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

Garrot is a blur around the tears as he stumbles away from them. His guts twist as the man falls over and starts... declaring that they're not safe? He doesn't understand, and it pulls his head out from under the waves of emotion that keep hitting him. He blinks tears out of his eyes, squinting around them as Garrot falls into the portal and disappears from this room. It's too abrupt. Something horrible is happening, but he doesn't know what it is. He wants to ask but then he's gone.

He tries to straighten in that moment, trying to reason himself out of sobbing. This does him no good at all, his whole body slumping back against the princess as soon as he feels that fist against his back. He turns in the man's grip, burying his face into his shoulder and bringing his arms up around him. He clings for uh awhile, taking deep, shuddering breaths until he feels like he can talk again. He doesn't actually release him yet, but he's clearly finding equilibrium again.

"No, no, I-I--" sniff, "There's s-something with the monsters. I want to look at that," he murmurs, but he doesn't uh move at all, sunk against him and apparently comfortable for now. He continues to sniff, occasionally sneaking a hand up to wipe at his eyes, but otherwise he's going to stay here for a bit.

"Okay." His reply is simple and comes easily. "When you're ready. Tell me what you see, too. I want to help."

Focusing on accomplishing what they came there do so that they could leave it behind, if only briefly, seemed like the best course of action. Luka relaxes his grip but makes no effort to move, instead bringing his other arm around Gyre and pulling him closer.

He thinks back to the times he'd told the Protector that Gyre's empathy was a weakness. Maybe in some ways, it was. Ruthlessness and efficiency do play nicely together. But without Gyre's empathy they may very well have been playing the Protector's game still, perpetuating that doomed cycle of misery.

"There will never be another body here again." He says. Another promise spoken into the universe with as much confidence as he could muster put behind it. He just hopes he'll never have to eat those words.

He makes a low whimper of a sound when Luka pulls him closer, mirroring the movement by pressing his hands into his back. He breathes deeply, steadying himself more and more with each breath.

That last statement is the thing that finally gets him to pick up his head, his eyes settling on Luka's face. It's... incredibly hopeful, but he says it so firmly that Gyre almost believes him.

"That's right," he murmurs, beginning to straighten up. His hands linger around him for a few moments before he reaches up to clear his eyes one last time.

"Let me..." he starts, clearing his throat and finally pulling himself away from the princess. He runs his fingers through his hair, and turns to look up at Seth again. His attention darts momentarily to Zafika, and he almost feels himself breakdown again. He does sniffle miserably, mumbling to himself, "Okay, we'll keep them safe."

It's another moment or two before he clears his throat again, and finally clues Luka in on what upset him so much in the first place. "Remember the red line, from yesterday? Over Joanna and Zafika's hearts? Seth has one too," he offers, turning to tap Luka on his chest over the same spot.

"It has to be... it has to be his rapier. When Seven attacked me, they cut me all over. See?" He reaches out as he's speaking, taking Luka's hand and guiding it first to three parallel cuts through the clothes on his shoulder, then to a big, long slice through his vest. The skin underneath is repaired, of course, but his clothes are still torn through.

He hopes the image is clear enough to him with that, emphasizing, "I don't think they were capable of precision."

Luka nods wordlessly as his hands feel the tattered slashes across Gyre’s clothing. He recalls his own encounter with Seven, and how violent and wild they were. Luka hadn’t been nearly as thrashed around by the monster but he’d endured enough to know that surgically precise stab wounds were not their style.

“They don’t look burned at all either? That would have been impossible to avoid in a direct attack from Seven.” His words are somber and heavy with the weight of the truth he was now blatantly facing. “Were any of the ones who were murdered... aligned, with you?”

Not that their alignment particularly mattered anymore. Seth had walked into a scene he shouldn’t have, they now knew. But had Joanna or Zafika known the truth? Why did they have to die, in the Protector’s eyes?

“He’ll probably blame the Wizard for this. Even though she was dead, according to him. Her return is enough for him to shift the blame again.” Luka sighs. He wants to confront the Protector, to force him to explain himself. But Luka knows that he could throw the truth in the Protector’s face, scream it at him even, and the Protector wouldn’t bat an eye. He would regurgitate his same lies and Luka would end up another body in the mountain.

Edited 2020-02-12 17:15 (UTC)

"No. No burns. Just the one mark," he confirms, before falling silent for a moment. Gods, he wishes this was easier.

"I can't say whether they were or not. My voice is, ah, restricted," he says, sounding just as disappointed as he feels.

This feeling doesn't help as Luka speculates about the Protector there. The idea that he is so utterly incapable of telling the truth makes his skin prickle. Uncomfortable fury fills him again, and he angrily clears his eyes. He doesn't have time or energy to start crying again ugh. He can't believe this man has gotten away with this for so fucking long.

"He already tried to tell me it was her," he says, sounding almost amused by the idea. Amused or incredulous. He obviously didn't believe him either way. "Then he tried to kill me, too. Again. He's not a very convincing person." In his experience anyway.

He’s just nodding along as Gyre confirms what he had suspected. That is, until he mentions being restricted, and Luka’s brow knits as he snaps his attention to him.

“What do you mean, restricted? By magic? By him?” The concept makes Luka’s blood boil. Restricting the Wizard’s words was one thing, but the Knights should be able to speak freely. “He can’t even abide by rules already rigged in his favor?”

Luka scoffs, disgust and contempt boiling up inside him. He realizes Gyre may not be able to answer any of the questions that he’d just asked due to those very restrictions silencing him.

“It’s not something you had the Wizard do for you, right?” He asks, to be sure. Luka can’t imagine choosing something like that but it was possible there were things at play he wasn’t yet aware of.

"I... don't know. It may be part of the rules of this ritual they've set up," he says, clearly picking his words carefully to get around the block he knows is there.

"There's a sign in front of her house that says we can't reveal each other, only ourselves. Maybe she made the rule to keep other knights safe in the past." Safe from allies with loose lips. Safe from the Protector trying to torture the other name out of them. He can see why it would exist.

"I can only tell you about what I've done there. The o███████████--" His voice dissolves into sudden garbled static, and he stops as soon as he realizes, making a low frustrated noise. He doesn't know how else to talk about this so he retreats from it, going back to what Luka said.

"Does he restrict people? What they can talk about, I mean?"

Luka's temper calms as Gyre gives him more details. As much as the concept rustles Luka's feathers, he can see the value in how it might protect those who were Wizard-drawn as opposed to be being a tool used only for concealing truths.

"That... makes sense." He grumbles, still not entirely pleased.

He jolts as Gyre's voice suddenly comes out like... that. Luka had not experienced the lovely sounds of magical redaction before now, and he's taken completely by surprise. Doubly so when Gyre moves past it so casually, so much that Luka has to ask again what he'd followed up with.

When Luka finally settles, he shakes his head. "Nothing like that. Not that I know of. Everyone knew who the Protector knights were, and I told you a lot of what he'd said back at your camp... but nothing was blocked out."

He returns to Luka's side as he hears the fading irritation, touching his arm gently in reassurance. He understands the irritation. He certainly felt it for the Wizard when he found out just how much she was kept from saying. He felt it when he tested out his limits against Fen early on. He's gotten so accustomed to it that he doesn't even think to pause and explain when it happens here. Whoops, sorry Luka.

He rubs his shoulder while he settles, smiling weakly at him. It's nice. It's nice to know the princess cares enough to get that angry about one of the smaller injustices of this game. The mood doesn't hold in this awful space, but the moment of faint light has helped to settle him more.

"Mm, maybe he doesn't expect you three to listen to anyone else?" he wonders, half to himself, "Did he tell you not to talk to us?"

"That is what he expects." Luka sighs. "Everyone and everything else that doesn't fall into his narrative is a temptation from the Wizard."

It was the point the Protector had emphasized more than anything. He supposes it makes sense, that he'd just convince his pawns to follow him as much as possible and exterminate any who acted unfavorably. Luka twists his ring around his finger habitually as he thinks everything over.

"He doesn't know who you are, so he couldn't warn us away from you." He pauses, remembering his conversation with the Protector this morning. "But he suspects you, obviously. And Haizea, too."

"Well... that's to our advantage. The less he knows about me, the more I can work in secret," he says, trying to plan around this. Much as he'd love to just go after the guy and confront him directly, that clearly isn't going to work. He's escaped death at his hands twice now. He probably shouldn't tempt the man again if he doesn't have to.

"Why does he suspect Haizea?" He pauses a beat, squinting over towards the monster pillars he needs to look at. As he thinks, he takes Luka's hand, pulling him along so he can get a closer look while still talking. "We should warn her."

"I asked him that. He said she was someone who would take up the Wizard on whatever temptation she offered." Luka allows Gyre to lead him, not missing a beat as he's pulled along. "It sounded like weak reasoning to me, he even shrugged further details off by calling it a hunch. We should definitely warn her."

His thoughts are still back on that meeting with the Protector in the cafe, when he'd named Haizea and Gyre.

"He said you should be 'locked up' for the next few days." Luka exhales sharply, a hint of a dismissive, scoffing laugh. "I wonder if that was code. Why not just admit he wants you dead? You've shown enough of your cards for him to justify it, I'd think."

He snorts at that first bit, shaking his head to himself. There's something angry about the noise he makes, but all he says to explain himself is, "She's the least likely to take what the Wizard's offering, in my experience."

He brings them to a stop near the monster pillars, letting Luka go and taking a few steps closer to examine the strange metal boxes. They're close enough now that he can hear the hum in his jaw, and he wrinkles his nose slightly. It takes him a moment to realize why the sound is so familiar, his mind jumping back to the Wizard as he guided her to the bench.

"Maybe he wants you to think he's a pacifist. Has he talked about ever killing knights before?" he starts, pausing for a beat before adding almost absentmindedly, "Can you hear that noise?"

Luka makes a soft, sad sound somewhere between a sigh and a hum. "Everyone can be bought, its just the price that varies."

He stands in place when Gyre releases him, listening carefully to his surroundings. He doesn't make any motion to feel for anything or explore, still unsure of how the area was constructed and what pitfalls might lay in wait. It was an unsettling place and Luka wasn't eager to throw himself into it.

"Not really." He answers. "I confronted him once after the Wizard told me he'd killed past Princesses for betraying him. He just said that those princesses were trying to destroy the world and that he only 'stood by' while they were killed. Nothing else about killing knights. It's always their fault they died and never by his hand."

He pauses for the briefest of moments before answering Gyre's next question.

"Yeah, I hear it. Where's it coming from?"

"I'm not for sale," he says back almost reflexively, so fast it's like he wasn't thinking about it at all. The whole concept of being bought gets his hackles up immediately really, his mind leaping back to the adages his parents used to tell him, that he passed on to his kids. If one of these capitalists offers money, tell them you're not for sale, they told him. It means he answers without actually taking his attention off the boxes in front of him, picking up the last details he can.

He makes this disgusted little noise when Luka says the Protector claimed it was always someone else's fault, his nose wrinkling at the idea. How can a man like that be so allergic to blame? He shakes his head a little, turning back to the princess and returning to his side.

"Ten described this place to you, right?" he starts off with, hoping the man has at least some idea of what he's surrounded by. "Where Six and Seven's b... bodies would go, there are these metal boxes there instead. They have eyes painted on them, the right number for each monster. Uh, the metal, it looks like the same metal that's in the Wizard now."

He pauses here, putting the pieces together in his own mind for a beat. "Do you think Nine made them?"

He doesn't press the issue of how easily people can be bought nor does he correct Gyre, who he assumes is speaking literally. It wasn't always a monetary matter, of course. Luka could buy almost anything he desired with his wealth, but there were always those things that money couldn't buy, things that only magic could offer.

Luka thinks Gyre must surely have something that he'd want so badly that he would compromise his principles for it. Most people do.

"He did, but in only as much detail as Ten can provide." Luka knew the essential elements of the cave, but not down to every fine detail. "Nine seems like an inventor. I'd believe it if someone told me they did make those. I wonder why?"

He takes a few steps closer, listening to their sounds carefully. "Some kind of substitution, obviously, but why mechanical?"

The essentials seem like the most important part to Gyre so he doesn't try to add a more detailed explanation on top. If Luka asked for one, he would, but for now he's focused on these boxes, thinking back to what he knows.

"Maybe it has to be mechanical so that the magic will recognize it," he starts, shaking his head a little, "Maybe that's just what they have that will work. They all seem to have a little magic, but not enough to mimic a body."

He pauses a beat here, moving to take Luka's arm. "Let's get out of here. It's late. We should talk to Nine tomorrow."

"I wonder if there's some little piece of their real selves in there." Luka muses quietly. "Enough for the magic to recognize it as them, and the machinery keeps it alive in its own way."

It's kind of a grim thought. A clone of themselves that exists only to fill a slot, a little piece of their bodies sacrificed so that they wouldn't need to die for it. It brought up a lot of philosophical questions that Luka is unsure he wants to dwell on right now.

He nods and makes a noise in agreement when Gyre suggests leaving. He was eager to get out of there and back into the fresh night air. "That's a good place to start. Nine must have some answers for all of this."

What an incredibly grim thought. After everything they'd been through, the idea of them giving even a part of themselves up for this stupid ritual makes his skin crawl. He can't stand the idea, his hands tightening briefly into fists. It's another question to ask Nine, even if there's nothing they can do about it for Six and Seven at this point.

He's silent for now, unable to force himself to even acknowledge what he said, staying quite until they reach the bridge. He takes Luka's hands, guiding them to his hips again.

"Hold on to me again. We'll get across," he murmurs, beginning to walk once the princess has a good hold on him. Without Garrot simultaneously taunting and flirting with them, the journey feels like it takes way longer, and he can't help asking about halfway across the bridge, "What do you think happened to Garrot?"

He teleported away, Gyre, duh! Didn't you see it?

Luka nearly says it aloud before he figures that Gyre is probably asking about what happened to him before, that he'd needed to pump himself full of sedative.

"He dropped into the garden earlier, when I was with Ten at the lake. He said he was having a breakdown." Luka thinks back on that moment, confusing and sudden as it was. "I didn't know what to do. Ten said he'd just faced the Protector and the Wizard... I'd guess he was attacked by the Protector."

He pauses for beat before continuing.

"I don't know why he said we weren't safe here with him. Maybe it has to do with the power-up the Protector gave him this morning, but... he couldn't be any more of a risk than I am already."

"Hm," he grunts softly, thinking about the way Garrot had talked about the Protector in the past. About the Wizard. His father had been killed by her, or that's what he believed anyway. He can't help but wonder if it had to do with that.

"He sounded scared of something." He pauses for a moment, bringing them to the end of the bridge and shifting to let Luka release him if he would like. "But he was joking around with us right before that." He trails off again, glancing up the path towards the exit.

"You can hold on to me while we climb back out if you'd like?"

"Sure." Luka agrees, taking Gyre's arm with practiced ease.

"Garrot is intense, isn't he? Like he experiences life only in extremes. That sounds fun, and terrifying, and exhausting." It was true, in his experience: Luka can't recall any dull moments when Garrot was around. "But he's never seemed so afraid before, not even of the Protector or the Wizard. What happened here combined with, well, everything about today must have been too much."

Luka's kept his focus ahead, but turns to Gyre to ask his next question.

"Do you think he'll be alright, alone?"

Gyre pulls him close. Closer than usual, covering his hand the way he often does. He just wants the princess close to him right now. He listens to the man describing Garrot, and he can't help nodding almost continuously as he talks. That's about his exact experience as well, yeah.

"Mmhm," is all he offers, pausing when Luka asks that final question. He's silent for a long beat, trying to figure out where his thoughts are in all this. He's incredibly worried about the guy, but he's not sure what they can do.

"I... don't know. I hope so," he murmurs. "He might need time to meditate, but, but I wouldn't want to be alone if I was that upset." He takes a breath, frowning to himself. He can't understand that sort of behavior, but he's seen something like it before.

"You all, you don't like crying in front of people though, right?"

"It's not a good idea for any of us to be alone much anymore. We're all in danger and there's strength in numbers, but... some people need that solitude, at least for awhile, when they're struggling." Luka sighs - it was a difficult situation no matter how you approached it. "I'll text him when we get off the mountain to make sure he's safe."

He dwells on Gyre's question, though he knows the answer immediately. He wonders if the situation is different for wild elves.

"Crying is showing weakness and society frowns on that. If you let people see you cry, they'll walk all over you. And Garrot... he's under more pressure than average to be strong." His feelings on the concept were mixed at best. Luka was unfortunately all too familiar with societies expectations and he conformed to many of them out of obligation.

"Mm, we can't be around each other all the time," he agrees automatically. Much as he likes Luka, the idea of never having time to himself is nightmarish to him! It's one of the reasons he did so poorly in school and then later in the military. People need privacy, and wild elves are particularly mindful of this fact.

That said, Luka explaining this bit about crying makes him tense slightly. Sure, privacy is important but the idea that people might repress or hide their actual emotions is wild to him. He's done it every now and then this past week while trying to play this game, and even that has made his skin crawl. He goes silent for several beats, carefully guiding Luka over a particularly difficult bit of the floor.

Eventually though, all he can think to ask is, "Will you walk all over me now that you've seen me cry?"

The Weather

Prompts:

Procedure:

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject