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

"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."

Gyre's pass quickens with him, a fluttery excitement settling into his chest. He can tell Luka is excited too, and he's a little overwhelmed to realize how much he wants to play for him. He hasn't played for just one person in a long time. He couldn't play when he was with his family, and the couple times he'd attempted a private show after dying had mostly resulted in flat rejection. Music had become this lonely pleasure for him, and here was this lovely man asking for him specifically.

It's a lot. For just a moment, he considers stopping them again and just kissing this man. He's wanted to, on and off, since they met in the camp, but he hasn't quite found for the moment for it. There's so much going on. They haven't really had a break since then. He leans a little closer, his hand covering Luka's again.

"The fiddle, yes," he affirms softly, watching his face. "I would love to play for you, princess." He shifts very slightly, trying to nudge closer to the man. Trying to find the right way to make them stop.

And then the house looms up into view in the corner of his eye. His attention snaps to that instead, and suddenly he feels watched. He can't do this. Not when they have so much they still need to do. He feels entirely foolish, practically jumping at the chance to wonder about the world they're going to.

"The Wizard said there would be things to hunt there. That, ah, it won't be so different that we're completely lost. There will be beautiful oceans," he says, insisting on that last bit. If Luka wants a nice beach, he'll make sure they land someplace with a nice beach, god dammit.

The house is, now that they're walking up to it, pretty impressive. It's a massive log structure that looks like it was made by a careful and coordinated hand years ago. There's moss growing up some parts of the outside and big trees looming around the entire perimeter. The doors are two massive wooden panels with windows. If they try the handles, it's unlocked.

When they enter the house, the entry space is a massive lobby with a huge set of stairs leading upwards. There's a second set of stairs visible directly above, this main lobby is basically a big open stairwell space. All along the sides at each landing around the stairwells are doors leading into rooms. Here on the first floor there's an open living space immediately to the right that has couches and a table in the middle. It looks like there's 13 chairs present in the space, some bigger and some smaller.

Some look like they've never been used.

All the various closed doors have numbers carved into them. They're all locked. Here on the first floor there's one with "5" carved, one with "6"... and one with "4". At the back of the first floor, behind the staircase, is an open door leading into a kitchen space.

There are no decorations in this place, and the wire guide ends just before the door. There's no need to guide yourself around your own home, after all.

Their arrival at the house snaps Luka, reluctantly, from his thoughts of the new planet and of performing with Gyre there.

"This must be the place! How does it look?" Luka can't imagine what kind of home the twelve monsters would choose for themselves. He'll be surprised to find out that it's actually pretty mundane.

He follows the guide line right up to the door. Luka pauses and cautiously puts one hand forward, unsure yet of the architecture of the house. His hand meets the carved wood and slides down to find the doorknob.

"Hello? Eight?" He calls out as he enters. He was surprised to find it unlocked, though it made sense. The monsters and Wizard were the only apparent inhabitants of this area. "It's us! The Princess and the Pig Knight!"

He looks upwards as they approach the house, his steps getting more and more hesitant. He's slowing down a lot, to the point where he actually lets Luka go in through the door and uh doesn't follow after. He just hangs in the doorway, trying to deal with the weird vertigo he always gets when he sees the pure size of these peoples' houses.

"I-- don't call me that," he says automatically, rejecting "Pig Knight" the same he has with everyone else who's called him by that particular titles.

"I don't see him," he follows after a moment, leaning hesitantly inside the door without actually stepping inside. He sees the numbers on the doors and he glances up the stairwell, wondering if Eight is going to be at the top.

"Ah, I... it looks. Big. Do you want me to describe it to you?" he asks, hoping for literally any excuse to avoid actually going inside this building. He just needs an extra moment to steel himself. That's all. Yep, that's definitely all he needs.

He's surprised when Gyre breaks away from him and stops to turn in his direction, suspecting that something must be wrong.

"I don't know if Eight knows us by our names." He explains. Luka probably wouldn't want to be called 'Pig Knight' in his position either, but it was simply the most efficient way he had thought to describe themselves to the monsters.

"Please do." He looks positively lost, standing alone in that open, empty foyer. "If it's really big he must be somewhere in here... but I have no idea where to start."

Something is wrong but he won't vocalize it. He's taking his time here, trying to convince himself that this is just how things are done for these people. He hasn't been into a lot of these houses, but none of them have gotten mad when he went into them. It's okay. It's okay.

"Mm, maybe. He's the one that brought us all here though. He must know our names," he offers back, continuing to avoid going inside as he speaks. He shakes his head slightly after that though, leaning a little further in so he can look around once again.

"It's uh, a big open space. There's a staircase in front of you, about five paces. Uh, to the right, there's another... really big room. With a big table and a bunch of chairs." He offers this with a confused tone in his voice. He doesn't know what a living room is. He doesn't know that there are names for specific rooms in houses, really. Either way, he finally takes his first step inside, practically creeping along on the tips of his toes as he works his way into the room. He lightly touches Luka's elbow as he passes him, checking around the staircase to see what else there is to see.

"Over here, there's three doors with Four, Five and Six on them. Probably their, uh, rooms? And in the back, looks like a uh, a kitchen, yeah," he finishes describing the place as he loops around the stairs, finally coming to a stop on Luka's other side, close enough that the man could take his arm again if he wanted to. "There are more doors upstairs, looks like. Maybe Eight is up there?"

Luka waits patiently as Gyre describes the interior. His hesitation as he does strikes Luka as odd. It sounded like a straightforward house layout, from what he said?

"Are you nervous about something?" Luka inquires as Gyre slowly makes his way inside. He follows a few steps behind him as he heads toward the direction of the stairs. Maybe Gyre was worried about meeting Eight? He couldn't be that bad. Or perhaps he was just intimidated by being a guest in the monster's residence. Luka could understand both of those things, but they all seemed to like Gyre, so he would be worried over nothing.

When Gyre describes the doors to the monster's individual rooms, Luka feels his stomach twist as he reads out Four's. It's a fleeting feeling but it stays just long enough to remind Luka that he'd taken a member of their family away from them.

"Yeah, there must be one for Eight... and if you can't see it, it's probably upstairs." He suggests, his voice quiet as he chases away the remaining thoughts of Four. He absentmindedly links arms again with Gyre, and feels for the railing of the stairway with his free hand, ready to ascend.

Edited 2020-02-09 06:09 (UTC)

"I'm... No. Not nervous," he says, trying to find his way through this conversation. It's not one he has very often, but he knows that if he doesn't say the right thing, he's going to have to explain way too much about the way he lives his life. Much as he likes Luka, he still hates to be made to feel like an outsider, like the way he lives is somehow abnormal when it's definitely the better way to live.

"I don't like being inside," he finally offers, stepping in close to Luka when his arm is taken. At least there's a different subject he can jump on to. "You're close to the rail, another step and-- yeah. Then the first stair is another step forward."

He's not really sure if Luka needs the explanation but he also doesn't want the man to trip up or down the stairs, so he's taking it slow. Once he's sure he's on the steps though, he moves with him, climbing upwards. Hopefully Eight is going to be just up here?

The second landing is much like the first, but this one features four doors as well, instead of the three from downstairs. There's also a big window at one end that overlooks the garden in the near distance.

The first door here is Twelve's, immediately to the left of the stairwell landing, if they've been paying attention to the spacing they'll realize that it's going to be the biggest room on this floor. The three doors on the opposite side are Seven, Nine, and Ten. If they pass all those and go over to the window, there's the landing for the next stairwell that leads up to the final doors in the attic. One without a label, and the other with "Eight" carved in.

"Oh." Luka accepts the explanation, for now. He supposes it makes sense. Gyre had rejected the offered lodgings and Luka can't remember spending any significant time indoors around him. Luckily for Gyre, he's quickly distracted by ascending the stairs before he has any chance to probe further.

"See anywhere that looks like the right place?" He asks when they reach the landing. "It feels weird just exploring a house when no one's home. I hope we're not interrupting something."

He glances at Luka in surprise when he expresses discomfort being in someone's house. Vindication!! He's right! It is fucking weird to be in a person's home!! Why do they act like it's not.

"Yeah," he says, maybe agreeing a little too quickly with him. "This is where she sent us though. He must be here, right? Wait here." He slips his arm out from under the princess', taking a few steps away to take in the rest of the floor.

"This looks like Seven, Nine, Ten. And Twelve. Where's Eight-- oh," he says as he comes to the window and looks up the stairs. Much as he doesn't want to go deeper into this place, having an end goal makes him a little more determined at least. He returns to Luka's side, taking his arm again.

"His room is up on the next floor. I saw the door."

"Oh? Another floor? I wonder why he's separated from the others..." Eight sounded about as normal any other monster there. At least with no discernible reason he would need to be apart from the others. Surely it wasn't something so simple as his blindness? Even Seven had their own room on this floor, and they of all the monsters seemed pretty unique.

"And Eleven? They don't have a room either?" Once Gyre returns, Luka takes it as a cue to move ahead. "I wonder why... maybe we can ask Eight when we meet him."

Gyre guides them up the stairs, moving slowly at first so Luka can find his footing, and then letting him set the pace up as they go.

"There's another door up here, but it's not marked," he says, sounding deeply curious. "Maybe that's Eleven? Or the Wizard? Do you think she lives here with them?"

As they come up onto the landing, he brings them to Eight's door, and then just uh stands there. He has no idea how to announce that they're there? He doesn't really want to do it either. This is going to be some kind of private space inside an already private space, and he is twisting himself into knots trying to figure out what Eight will expect from them.

"We're here," he notes after a weird, long pause.

Luka shrugs. "I thought this must be her house entirely, at first. She seems like the type to carve out her own space... but you know her better than I do."

He takes it upon himself to knock loudly once they're in front of Eight's room. Luka's hesitant to try the handle just yet, as that feeling of maybe intruding upon someone was still present. But he readies his hand to open it, just in case.

"Eight?" He calls out again. "It's us."

"Come in." Comes a voice from inside the room.

When they inevitably open the door, they're treated to a scene that someone else has already seen before. But Haizea isn't here before, she arrived way earlier when the two of them had arrived outside in the garden areas. Wherever she was, it wasn't here.

There's a pile of large beanbags in a corner of the room. The walls are made up of wood, so is the floor, and there's a bed, a desk, and a small chair in addition to the beanbags she'd landed in.

Atop the desk is a collection of various books and a pile of phones and chargers. There's the soft sounds of flowing water playing from one of the phones now, adding a gentle ambience to the room. Off to the side is a single window with a wide, cushioned area for seating built up against it.

Seated on the cushions on the windowsill is a monster.

Over his yellow skin, he's wearing a pair of tattered, ripped blue jeans. Through the holes, one of the following is clear: 1) He's wearing another pair of black pants underneath. 2) The pants have been patched with black under the holes. Or 3) He's wearing black tights beneath the pants. His shirt, meanwhile, has no tattered holes in it but it does have the logo of a famous rock band on the front.

"Hey." He greets their arrival when they enter, not looking up. If Gyre looks his way, he'll see that all eight of his eyes are closed. He has something resembling hair on his head, but it seems to be a slightly darker yellow than the rest of him and also it's not hair. Like how plastic figures pretend to have hair. Luka, meanwhile, will have a good idea of what he looks like--

Wait.

How? Where did that mental image come from?

Huh?

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