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

"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 question takes Luka by surprise and he nearly has to suppress a laugh at the notion.

"No! Of course not." That Gyre would cry for deaths of the Knights and monsters wasn't unexpected. "You're not weak, I know that by now. And even if you were, I wouldn't want to take advantage of it. We're working together."

Gyre goes silent for another few moments, turning this answer over in his head. It's... weird. This is a weird thing to say, Luka.

"But you would if we weren't working together?" he asks, a little bit teasing, but also very curious about how he responds to this line of questioning.

"If we weren't working together..." Luka begins, very aware of how precarious this conversation was becoming. He's trying to carefully choose his words but everything he thinks to say sounds bad.

"You'd be trying to end the world, right? End it in such a way that the people at large would suffer. In that case, I wouldn't hesitate to use weakness against you if it meant coming out victorious."

There isn't really a charming way to tell someone you'd exploit their weaknesses if they were your enemy, apparently!

"Oh, that's not..." What he meant. He makes a slightly flustered little noise as Luka says that uh very rough thing there. He had been thinking about meeting Luka in the real world, not in the context of this game.

He hadn't specified that, of course, so he has to stew in this new thought. He might not be so manipulative about it, but if he thought someone was truly that dangerous, he'd take advantage of weakness as well. Maybe not in the same way, but he can't pretend he's superior to Luka in that regard.

"I... Of course. I want, I need for this to end with the least suffering possible. If I didn't, if anyone doesn't, then I hope we learn about it soon so that," he clears his throat awkwardly, "So that we can decide how to handle them."

"We won't have to kill them, if that's what you're afraid of." Luka replies without missing a beat. "It's the easiest solution, yeah, but not the only one."

Luka thinks about the Protector talking about 'locking up' Gyre and what that might have meant. It wasn't a pleasant notion, coming from the same person who'd sealed Sxicq away in the mountain. He quickly decides he doesn't want to dwell on it for a second longer.

"I think that's what everyone wants. I think even the Protector is convincible... we just don't have as much time as would be necessary."

"Mm, no one else will die," he says to that first bit. Murdering anyone inconvenient had not even crossed his mind, but especially not after they just saw all those bodies in that room. He can feel his chest tighten just at the thought of more bodies, his eyes burning as he holds back another round of tears.

He does sniff softly, shaking his head a little. "I want to try with him. I... he has the most to make up for, but he could do it." He sighs roughly, miserably. "He could be a real protector if he came with us, and helped us rebuild."

"Yeah..." Luka trails off, getting lost in thought. The idea of the Protector on the new planet helping everyone rebuild seemed like a far off dream. No one who was cooperating with them wanted him alive. "Did you know he keeps a journal? And he likes stargazing."

Luka proudly shares the scant few details he'd managed to get about the Protector's hobbies and personal life. It wasn't much, but he valued the small shreds of evidence that the Protector was more than just a strict, stoic Wizard-killing machine.

But Luka thinks back again to the Knight's slain bodies and the blatant wounds from the Protector's weapon over their hearts, and his attempt to humanize the man suddenly felt in poor taste.

"I need answers from him more than anything." Luka speaks up again, breaking out of his contemplation. "I want to hear how he justifies what he's done. If he wants trust, if he truly believes what he's doing is the right thing, then he has to be honest with us. That's the first step."

Gyre also joins the contemplative silence. He's... not surprised. I mean, he's a little surprised that the man keeps a journal, but journaling is something he's never understood in the first place. The idea that the Protector is just another person though? That doesn't surprise him at all. They're all people. That's the thing he's been discovering over the course of this week. No matter what they look like, or the rumors people have spreads about them, they're all just regular ass people who journal and stargaze.

It's the reason that he wants the Protector to live, even if he understands the fury leveled again him. He deserves redemption.

Gyre sighs softly when Luka gives him his plan, nodding to himself. He's nervous. He can't help being nervous, but he also thinks it's a good idea.

"Do you want me to be nearby when you do? In case he turns on you?"

"I don't know." Luka replies quickly, the small bit of hopefulness beginning to drain from his voice. "He could just end up killing us both. If there's a risk of him retaliating and killing, I'd rather it just be one of us that's lost."

His heart sunk to imagine any more bodies in the cave, but particularly Gyre's or his own.

"But I don't think he'll turn on me. I've asked if he's killed before and survived."

The Weather

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