does have near constant insomnia. She's not the only one stuck in a miserable purgatory because of choices they made, and while her choices and her purgatory are both far worse then his that only makes him more insistent.

"Too many people have died already. All you'll do with this is remove the only two people we have who have gone, ah... wherever we're going and know what to expect," he says tersely. "If what you want is to apologize to people for these decades, then help. Rest wherever we end up, and then do the work, with all of us, to rebuild."

He pauses there, and then goes back to what he said before, repeating himself, "I'm not going to leave you behind." This time it's less automatic and there's this heavy, desperate sympathy in it. He cares about her, a lot. More then he might admit to himself. Even if most of what he said was couched in the simple practicality of how much more she knows then them, he also needs her to see the other side of this.

The Wizard's gaze meets Gyres as he looks her over, he was the one to confront the situation she'd brought up. Luka had played it safe and stayed silent, rather than confront the topic head-on like Gyre had.

Fortunately the Wizard isn't going to throw him out a window or anything, but she does give a thoughtful 'hm' in response as he speaks his mind.

And then. Well?

Slowly she shifts, from where she's standing and makes her way over to the bench. She shifts and lowers onto it, sitting back beside Luka. He'll be close enough to hear the hissing of the mechanical parts that are exposed from her left side. The soft hum of robotic engines is quiet but persistent. It's easy to ignore if there were other sounds, but constantly there. And now that she's settled in, she leans back on the bench even as the wood of it creaks under the weight. But it isn't the sound of wood struggling to hold the weight, instead it seems like it was made for this weight.

"You should go to the bridge and see for yourself." She offers to either of them, out in the open.

"Bring the others, if they want."

He straightens a little when she goes silent, worried she's going to get mad at him? He's never seen her actually mad, and the thought frightens him for just a moment. But then she goes and sits herself down, and he nods just slightly, looking about as unsure as he feels.

"Thank you," is all he manages after a moment, letting himself be pleased that she's finally sat her butt down. It's not the same as sleeping, but it's something. He can't imagine how much pain she must be in, if she's in pain at all anyway.

Then she's bringing up a bridge, and he follows the topic change with about as much grace as you might expect from someone who only learned there was another meaning for bridge about twenty minutes ago.

"Why would we go to a bridge? Where is it?" It must be near the water here, right? He looks around in confusion.

The Wizard reclines where she's seated, letting her hat slip forward over her face. Despite the slight obstruction, the glow of her robot eye is clear as day.

"The bridge is a part of the ship." She offers, wondering what further questions they'll have.

"The directions are there."

"Ohh!" Luka exclaims, his fist meeting his palm as he realizes it's that kind of bridge. "Like, the place where you drive the ship? How do we get there?"

It seems to Luka that something like that would have to be pretty far away, and thus, probably not easy to find. They'd likely need a guide of some kind, but then again, they did seem to be in a place full of magic so it might be simpler than that?

"Will we be able to read the directions when we find it, too? We might need to drag along someone to translate..."

"Exactly" she confirms Luka's realization, smirking so very slightly beneath her hat and letting a hint of amusement sneak into her voice.

"Nine knows it best, but she might not be willing to go with you alone." She pauses after she's said it, thinking for a moment.

"I think Twelve keeps the key. Eight can probably teleport you there if you say 'please'." She offers the three options, leaving it up to the two what they'd prefer to pursue.

"You should be able to understand it easily if you remember to breathe. You'll see what I mean when you get there."

"We wouldn't be alone! Gyre's coming too." Luka says as if its the most obvious thing in the world. "Or, wait... does she not trust him, either?"

He had kind of assumed Gyre was on good terms with all of the monsters. At least the ones that weren't Seven.

"It sounds like we'll be running all over this place either way." He half-says to Gyre, looking for his input. "We definitely need to go to Twelve for the key... but then Eight, too, because how else do we get there?"

Gyre is opening his mouth with the exact same question about Nine when Luka beats him to it. He glances at the man, and then nods towards the Wizard. He's curious now. If she is particularly skittish, he'll have to be careful whenever he finally meets her.

Then Luka is trying to plan a route, and he wanders a few steps closer to the bench the both are on, hovering over the two of them as he thinks. He's very close to them both because he feels uh entirely comfortable in this little group for now. He'd probably sit with them if there was any space for him.

"Let's start with Eight. We can meet them, and let them know we'll need them a few times more. Make sure they're willing to help. Then they can send us wherever Twelve ended up," he says, offering the plan out as almost a question. Does that sound good to everyone else?

"Nine doesn't trust many people." She confirms, her robot eye's glow beneath her hat drifting towards Gyre. "Not even Gyre."

But when Gyre declares that Eight will be their first step, the Wizard chimes in with the answer they need:

"His room is on the top floor of the house here." She adds, referencing the house off in the distance. It's barely visible past the hedge line, but it's there. Or they could text Eight again.

"He has a house?" The idea genuinely surprised him. Despite Luka getting to know the monsters more over time, the remnants of him previously thinking of them as nothing but constructs still lingered. He recalls Ten mentioning the house when they'd first arrived, but Luka had simply assumed it was where The Wizard lived.

He wonders exactly what kind of house a monster would keep, and as he does his curiosity about it only amplifies. "We need to visit that. I know exactly where to go."

A house? Gyre's face twists, and he glances at the Wizard as if she might take back what she said and release him from the responsibility of looking at these weird peoples' weird houses. He is genuinely begging her with his eyes even as Luka declares that they have to go, and he can't help sighing in near silent defeat. Guh.

"Okay, it's..." he begins, trailing off as Luka declares he already knows where it is? He sounds utterly mystified as he tries to figure out how the Princess could be surprised about a house, and yet still know where it was.

"You do? Uh, lead the way?"

If the Wizard acknowledges Gyre's pleading face, she makes absolutely no indication of it. Instead she just takes a nice, long sip from her mug before giving a soft 'mmmhmm'.

"Have fun on your way." She offers the two of them, not getting up from the bench.

"Don't get into too much trouble without us, alright?" Luka offers a playful wink to the Wizard before turning toward the path. "I don't want to miss out on any fun."

He wants the Wizard to lay low and stay safe, as much as he couches his concern in lighthearted banter. It seemed as though any time Luka turned his back, the Wizard or Protector were getting into something dire. It's just something bound to happen, at this point.

"It's this way." He says, perhaps unnecessarily, to Gyre. Luka doesn't pick up on any of his apprehension as he reaches one hand to rest on Gyre's upper arm. The other hand feels for the guiding wire along the path.

"Look, Ten showed me this." He says, referring to the guides. "Did you know about them?"

Edited 2020-02-05 03:25 (UTC)

When the Wizard sends them on their way, he reaches out and briefly grabs her shoulder, giving it a squeeze and nodding very slightly at her. "See you soon," he murmurs to her, giving her one last worried look over. He can only hope she stays here for a little longer before she inevitably gets up and begins working again.

The moment Luka's hand is on his arm though, he pulls away from her, thoughtlessly reaching up with one hand to cover his. He guides the princess down to the crook of his elbow where he's a little easier to hang on to, watching as the other finds the wire and grips it.

"I... saw them when we were walking," he says, tilting his head slightly now that he's had them more deliberately pointed out. His gaze follows one down the length of the path, over towards the house in the distance and his eyebrows rise as he realizes what they might be for.

"Have they been put up everywhere?" Did the monsters really prepare for Luka so thoroughly?

"I haven't been everywhere, but they're at least on the pathways here." He says, the wire running through his loose grip as they walk. "And there's a sign at the crossroad that's in braille. They're for Eight. Ten said he's blind, too."

Luka pauses, considering the fact after he'd shared it.

"Isn't that strange? When I met Six, he was confused about why I couldn't see. But Eight is blind." He tilts his head slightly, turning toward Gyre. "Maybe I'm the first blind human he's met."

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