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 ]

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If Garrot was expecting any answer that wasn't magic, he'd be surprised as three more slips of paper pop into existence on the ground in front of him. To make matters worse, the three papers have their names written on the outside. All three are folded up, hiding the answers.

The first, for the unaligned elven woman, says: "Yes."

The second, for the wizard-aligned tiefling man, says: "Yes."

And the last, for the-- The mug of hot chocolate rattles over and sits on top of the third paper, insistently rattling for Garrot to take a sip.

But no matter how he gets to it, the last paper for the unaligned new mother from seven years ago, says: "Technically yes."

Garrot's eyes go wide as the papers appear on the ground. This is only a step away from Xaljim's paper balls, except far more emotionally taxing. Luckily for everyone, Garrot's emotions are in a state of constant flux right now. So he picks up the first, and his entire face drops. This is not what he wanted to see. So he picks up the second, and his face goes from shock to anger. It was supposed to be three denials, supposed to be him on his own bloodthirsty need for vengeance! So he back-hands that infuriating godsdamned mug away and snatches up the third piece of paper. His pupils shrink into tiny little feline slits and he's suddenly glaring right at the Wizard as if she just spat in his face.

"Prove it." He's snarling, and like some sort of feral beast he's gone from flat on his behind to a forward lunge into a shaky, drugged-up hunched posture looking like he's ready to rip the technology away from her wire by bloody wire. "You want me to hate him, you'll lie to my face because you can't afford to have me against you." He'll take two steps closer, looming over her as he growls like a cornered, scared monster.

"So use your weak little fucking magic and prove it, dammit!" There's an urgent, pleading tone in his voice despite all the fire and blood and rage. He doesn't want to believe this, he can't believe this. Not on faith alone for a deceptive being he has zero faith in.

Ah, yes. Either the Wizard doesn't care about Garrot's aggressive and in-her-face approach, or she's too tired to care about it. Either way, she doesn't respond physically to it. He gets right up so he's looming over her and she lets her head fall just slightly back to meet his gaze.

"You saw the proof on television twelve, ten, and seven years ago." She says, no hint of a smirk on her face at all.

"Don't you remember? Killed by a monster." She states, repeating once for each of them: "Killed by a monster. Killed. By a monster."

Would he put the pieces together that she was putting in front of him, or would he flip the table onto her?

At this rate? Who knew.

Edited 2020-02-13 19:45 (UTC)

Saw the proof? Why, he'd been so focused on caring for his children and figuring out if he needed to avenge their parents that his brain had hardly considered what he'd seen on television. And when he tries to recall that information, reform the images on those screens all those years ago, he... is too high to do so. And that just pisses him off. So he takes a step to the side, squaring up his stance a bit for some Wizard punches, when... his foot slides a bit.

The drugs are keeping him from assuming a fighting stance. Throwing a punch would be... dangerous in this state. Just like combining coffee with a sedative. So instead he just starts yelling!

"Why would I be asking you, if I saw the proof?!" There's a sharp exhale from his nose as he glares at the woman, a scowl forming on his face. "Stop fucking with me, I get it! That monstrous piece of shit is the only reason I have a family! He killed my father, he killed all of them, because he's a heinous godsdamned monster." Deep, sharp breath in, short, sharp breath out. "He's a monster. I get it, I-"

Wait. What the fuck.

"The Protector's... a monster?" His eyes go wide and his jaw drops, partially because he's high enough that his body is just along for the ride his emotions are embarking on. Y'know, Sxicq is their planet and also alive and the monsters don't have to die and can talk and have dreams so uh.

He just kind of flops down onto his butt and starts opening up a list of all the Knight deaths and their causes. One of the perks of being a maybe-obsessed "fan" of this yearly event is that even if he's high, he knows where to find this stuff. But if there's any inconsistency, well... he might kill the Wizard here and now. For good.

The way Garrot flips back and forth between aggression to trauma to anger to sadness is plain as day. He's like a bucket of water being slid all around a table, sloshing to and fro and-

"You're allowed to be angry." She starts with, before clarifying something he'd assumed:

"Yes a monster, but not one of the monsters. He just plays a game." She explains, holding up a hand with a mug sitting in the center of it. As usual, the mug has a message for him. In bright red and orange text, the mug says:

"The Blame Game!"

Later, Garrot will certainly blame that assumption on the drugs and then repress that it ever happened. If nothing else, it gets him to bring his attention away from his phone for a moment. The mug makes him roll his eyes though. Garrot saw himself that the Protector is willing to blame everyone else for, well, everything. Especially his own incompetence.

"You said technically." He turns his phone towards her, showing off a photo, or with a swipe of the thumb, a playable video from the time of the new mother's death. He... can't bring himself to hit the play button, actually. "How did he kill her?" Garrot takes a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. His body and mind are in absolute disarray, and this is all he can do to maintain the illusion to himself. "And how does nobody realize it's him?"

Garrot takes another deep breath in, and his body starts to sway just a bit. As he breaths out, his shoulders slump forward and he's sitting awkwardly cross-legged, one hand bracing himself against his leg. He's really not doing too great.

The Wizard motions her hand at his phone, forcing the video to play. He brought the video up, she's going to use it to show him. She lets it play, lets the monstrosity that was a wolf-like Seven that year tackle her to the ground like prey.

The video stops at the exact moment Seven lurches down, biting--

"Technically." She answers, keeping the video paused on that moment. She leaves it there, the answer plain as day on the screen.

"You should rest. Sleep on this." She answers, watching him as he inevitably loses it trying to figure out what she'd just told him. She's prepared if he goes physical and loses it, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Given what he saw of Seven this year, of the Protector's... whatever that was with the sword, it doesn't surprise him. It does piss him off though, because this is morally complicated! On one hand, Seven deserves to live, as a living being. On the other, Seven killed this woman. On the third, by way of second hypothetical Garrot, the Protector was involved. How far is a technically going to take his revenge quest?

"Of course I should rest, I'm on drugs!" He's crabby as hell about it. It's obvious that he's not at his best, that he's tanked his body to keep his mind from just melting. "You're saying it, Xaljim says it, I know!" He yells it out the next time, too angry about revenge and shitty new information and everything else that's gone wrong today. "But what if I don't get another chance like this?! What if the Protector kills me in my sleep?!"

It actually helps to be honest about the place he's at, emotionally. And he sighs, his shoulders slumping as his other hand drops the phone and braces against the ground. The emotional outburst of it all is just as exhausting, and he's taking deep breaths that make his entire back rise and fall. Like he's been putting everything he had into just sitting upright. "My father deserves better than that."

Unfortunately for Garrot, the answer is a simple one. He's been staying here, putting every emotion on his sleeves, and practically advertising how utterly ruined he is by this entire situation.

"Rest here in the garden." She offers, as if it's the most obvious option in the world.

The offer is obvious, and were Garrot both more trusting of the Wizard and more willing to let his guard down, that would be the end of it. But alas, neither is true.

"What's that gonna do for me?!" He levels a harsh gaze at the poor woman. "He can kill me, you can, your monsters can. And for all I know, you will!" Paranoia is starting to set in, and it's not clear if he ever plans on sleeping again.

"You lie. That's what you do." He takes another deep, shuddering breath. "Why should I trust you?!" A shiver travels down his spine, down his arms, and he very nearly fails to hold his body up. Sheer, stupid willpower is the only thing that's kept him from collapsing, and it's starting to run out.

...Garrot is an idiot.

She knows there's nothing that she can say that will convince him like this, and there's really only one thing to do.

So she stands up from the bench she's been seated on, pausing just long enough to make sure she's balanced and doesn't just fall forward over herself, before she looks down at Garrot and answers:

"Don't, then."

And she starts to walk away, in the direction of the vegetable garden and house.

Edited 2020-02-17 23:30 (UTC)

In that one moment, he learned exactly who the Wizard was. This is someone who his father trusted, who his father died in support of. This is someone who, with a little charm, or even a little bending of the truth, could probably manipulate his grief, his hatred. And she isn't. So Garrot... smiles.

"That's it?" He leans back a bit, then throws himself forward into a crawl as he uses the bench pull himself up into an incredibly unsteady stand. Both hands might be clinging to the top of the bench for dear life. It's gotta be important if he's standing. "Are you only good at drinks, or can your magic put me to sleep?"

Is he... asking the Wizard for help?!

"If you can... do it." Even with the drugs, he's not sure he'd get any actual rest. "I'm sure Xaljim would appreciate a chance to relax and..." Garrot stops to take a breath. "...catch up with you." He sure as shit hasn't forgotten about his little buddy.

She pauses as he stands and makes that declaration behind her. Unfortunately for him, she turns back slightly and locks the yellow ring of her robot eye on him. There's a brutal intensity to it, the glow of it promising stories of her countless experiences over the years. Instead there's only silence, and the oppressive reality of her answer:

"If I could." She pauses very slightly. "I would have done that to myself years ago."

And she resumes walking away. Sorry Garrot, she's got no way to help you. She can't even help herself.

Garrot groans in dismay and exhaustion, the looming specter of finding his own reprieve causing him to all but collapse onto the bench. A moment later, he's laying down, curling up as well as he can into the space that is hilariously too small for him.

"Xaljim!" He groans out the companion's name, moving a hand to cover his eyes. "I'm gonna... I'm gonna take a break." Deep breath in, deep breath out. "If you... if you wanna talk to the Wizard yourself, now's your chance." The deep breaths continue, but they become softer, more natural.

"I... think she'll like you more than she likes me, buddy." That's all he can do for now. He can barely even take care of himself, but if he can give Xaljim the chance to feel connected, to feel directly in the know with these cosmic forces, then that's a win in his book.

The Wizard may be gone, but Xaljim appears briefly as Garrot breaks down into a crumbled pile of emotions. Hopefully he'll pass out.

But in the meantime, he's going to wander off to do... something. Who knew what?

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Day 7: Evening

Aftern-Evening: 3pm - Midnight

The Weather

Prompts:

Procedure:

Activity Check: January 2020

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