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

"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."

"Ah," he murmurs, nodding along. He's a little surprised to hear it, considering that Eight seems to be the one transporting them around, but he supposes that magic can do many things. He's lost in his own thoughts as well until Luka brings up Six.

Immediately, he turns to watch the other's face as well, trying to read him curiously.

"Maybe. Maybe he just doesn't remember," he muses, his fingers tapping thoughtfully against the back of Luka's hand where it's settled on his arm. For a moment, his mind settles on Fen and he wonders why it seems like so many of them have trouble with their memories. Six had been less confused than Fen, but only barely at some points.

"But I also believe he's one of the youngest of them. Maybe he hasn't realized Eight is also blind. If he's very young and has always known Eight, maybe it seems normal to him without him, ah, really understanding it."

"Haven't they all been around for forty years?" Luka had never considered that the monsters might have any concept of age. He'd just barely accepted that they had a house. "How could he forget about or not realize something like that? Even little kids figure out blindness pretty quick."

He returns his focus straight ahead. He understood very little about all of this - the monsters, the Wizard, and how they lived and felt about things. It was never something that was discussed or even mentioned. Probably because anyone who found out about it ended up dead.

"Six asked why I didn't get my eyes fixed." He laughs softly. "It makes me curious about Eight. Ten implied he wasn't very nice, though, so maybe he won't talk to me."

He makes a hesitant, unsure little noise. He's not sure how Six wouldn't get it either, but Six is also very strange and seemed very confused while they were talking. More important though is this age thing as Gyre realizes he hasn't actually fully explained what he knows about this to uh anyone.

"For us, they've been around that long. For them, ah, whenever they die, they wake up in the next year." He pauses for a moment here, his shoulders drooping, his fingers curling almost anxiously on top of Luka's hand. This makes him absolutely miserable. "Do you remember the children we met? In the past? That was them. They've been growing up in... this. In spurts. The ones who have been killed only have a few days to grow, but some of them get to live through a whole year before... before this happens to them again."

He pauses again, swallowing roughly. His voice is beginning to break up as all the stress of the day, the days, wraps its hands around his throat. He's a little surprised to realize his eyes are wet. Weird!

"The animals, they're killed every year. Fen says they're only a few hundred days old. They're children." He brings his free hand up to his face, rubbing over his cheeks. "That's what Five told me anyway," he murmurs, trailing off finally. This is a thing he's been circling back to over and over again since Five told him about it, so it's no surprise he's gotten stuck here again, barely even hearing the comment Luka makes about Eight.

Luka goes quiet, having picked up on Gyre's worsening mood.

His face falls and his apparent excitement all but disappears as Gyre explains the monsters' lifespans and their maddening cycle of death and return. Luka's mind can't help but wander to thoughts about Four: if perhaps he had encountered them when he was brought to the past (maybe), how old they were (a child too?), and if his strike with the Protector's sword had killed them permanently (probably had).

"I'm sorry." It's all he says, at first, his hand on Gyre's arm squeezing slightly. It was merely an attempt to soothe the knight's clearly troubled state, but Luka continues, following from his previous train of thought. "I'm sorry for killing Four."

It was something he'd wanted to say for awhile. To Gyre, to Five - to all the monsters, really, especially now that they'd allowed him here in the garden. But the fact that you killed someone's friend (or family?) isn't a topic you really want to broach when they graciously allow you into their safe haven.

"I didn't know any of that." He says again, after a moment of reflection. "They don't deserve it."

Edited 2020-02-06 00:34 (UTC)

The squeeze on his arm brings him back into the moment, and he looks in the princess' direction. The apology catches him off-guard completely, and he makes this miserable, wet noise, reaching up to rub his eyes again.

"It's..." he starts, trailing off almost immediately. It's not his place to absolve him. He's not even sure why Luka is apologizing to him honestly, and as he considers this, an awful, guilty pit opens up in his chest. He is silent for another moment, but he just doesn't know what to do about it except to confess his own thoughts.

"I killed Three. And Two. And very nearly One," he murmurs, his voice so soft it's like he's retreating in on himself. He remembers the way Five reacted when he asked about them - like she'd been hit - and he knows in his nonexistent heart that that means they were just as much children as the rest of them. There are tears on his cheeks suddenly, and he takes a deep, shuddering breath.

"I can only do my best now. For them," he pauses and licks his lips, finding confidence in his voice again as he tries to steady himself. He sets his hand over Luka's again, squeezing it back. "We can help each other be better?"

"At least it was in a battle." He says, as if that somehow softens the blow. He doesn't know if Gyre is aware of how cowardly and deceitful he had been when he killed Four, but those were the shameful details Luka was in no hurry to disclose. "None of us knew what we were doing, then."

He suspects, now, upon hearing Gyre's shaky breaths that he may be crying. Being unable to detect certain types of body language without vision was one of those frustrating things Luka had to navigate around, and it made particularly sensitive social situations like this even more difficult.

"You're right." He says, letting the guiding wire fall from his other hand. "We can't take back what happened, but we can make this the last year any of them have to go through it. That's the best thing we can do for them, isn't it?"

"A death is a death," he answers that first bit immediately, his voice warbling once again. He brings himself to a pause when Luka releases the wire, stopping in place so the other doesn't lose where his is compared to the guide.

He sniffs, wipes his face again. It takes him another breath, but then he's nodding emphatically, trying to tug the last dregs of exhausted hope back up into his thoughts. They can do this. He's... he's pretty sure they can do this.

"That's what I think. That's what I want to do for them," he says, reaching up to cup a hand around Luka's cheek. He runs a thumb along his skin before pulling away again. He is amazed to hear the princess talking like this, and he uh loves it a little. "We can help them settle in... in the new world, too. They'll have a lot to adjust to, after all this."

Luka gives a noise of affirmation in response. He's surprised at Gyre's tender touch - as though he were the one who needed to be comforted - but Luka leans into it, briefly, nonetheless.

"We'll have our work cut out for us." He nods. "A new world is going to be a lot for everyone to accept, but them especially. But they'll be free to do whatever they want there. And the Wizard..."

He trails off, recalling the Wizard's plans for her own fate. It was an incredibly loaded topic, one that felt far out of Luka's depth, but he wants to be optimistic about it at least for Gyre's sake.

"She'll be there too." Luka says, bringing his now freed hand to Gyre's shoulder in a reassuring pat. "Like you said, there's no need for anyone else to die in the name of all of this."

He notes that little hint of pressure against his palm, his eyebrows jumping upwards in surprise. He didn't expect him to appreciate it, and he regrets taking it away so quickly.

"Mmm," he hums in soft acknowledgement. For just a moment, he opens his mouth to start confessing his uh intense anxiety about going to another world, about trying to find a place for himself there. Instead Luka mentions the Wizard, and his whole body goes cold. He glances back in her direction as if she might disappear if he takes his eyes off her for too long, and then he brings a hand up, settling it on Luka's wrist. He's holding him in place, asking for him to stay there for a little longer, though of course he'll release him if he pulls back.

"I... hope so," he says hesitantly. "I want her to come. I want... I want people to know she's not the monster they all think she is." He sighs softly, running his fingers absentmindedly along Luka's arm. "She's unreadable though. I don't know if she really heard me, or if she was just trying to placate me earlier."

Should Gyre have aired his concerns about the new world then, he’d have found that Luka was feeling much the same. It was an understandable anxiety to have - uprooting everything anyone’s ever known and relocating to an entirely new, unknown environment was nothing if not incredibly daunting. Luka would be surprised, though, to know that Gyre felt that way. He’d always thought of the man as very adaptable, based on what he knew of his lifestyle.

“They’re both difficult like that.” Luka confirms, thinking of the Protector’s vague and esoteric nature. “If the Wizard ends up there with us or not though, we’ll at least make sure everyone knows the truth about her. We’ll tell them and they’ll listen.”

He had no concern about making the truth widely known. Luka did have easy access to a massive audience who would be receptive to what he had to say, and who deserved the truth whether or not they were ready to believe it.

He knows he can adapt. He also knows that communities are hard to establish and easy to disrupt. He knows that there are thousands and thousands of people out there and they'll have to convince all of them to come someplace new, with nothing. Every time he imagines what will happen to himself and his fellow wild elves when they can no longer use an ancestral claim to keep these people out of their territory, he is filled with a deep and existential fear. He's been getting by with hoping as hard as he can and taking it a single day at a time.

Not that, of course, he's going to just say any of that. Instead, he hangs on Luka's words, taking a deep breath. He feels better. Not great, but not about to sob his guts out at least. Much as he wants to work with all of them, he would be actively devastated if Luka turned his back on this project, so the reassurance works.

"We will," he affirms. "And she will be with us. I won't leave without her." If he keeps repeating it, that'll make it happen, right? He makes this strange noise, a version of his laugh that's even more strangled and unsure than usual. Turns out their minds went to the same place.

"Maybe all your fans can help spread the word."

"Absolutely, they will." He says with a confident smile. "I'll write a song for her if I have to. I wonder if she'd like that?"

He laughs at the thought as he turns to continue walking, his arm on Gyre's shoulder sliding away before he brings it back to the wire.

"When I found out I'd be the Princess I immediately wanted to write music about it. Maybe I'll still do that on the new planet after all of this."

He's still smiling as he daydreams momentarily about getting back to his life after all of this is over, even on the new planet. He was still afraid of its potential to go horribly wrong, but he allowed himself to hope that whatever they established in their new world would be better, instead.

"What are you planning to do? Once we're there, and the Wizard and everyone's okay?"

He lets his arm drift away from Luka's, watching him as he takes the wire and starts moving again. He supposes they can't just stand in the path forever, especially when they have things to explore still.

"Have you written anything yet?" he asks curiously, trying to imagine when the princess might have had a chance to do anything more then noodle around. He watches Luka's face as he daydreams, almost helplessly smiling to himself. He's going to have to bring the man back to his camp again soon. There is something wonderful about how happy music so obviously makes him.

And then they're talking about plans, and he goes very quiet, thinking back to what he told Garrot just yesterday. He hasn't really changed his mind. He still really doesn't know what he's going to do.

"I'll do what I've always done. I'll, ah, help people," he says, answering as vaguely as he feels about what his life might be by next week.

"Ah, not really." He shakes his head. He can't help but feel a slight shame in that, despite how understandable it is given, well, everything. "The reality of being a part of all this is entirely different than what I'd expected back then. I have to rethink my whole approach already."

It's true - the album Luka had conceptualized when he'd initially come up with the idea would have been a wild misrepresentation of his lived experience.

"But hey," he continues, turning to Gyre. "You can be the first to hear what I come up with, if you want."

He smiles again when Gyre explains his future plans.

"That's good. A lot of people will need help. But what about something for yourself? You must have something like that you're aching to do again."

He nods in understanding to that first bit. He knows that his own expectations have been broken since the first time he woke up in the Wizard's dream space. He can't imagine what it would be like to spend days with the Protector lying in your ear, only to uncover the conspiracy underneath it all. He's about to say just this when Luka turns to him and makes that offer.

He feels himself fluster under the attention. His voice dies in his throat, and he loses the rhythm of walking with him for just a moment, not enough to stumble, but enough to end up a step behind. Suddenly, all he can think about is watching him play again.

"Uh, I-- yes," he clumsily finds his words again. "I would like that. Very much. I'll listen to anything you'd like to sing." Is this too much to offer back? He's not sure, but it's not a lie either so he doesn't back down from it. He takes a couple quick steps to get back beside him again, watching that lovely smile.

He really can't help smiling back, even if he's not exactly feeling it. He should've expected Luka to ask for more details by now, but he's still caught a little off guard by it. There's a long pause here where he sucks his teeth, trying to come up with something that's not the pure utility of building houses, or repeating how much he'd like to hear him sing again. Neither really answers the question after all.

"It will be, interesting? To explore someplace entirely new," he offers eventually. "I know the trees where I live so well. I haven't gotten lost in them in years." He says this like it's a bad thing. There is a clear, almost childish wonder in his voice at the idea actually. It would be amazing to be so inexperienced again, to not just know how the world around him works. He could be a kid again, having adventures. Or something like it anyway.

Luka beams when Gyre readily accepts the offer. It was strange, feeling so pleased at the idea of just one particular person agreeing to hear his work while knowing there were thousands of others who would eagerly jump at the chance. But Gyre was very different - far removed from Luka Eutychia's typical audience - and winning his approval meant a lot.

"Yeah, I'll sing for you. But I want to hear you play, too. The fiddle, right?" Learning that any of the knights had even the slightest musical skill was not something Luka would easily forget. "We should do that when everything's settled. Ah, I'm already looking forward to it."

The thought is so exciting to Luka that he unintentionally quickens his pace as they walk. He slows again when Gyre mentions exploring the new world, taking a moment to consider the possibilities of it all.

"What if the world we end up on is nothing like this? It's difficult to imagine, but it's possible we'll be somewhere entirely different. I hope there's at least a nice ocean where we go. I'll... miss the Faridian beaches."

The Weather

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