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

Wow, he really went right for it, huh? Gyre makes a low noise, patting the bed a couple times in amusement. He thought he might be able to get away with this because Luka is blind, but it seems his fingers have found him out anyway. Not that he has ever done a lot to hide them.

"Some," he says after a beat, reaching down to take his hand and guide him to a couple spots on his body. "This one, I got impatient tracking ah, something, and fell out of a tree. I was pretty young. Here... a moose caught me when I wasn't careful enough."

He is definitely deliberately avoiding the worst of the scars, the big knots of skin where he didn't heal quite right. Mostly it's to keep the mood up, both his and Luka's, but there is some distant bit of him that's curious to see how much he'll ask. He'd certainly been nosy enough about his head a few days ago, but things were different now. He wouldn't mind answering a few more questions potentially, if the princess cared to ask, and he brings that hand up to his face now, kissing his palm, nipping lightly at his fingertips to tease him. Even after this evening, he still wants to explore every inch of him with his lips.

What can he say - Luka was a fan of going right for it as much as he was a fan of teasing the suggestion of it.

"A moose? Aren't they really big?" He feels the scar with extra consideration, trying to figure its size and what kind of wound it must have been. "And you took it down with just a bow?"

He's distracted then by Gyre kissing his hand, momentarily forgetting all about the scars. He laughs softly, leaning in to collapse onto the other's shoulder. He finds that its extremely comfortable there, and sinks into him with a relaxed moan.

It's a long rough scar up his right side. He nearly dodged the animal's charge, but it definitely broke his ribs and put him down for awhile at the time. He'd learned a few important lessons though, and he makes a soft, amused noise. He's happy to linger here, on this memory.

"No, no. Ah, I was the bait while my spouses flanked it. They got a little too close, I got a little too confident. It charged me, and got away," he explains, sounding pleased with himself despite this being obviously a mistake? He clearly isn't worried about sounding like a doofus to Luka. He even loops a hand around his shoulder as he sinks against him, and mimes the moose rushing towards him by running his fingers down Luka's arm. He makes this soft, playful squawk of a noise as his moose!hand slams into him and goes racing off into the forest again.

Despite all the dangerous battles the Knights had been through up to this point, Luka is still amused by the story - and he's equally amused by how much Gyre seems to enjoy recalling it.

"Your spouses? You were married?" Luka doesn't bother to lift his head, though his wandering hand pauses in place. It's more of a curious question than a troubled one - though most people Luka had been with didn't bring up their exes in bed, Gyre also wasn't anything like the others.

"I..." he starts, trailing off almost immediately. He's still married by his own cultural rules. He still trusts his spouses with his children. He'd give his life to them if he could. That's marriage to him.

But he also knows that's not how it is for these people. Luka's hands pause on his body, and he suddenly remembers the mutual confusion that happened the last time he said he had a husband to a lover and they freaked out about cheating of all things. For a moment, he feels like an alien in this world again, and he becomes very aware of the walls of this room. He shouldn't be here.

"Ah, not... in a ceremony or anything," he murmurs, his voice a little strained as he works through his thoughts. He ends up going quiet again, looking down at the top of Luka's head and running his hand lightly over his side. Despite himself, he can feel himself relaxing as he watches this lovely man. The spike of anxiety fades out, and he sighs faintly.

"We worked well together, you know?" He takes a deep breath, bringing the other's hand up again so he can lay kisses lazily down his arm. "Do you have anyone like that, Luka?"

"Hmm." Luka sighs lightly, a soft exhaled breath into Gyre's neck. It wasn't exactly the answer he was hoping to hear. It sounded suspiciously like what someone hiding a marriage from their illicit lover would say. His mind would have gone to cheating next, had Gyre explained that he is in fact still married, but Luka is under the impression that Gyre's family had died along with him.

Luckily, Luka is easily distracted. Once again by the kisses, but particularly by the sound of his own name in Gyre's voice.

"I don't know.... we work well together, don't we?" It was a silly thought. The two of them were quite different, and they'd clashed dramatically a handful of times in the short week they'd known each other.

Luka giggles to himself imagining living in the woods like Gyre, sleeping in a tent, trying to hunt moose. The thought of Gyre in the city felt equally absurd. Their two lifestyles couldn't be further apart.

Oh gods, this is too much. Gyre flusters immediately, actually squeaking a little when the princess starts giggling like that. Those extremely pesky feelings rise up in his throat, his chest tightening into a knot. He feels like he can't speak at all suddenly, and he leans his forehead almost helplessly against the other's wrist.

It's been a long time since he felt like this. He's been practicing detachment for such a long time. He's supposed to be a ghost, but this whole week has grounded him in the world in such a disarming way.

There's a long, stunned silence here before he finally murmurs, "We do. I... Do you mean it?" He takes a breath, suddenly feeling like he's been keeping secrets. Luka's not a wild elf. He can't really know what he's saying, right?

"I'm not, alive," he says after another pause, as if to emphasize this fact. As if the princess doesn't know this already. As if he could impart the full weight of what that means culturally to him with just that one word.

"Yes, I mean it. Though I never could have predicted it." It's true - if you had asked Luka seven days ago where he thought he'd be now, he would have never guessed it would be here.

"I know that. Why should it change anything?" There's a sudden concern in his voice, and Luka brings his focus up to Gyre again, moving a hand to gently find his cheek. "You feel every bit as alive as anyone else to me. If I had a problem with it, I wouldn't be here."

This uhhh fucks him up immediately. He tenses under Luka's hand, his eyes widening. He can't look at him for a moment, his gaze jumping up to the ceiling as he tries to process this question, these statements. He reaches up and takes Luka's wrist where he's touching his cheek, and squeezes it shakily. There's a tremor in his hand that he doesn't know how to hide.

"I... don't..." he starts, faltering over himself. How does he say he doesn't deserve this without inviting so many more questions then he wants to answer? "I'm just ah... a memory, Luka. A cowardly memory. You could... could do so much better."

Luka frowns, his concern growing deeper when he feels Gyre's hand shaking against his. He moves his thumb to stroke his cheek, a comforting touch being the first thing he can think to offer in that moment.

"I've never met someone like you before, Gyre. So maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. I can only tell you what I think, and I've never thought you were a coward." Luka brings his face up to meet Gyre's, mere inches away from contact. "It doesn't matter to me who you were before this. We can't change that. But I like who you are now, and I don't want anyone else."

This feels. This feels like simultaneously the worst and best thing a person has said to him in decades. That sensation that he's done something awful to Luka for him to say something like this makes his chest restrict so tight he can't say anything. He manages a faint noise in his throat, something like the beginning of a whimper.

It's a sound that about sums up the pure miserable joy that fills him up just a moment later. He has wanted to be wanted for so long that actually getting it makes him choke slightly, and the conflict between this feeling and his own ingrained guilt are just too much.

He probably couldn't talk about these feelings in his own language, much less translated through two languages into Common, so he stays silent. His eyes rush over Luka's face, trying to find any hint that he's not serious. And when he doesn't see it, he can do nothing else but close the little bit of distance left between them, kissing him suddenly and maybe desperately. There's so much he should be saying, but he doesn't know how yet.

Luka isn't bothered by Gyre's lack of a verbal response, and in fact takes that kiss as a sign that he must have said something right - completely ignorant of the turmoil Gyre had felt just then.

He positions himself over Gyre, deepening that kiss and fully indulging himself. When he finally breaks away, he's smiling an adoring smile.

"How could I ever think badly of you." Luka says as he reaches one hand to run it through Gyre's hair. "What a hypocrite I would be."

Gyre leans into the kiss, pushing himself up onto one elbow as Luka puts himself above him. His other hand reaches up to cup his face or hold his neck, but he just can't quite bear touching him just yet. The rush of emotions swirls through him, only beginning to fade once he realizes how deeply Luka is indulging himself with him.

He still doesn't touch his face then, instead sliding his hand down his side and around his hip, grabbing his ass to pull him closer. He's breathless by the time the princess pulls away, his eyes fluttering as he takes in that incredible smile. He ends up helplessly purring as that hand runs through his hair, finally finding his voice again.

"Not a hypocrite," he starts, faltering over himself again. He still doesn't have the right words, so he goes for what he's feeling in the moment. "You are so beautiful, Luka. Today has been... wonderful," he winces slightly. It's not quite right after the whirlwind of the day, and he tries to correct himself, "s-so much better then it could have been, because I got to see you."

"You haven't had enough of me yet?" He laughs softly, sinking back into the bed and Gyre beside him. He's perfectly comfortable here, and wouldn't mind if he never had to move from this spot again.

"You can see me as much as you want," Luka keeps that hand tangled up in Gyre's hair, enjoying the purr it elicits. "And I'll make you forget everything bad about your day. We'll only need to think about each other. That sounds perfect to me."

He's quiet for a moment before speaking up again.

"I can't wait until all of this is over." He sighs. His vision of their post-Wizard season future was naively idyllic. Part of him knows that, but Luka buries that part of himself and focuses only on that best case scenario dream that he held close to his heart. "Maybe we can really relax, then."

The purr continues as long as Luka's got his hand on his head, the sound making his voice tremor softly as he speaks. "I've already forgotten everything but you," he says, a soft, teasing note in it as he presses close to him. He pushes him onto his back in that moment so he can lay his head on his chest instead, wrapping an arm loosely across his stomach. It's a little bit of a cling, much as he's trying to pass it off as cuddling.

"There will be time to relax," he sighs softly, trying to be just the tiniest bit more realistic, "but it's never going to be over. There will be so much work to do."

He makes a soft noise as he gets comfortable, and he really can't stand leaving it on such a stern note. "But it will be better then this. All of us have held our breath for too long." A world not held hostage by this game is almost unimaginable to him after so long, but he's desperate for it. It feels like it's in reach and he has not wanted anything more since he realized it might be possible.

Oh! Luka is surprised by the shifting of positions, but he's happy to accept it - despite losing his potential tiddy pillow, he finds its much easier to continue petting Gyre's hair like this. It was nearly a fair trade.

"Yeah." He sighs. "I think it will be work we will be happy to do. We'll lose a lot if we have to lose this planet, but when we rebuild we can build it better than this one. Like, we can do our best not to build all that suffering into it, right?"

Maybe it was overly hopeful. It was definitely glossing over just how gutting leaving behind a planet with thousands of years of history lived on it would be. But Luka wasn't going to concern himself with painful realities. Not here, not now.

He'll be easy to reposition once Luka wants his tiddy pillow back. Gyre is basically melting into him the longer he pets his hair, his eyes drifting half closed.

"Mmm," he agrees softly, nodding against his body until the nod becomes this unashamed nuzzle. He'd absolutely bury himself even close if he could.

"Maybe... maybe this is the easiest way for you all to throw off authority finally." He struggles to imagine a world where everyone lives the way wild elves do, but he does also think it would be way fucking better then what they've got now.

"Yeah. No authority." He adds, sleepily. Luka probably wouldn't fare well in a society so lacking in structure, but thinking about that now was just too complicated. "It will be nice. Like living in the garden."

The garden, for all the nasty revelations that had been revealed to him there, was a welcome retreat from the real world. If their new world could be like that, Luka imagines he'd be pretty happy.

"I'll come visit you all the time and sing for you at your camp."

"Exactly like living in the garden," he repeats dreamily, glancing up at Luka as he notes that tired tone in his voice. Is he going to sleep? Much as Gyre would like to stay right here for a long time, he knows he can't sleep in this bed. He's going to have to leave soon if the princess is fading, much as he doesn't want to.

"I'll..." he starts, and then chuckles?? softly, trying to imagine Luka picking his way into the deep woods that he's used to. The Craydon forest is nice for him, but it's clearly been trimmed back and shaped by the people who live here. It's truly nothing like the place he's used to.

"I'll stay near the city," he finally says, "So you can find me."

"Being close to the city won't bother you?" Luka smiles - he's flattered by the thought of Gyre staying close to civilization just so he could visit. "Or maybe... you just want to stay closer to those fat city pigeons."

Luka laughs, ruffling his hand in Gyre's hair.

"I'd offer to bring you some but I'm afraid I'd be no good at catching the things."

Gyre groans happily at the hair ruffle, leaning up into almost thoughtlessly. He could lay here and be pet by this man all night, and he wouldn't even mind how soft this bed is at all.

"Once you get deep enough in the woods, city noise fades out. It wouldn't be so bad," he says, and he makes a low, amused sound at the offer.

"I could send you off with some traps that's get the job done. You'd just have to fill them with seeds..." He pauses there, remembering suddenly that they won't be on this world by next year. The cities might not look anything like they do now. The pigeons...

"I wonder if there'll be pigeons wherever we end up..."

"If we have enough time to prepare... maybe we'll be able to bring a lot of animals, too." Given they only had one week left, there probably wasn't too much time to prepare. "The Wizard saved all those plants in the garden from the other planets they visited, right? We could do the same."

It wouldn't be too hard to grab a few pigeons, he thinks. Much easier than getting every person on the planet, and they were already aiming to do that.

"If we can't... maybe the new place will have something even better to eat."

"We'll have a year," he says, nodding very slightly. A year is a long time. There will be many trips, he hopes. "Maybe not on the first trip, but... later. Olivia was talking about saving the animals too."

He sighs softly at that, shifting to stretch his limbs out on the bed. He can't fall asleep here, so he wants to keep his energy up even if he curls up against Luka almost immediately afterwards.

"It will be interesting to see... what's already there. There's so much variety in the garden already." He honestly amazed by it at this point.

"Oh, we can definitely save them." Luka says confidently. An entire year is a lot of time to transport some pigeons. "And then you can eat as much of them as you want."

He pulls Gyre back in close to him when he returns, as if those few moments of limited touch had left him wanting.

"It still doesn't feel entirely real, does it? I never thought I'd be leaving this place at all."

"Should we save them? I've seen whole sections of the forest taken over by plants brought in by you city folk," he says almost automatically, only to take a short breath through his nose. Why is he thinking about this right now, god dammit. They're supposed to be relaxing!!!!

"Ah, never mind. That's not... important," he stumbles over himself, trying to find his way back to the cadence they'd had just a second ago. He's had to think way too hard about way too many things over the past week, and he's craving that touch as much as Luka seems to.

"It's going to be... I don't know. I can't imagine it. Every day has been so busy, I haven't thought about it very much."

The Weather

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