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

Ten is trying to figure out which of the vegetables he's going to offer for Luka to cut when, fortunately, Gyre suggests what Luka can do together with him. Sure. Teamwork was fine. Ten flashes Gyre a thumbs up before reaching over to the pale blue garlic bulbs.

"These after, like this." He explains, bringing the garlic bulb over to a flat surface and hovering his knife over it horizontally. He whacks downward with the flat side of the blade and then sets it aside.

All that's left is a bunch of pale blue papery scraps and dozens of little dark blue and purple star-shaped bulbs that are squishy to the touch. Immediately upon being revealed, the room fills with the scent of lemongrass and pistachios.

He takes a moment to flick away some of the papery scraps from his pile of garlic before he settles another of the pale blue bulbs over by Luka and Gyre's pile of asparagus-alikes. Then he moves away to get a bowl to start gathering the finished veggies in.

"Hmmm, I guess I can help you if you really need it." Luka jokes, moving closer toward where Gyre and Ten are working on chopping up the various vegetables.

His fingers slide along the edge of the table until he's found his position right near Gyre. Unfortunately, the fanfare of the vegetables falling open and unfurling in unusual ways is entirely lost on him, but he can at least enjoy their varied aromas.

"Show me which ones still need chopping." He says eagerly. "Do you have a knife ready?"

He watches the garlic demonstration for a beat, nodding at Ten once it's over. Got it. And then all his attention is on the princess.

"I've got a knife," he affirms, reaching out to slide a hand around Luka's hip and pull him a little closer. In the same moment, he steps away from the counter, and takes up a position behind him, setting hands on his shoulders and running them lightly down the other's arms. He takes his wrists, then his hands, bringing one over to where he set the knife.

"Grab it here, like this," he murmurs, getting Luka's fingers in the right spot to hold the knife stably before he reaches to his other side and brings the asparagus pile closer. "We have to finish this first."

Then he wraps his hand loosely over his, folding his fingers into something similar to the cat's paw Ten had used just a moment ago to demonstrate for him. Those fingers are set loosely on the latest orange stalk and then he brings their combined knife hand into place.

"Bring the knife down smoothly, with confidence. It will cut. Use the knuckles of your other hand as a guide. I'll make sure you don't get yourself," he explains softly, loosening his grip just slightly on Luka's hands so he can try out this cutting thing. Good luck princess.

Luka feels... unsure? Conflicted?

He would not normally allow himself to be guided through such a simple act as chopping produce for fear of looking dreadfully helpless, despite his inexperience with the task having more to do with his privileged upbringing than his disability. And yet, when Gyre had suggested it Luka found himself unable to resist the offer despite knowing exactly what he was getting himself into.

He's caught up in his own personal dilemma so deeply that Luka only catches the last bit of Gyre's instructions, the rest having melted into mere white noise.

"Right." He says, snapping back into the moment. There's a clear hesitation as Luka makes the first slow chop, his face flushing at his obvious lack of skill. Why couldn't he just be instantly perfect at this?! It would be way more impressive that way.

"Mmm." It's clearly a noise of dissatisfaction. "Was that okay? How would I use my knuckles as a guide without cutting myself?"

Ten misses the two of them getting into their, uh, arguably romantic pose behind him as he pulls forth several wooden bowls and sets them on the counter. When he turns to face them, he gets an eyeful (more like ten eyefuls) of these two being uh, deeply sappy.

And he doesn't get it at all.

So he just blinks at them, observing, what a strange and weird pose to cut vegetables in. Eight had never wanted help like that, perhaps Luka was just weird?

But he watches for a moment as Luka works on cutting the vegetables, making sure he's not going to cause him to lop a finger off. Once he's sure it's safe, he reaches over with one bowl and places it right near where the two of them are cutting. Here, kids, put the finished veggies back.

And then he takes a moment to just sort of... watch.

If he realized Luka was having any dilemma at all, he'd back off. This was mostly just an excuse to touch him (a lot) more, but uh I mean he also thinks it makes sense to not want to handle knives on your own when you can't see them. It doesn't even occur to him that the princess might be just fine figuring this out without him hovering. He is a dumbass sometimes.

As it is, he watches Luka's cut, slipping his hands back and out of the way so he can see.

"That's good. Here, ah," he pauses a beat, glancing down at Ten as he sets a bowl on the counter for them. He looks first at him and then uh down at his hands? The kind of cutting he normally does isn't so precise usually, so he's taking a second to remember the way the monster had moved in the moment. Right.

"If you lay the flat of the blade against," and he brings Luka's hands together exactly as he says it, moving him into a couple quick cuts as he describes the motions, "the flat of your knuckles here. Keep your fingers tucked in. And always move this hand first before the knife, then the blade never overlaps with your skin. You can't cut yourself." He finishes this by slipping his hands back to Luka's wrists, touching them gently so he can try it now.

And also uh glancing down at Ten again. He doesn't say anything, but his eyes definitely scream, Right?? Please don't tell him he gave this lovely man bad advice.

He's listening with intense focus now as Gyre explains in detail, and memorizing the correct motions as he's guided through them. He's determined to perfect this! Or at least do a decent job.

His next attempts are more successful, though markedly inexperienced. Regardless, when he notices that its working decently, Luka feels emboldened to cut a little faster than before and make some progress on these weird vegetables.

"That makes more sense." He remarks, pausing proudly to make sure Ten and Gyre have seen his success. "More than hearing it described."

Ten watches, and ends up watching Gyre's knife advice. When Gyre looks over to get validation from him, he offers a thumbs-up. Yeah that's solid don't-cut-your-fingers-off advice.

Luka's progression at not chopping his fingers off proves to be satisfying enough that he shuffles over to grab several of the not-poatoes, nottatoes if you will, and bring them over to another cutting board so he can start working on them. This one is the strangest of the bunch yet.

Ten just chops the first one in half and then tips out one half over one of his bowls, dumping the contents in: The insides of the nottato pour out as a crystalline powder into the bowl. It sounds like sand.

Gyre is watching him closely, grinning as Luka clearly gains confidence and speeds up a little. His hands loosen on his arms even further, and when the other pauses to show off his work like that, Gyre actually takes a step back from him. If he touches him any longer, he might not stop for a bit, and they've got other things to do.

Like cut more vegetables! He grabs another knife laid on the counter, going to the pile of garlic Ten had pointed him at earlier and bringing it all over nearby Luka.

"That looks great to me, princess. I'm going to cut something else but I'll be here next to you to spot you," he says, briefly touching his shoulder before he settles into his work. What had Ten done? Just crushed these with the flat of the blade right? That's easy enough.

"There's a bunch more of that uh," his eyes dart to Ten briefly, looking for a name for this asparagus vegetable? "That uh plant for you when you're done with that first one."

He can't help but smile a bit, despite trying to play it cool and casual.

"Can I cut a bunch at once? It would be faster, right?" They slice pretty easily so Luka doesn't see why they'd need to be done individually, and he's clearly got the hang of this chopping thing already.

"Is there meat, too?" He asks, vaguely remembering Ten saying something about 'cubed chunks'. Luka keeps working at the not-asparagus until its been entirely chopped into tiny disks, questions brewing in his mind all the while.

"Are you going to save some for Seven?" He asks as he reaches cautiously for another few veggies to chop. "Home cooking makes people recover better, after all."

Ten's here with the smooth save for the name of the asparagus-alike, and he gives a little look down at the pile that Luka's dealing with before he answers.

"Idorola. It can be cut all together, sure. Meat comes last, it cooks faster." He explains, working diligently on the nottatoes with his hands and six of his eyes. His other four eyes are keeping an eye on the other two, two eyes each.

"Nine already made sure Seven is being fed. Added to the water regularly." He explains, definitely leaving it up in the air as to what that meant. Was Seven being fed like a fish? Sprinkles at the top of the tank?

Gyre is keeping an eye on Luka, and trying not to stare at the uh powder coming out of the potatoes. Luckily, the princess gives him something else to focus on with that little bit of homey wisdom.

"Is that true? About cooking?" he murmurs, pausing a moment to consider what that would mean. Maybe he should make stew more often, even though stew outside of winter is still deeply bizarre to him.

Much like the idea of adding food to water. He glances at Ten again, his eyes catching on the potato powder again. "They can eat it in the water?"

"It's absolutely true." Luka says confidently, gathering four or five of the idorola in his fist and gently piling them into a choppable stack. "You need nutritious food when you're hurt or sick, for the energy to recover. Home cooked meals are extra nutritious."

He starts chopping them just has he had before, a slight improvement to his efficiency as he relaxes into the task.

"And, it just feels nice knowing there's someone there to take care of you, who wants you to get better. Seven should know that too."

Ten doesn't know if that's true in Seven's case, but he listens along anyway. It was one of the reasons he'd wanted to open a restaurant, the whole 'home cooked food' advantage. Every restaurant, really, was just a varying degree of home cooked wasn't it? He wasn't actually sure, where was that distinction? But that was a thought for another day, potentially when he'd opened a restaurant.

"They have been eating in the water so far." he answers, recalling watching earlier. So long as they were eating, that was good. They'd probably be hungry when they got out, though. He thinks on that for a moment as he finishes the last nottato and then he walks back over to the counter to start collecting the lumpy purple ginger in his hands.

And by 'in his hands', it's actually just sort of half-absorbed into the material of his arms and jutting out in every direction. Nearly a dozen of them just sticking out. Lucky that Luka can't see that. Gyre is not so similarly lucky.

"That makes sense," he murmurs, imagining being caring for his kids whenever they got sick. Had that helped them get better? He hadn't cooked anything for them though.

"Maybe when they leave the tank, we can..." he begins, trailing off in sudden horror as he sees those roots get slurped up into Ten's body. His stomach lurches, and he stares in absolute silence for uh a bit here.

It's only once he feels like he's not about to gag that he finally manages, "What are you doing with those?"

Ten blinks at Gyre as he reaches his little side work space and he hovers his hand over the flat surface. The purple ginger falls out, thudding gently against the surface as he responds.

"Cutting these." he answers, matter-of-factly, as the last lumpy ginger thuds onto the counter. Something the matter?

Edited 2020-03-14 22:35 (UTC)

Luka's completely oblivious to the ginger-related body horror occurring mere feet away as he finishes chopping his stack of veggies. He sets the knife aside and gathers the pile between his hands, sliding it a few inches away out of his cutting area.

"They're in a tank? Are they awake?" He asks. Luka had imagined them to be in some kind of large hospital bed, despite their inhuman appearance.

"These are ready." He announces proudly. "Is there anything else to cut?"

That is horrifying. His eyes widen as he watches each root get dropped onto the table, and it's only Luka's oblivious conversation that keeps him from uh just leaving in disgust. He can't eat food that's been inside another sapient being. That's basically cannibalism!!

But the princess says he's done and Gyre glances down at the last piece of garlic he has. He was halfway through crushing it when Ten caught his attention, and he finishes it now, brushing the scrap into a little pile off to the side. Is he supposed to throw this extra stuff away?

"This is ready too," he says after a hesitant beat. He should wait for more instructions he knows, and yet he can't help leaning a little closer to the roots, eyeing them skeptically.

"Is it safe, keeping them there?"

"You can cut the fish, those slabs there. Cubed." Ten answers, reaching over to gently push the very-much-fish just-different-color slabs towards Luka. There's a soft scraping as he pushes the slabs with the side of his own blade.

Then he turns back towards the ginger to start very, very carefully scraping the outside of them off. The moment the outer layer is removed, they start to glow and they smell quite strongly of cinnamon.

"They'll die if they're not in there. I don't think they're awake but no one really knows for sure." He continues, setting aside one now-glowing-ginger before taking another.

Off to the side is a little pile of ginger peel scraps; maybe put your stuff there, Gyre? But then Ten pauses, blinking all ten of his eyes before locking five of them onto him.

"Did you mean these. Why wouldn't it be safe." He follows-up.

Edited 2020-03-16 19:37 (UTC)

"Are they... a fish?" Luka asks, referring to Seven. He suddenly feels a bit bad about the task of cubing the meat he'd just been assigned.

But he finds it on the counter and begins dutifully attempting to slice it up into cubes to the best of his ability.

"Even when the others described them to me, I couldn't get a good understanding of what exactly they are. It sounded really strange." He sighs, punctuating his thought with an audible chop.

Gyre's ear is tugged by conversation about Seven, wanting to describe the mess of them he'd seen in the moment. He glances in Luka's direction, checking that the cubing is going as well as the simpler slicing had been, and he grabs a slab for himself while he's there.

But he just can't get the image of those roots out of his head, and he meets... well, he meets a couple of Ten's eyes anyway. He can't really manage the full five, and he doesn't try to for now.

"Food isn't safe once it's been inside someone," he says, as if this is the most logical statement in the world. "It's like if a person bleeds on it, right?"

"No. Just healing. They were hurt badly." He clarifies, realizing a moment too late that 'in a tank' and 'can't come out' do, in fact, lead to 'probably a fish'. Whoops.

"We think they prefer being on all fours most of the time." He adds, not wanting to describe too much since they'd all really only seen glimpses of Seven over the years. But then he turns to Gyre and all ten eyes squint at him.

"It wasn't inside and didn't touch my blood." He says, wishing microsoft sam could make that sound a little more offended. Instead it's just monotone.

"Right..." Luka says slowly, picking up the knife again to make another cut. "I'm sorry about that. I wish I'd known better. Maybe they'd be awake by now."

He goes back to working quietly, letting the guilty feeling settle in his stomach. He's thinking about Seven crawling around on all fours and wondering why they'd prefer that. Maybe their shape wasn't entirely humanoid?

"I bet you'll have a lot of catching up to do when they wake up, right, Ten?"

He meets Ten's incredulous stare, opening his mouth and pointing towards his arm. Those roots had definitely been poking out of Ten's arms, and he's not going to be convinced that that's normal. He's about to say exactly that when he becomes aware of Luka's pensive silence beside him.

It's not important, he decides. He trusts Ten not to poison them, and so he turns his attention to the princess instead, reaching out to touch his shoulder gently, rubbing his back for a moment.

He stays quiet himself though, curious about Seven but not wanting to bombard Ten with questions about his hurt friend.

"I think Nine put an alarm on it if it opens." Ten answers, thinking for a moment how anyone will know when Seven wakes. Honestly, the alarm should've just been a text message to everyone.

"I don't know what I"m going to say to them." he admits, folding his arms thoughtfully.

At least he's no longer staring at Gyre?

The Weather

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