Hope RP (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wizardseason) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
pajamabox2020-02-25 09:02 pm
wizardseason) wrote in pajamabox2020-02-25 09:02 pm
Day 8: Monster Arrival
Afternoon: 12:00noon - 5:00pm
[ IRL Timeframe: February 26th - March 11th, 2020 ]Just like the seventh day, if the heroes were hoping that this was going to ease up at all and give them a break:
It was all getting so much worse.
The light rain from the morning hasn't let up, still coming in brief waves over the island. It's not so much that you wish you had an umbrella, but also a little more than anyone's comfortable staying outside in for too long. The sun is still trying to peek through every now and then, occasionally at the same time as the drizzling rain.
- [1] -
At noon on the dot, the emergency broadcasting system goes off on every device on Harsen Island. Actually, it goes off across the entire planet. Before anyone can begin to wonder who it's from, the broadcast flickers on to show the Protector's face. He looks... rough. There's sand caked on to his robes, he still looks completely drenched from being in the ocean, and there are numerous cuts over his body from the fights he's been in. Careful eyes will note that his scabs don't look quite right, are those rainbow colors?
"People of the world, I am the Protector." He begins, reaching a hand up to his hair to pull some stray aquatic greenery off of himself.The feed cuts abruptly as a yellow fist comes into frame, aimed directly at the Protector's head. He barely sidesteps it, but then the video is gone. Anyone who has kept up with where the monsters planned to be will be able to assume it's Ten. Some may even know that for sure. Who has the better odds?
"It is with no satisfaction that I am reaching out to you in this manner. But I must sow hope before the last flickers of survival are snuffed out." He does his best to finish getting himself at least somewhat decent for the camera before continuing. Who's recording this...?
"The Wizard has set not two, but four knights against the world. The monkey, dragon, boar, and dog knights all stand together. Worse still, they have enticed the ox knight and the Princess to believe their lies." He shakes his head, sighing like someone who's been betrayed.
"They have killed the others, the rabbit, sheep, and snake knights were all cut down for trying to save this world." He lets out a deep exhale, either holding back tears or very believably pretending to.
"The last hope of the world lies in your hands. In four days: Midnight, on the last day: Blow up Harsen Island. Reduce it to ash and the world will spin on. They must not win. They will not. ... I will do what I can to turn the tide back, but do not mourn me if I am lost. The world is more important."
- [2] -
"Eight" arrives out of the Far Haven train depot almost immediately after the Protector's noon broadcast. How can anyone be sure?
It's streamed to the internet.
Social media somehow immediately picks up on the "#EightFightLive" stream with numerous accounts sharing it dozens of times (are... those fake accounts...?) in minutes. The stream begins, attached to the side of whoever this is' head, is this being filmed on a GoPro or something? No one has to wonder for long, because the movement slows to a stop as the video feed aims at a big mirror on a nearby wall.
The reflection shows two massive sets of train wheels with a platform and what looks like a big yellow snowman perched on it. The snowman's midsection, however, has eight giant arms sticking out of it. Each set of arms is holding, from bottom to top: Swords, Hammers, Axes, and the top set of arms are actually a huge set of yellow wings. The head of the snowman doesn't have a face, but it does have eight eyes painted on. The center of each eye looks like it's flickering and on fire? And hastily wrapped around where a "neck" would be between the top snowman orb and the body is, in fact, a GoPro.
Nice.
The whole body shudders slightly and the distorted voice of an automated subway announcer gurgls out the words: "Next stop: Far Haven. Stand clear of the closing doors. One coin per trip. Next stop: Far Haven."
Anyone watching the stream will realize that if "Eight" is on the rails and heading to Far Haven... then the next stop would be Bamborough. And then Craydon after that. Was he just going to ride the rails around the island until he was defeated? The stream shudders as "Eight" starts rolling along on the rails, in the direction of the train station.
Loyal viewers of the stream will also get treated to a cameo on the way: While rolling through Far Haven, the GoPro centers on the big yellow mass that is Ten fighting against a glowing-white-weapon armed Protector. Suddenly the stream shows nothing but bright orange flames in their direction, and the two scatter apart. Whatever results from the flamethrower isn't seen, because "Eight" is too busy rolling on the rails towards the next destination! Far Haven, toot toot!
- [3] -
#childfound
Sxicq is too damn easy to find on the island, especially when they're spotted standing side-by-side with a monster in one of Luka's fan T-shirts at the top of the mountain (hi Eight!). The two of them are knelt by the door that had exploded several days earlier, hands pressed into the ground. Whoever has a drone taking the pictures of them, it's good enough to show that there are blue cracks radiating out from whatever they're doing. That can't be bad!
- [4] -
It's bad.
At 2:00pm, the island is wracked with earthquakes. Well, not actual quakes, more like the whole island just starts vibrating. It's the kind of low vibration that makes everything rattle just a little bit and fills the air with a white noise that never really goes away, but nothing cracks and breaks. It's like someone turned the island into putty and started wiggling it into a new shape.
And social media confirms that as observers of the island check in with hashtags like: #mountainsinking #shrinkingmountain #deflatedharsen
Because the mountain is flattening out, shrinking down and disappearing. Everything on the island is weirdly adjusting, like the buildings are just sort of floating on top of this solid-ground-now-melting-but-still-solid situation. It makes absolutely no sense. Science can't explain it. Mountains don't melt. You can't just shrink a mountain into the earth. You can't flatten an island.
But that's what's happening. Slowly, but surely. It'll be done by Evening, and then the Island will have a new shape.
- [5] -
At this point, Eight has left a text with all the heroes again that if they want to go to the garden, he can help make that happen. All it takes is a text. Five and Six are staying there, with Seven, in the monster house. If anyone goes there, they'll get to find the most interesting tidbit of information: It's not rumbling there.
- [=] -
Social media is pretty much evenly split on today's news: #endoftheworld? #whatjusthappened.
The Weather
- Light rain.
- 68°F / 20°C
- A gentle breeze.
Prompts:
- 12:00pm Emergency Broadcast, Everywhere: Immediately following the Protector's emergency broadcast, all of the phones and tech on the island and in the world become accessible again. The discussion is immediate and unrelenting and, to make matters worse, the social media accounts of all the heroes... have been disabled. They've only got phone calls and texts to rely on. Do they text each other? Or someone back home? Who could have disabled their social media accounts? That's... really fucking bad, holy shit.
- 12:15pm Train Station, Far Haven: "Eight" finally rolls into the Far Haven train station at about 12:15pm, ready to fight. Any hero, at any train station, will find that they all have a new feature: Instead of the "upcoming arrivals" screens above the tracks advertising regular trains, they're advertising "Eight"'s arrival times? Anyone in Bamborough will see "12:45pm" and anyone in Craydon will see "1:15pm". Even more strange is that there's a hastily-added black pole with a coin slot on it. Someone has hand-written "Eight request" in yellow ink beside the coin slot. Someone's gotta fight "Eight" first at Far Haven... or make a request at another station! The fight is on!
- 12:30pm Mountain Door, Mountain: Does your character go to interrupt Sxicq and Eight on top of the mountain? That's a pretty rude thing to go do. They're busy, why would your character do that? Don't they have more important things to do, like, you know, killing "Eight"? Either way, if your character ends up atop the mountain, thread it here!
- 2:00pm Earthquakes, Harsen Island: Everything is shaking! This is probably the worst possible thing that could happen! What's up with this shaking?! Does your hero get up to anything during all this? Do they try to find out what's happening? Do they... geez, how do you even react to an hours-long earthquake everywhere?!
- ?:00pm The Garden: Did your hero ask to go to the Garden? What do they do there? Any garden threads go here!
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.
OOC Mortality Warning: Any hero who actively seeks out the Protector IC will be at a high risk of death in some manner. He is on the move, tread carefully!
no subject
"The bridge has answers." The Wizard offers in response to Gyre's question, before Five jumps in with her answer. She looks eager to answer but also frustrated.
"Of course we have! We've asked so many questions and learned some stuff but-- uh." She pauses, her face bunching up.
"I never asked about undoing whatever it is." She admits, looking away.
no subject
"That's alright. It's never too late to start asking questions, right?" he says with the sort of tone of encouragement one might give a very angsty teenager who doesn't like to be told what to do. But then he turns his attention back to the Wizard.
"Is there an event or... topic that we should ask about?" he asks, picking his words carefully to hopefully get around the block. If she can just offer them a place to start, he's pretty sure he can get to the answer given enough time.
no subject
"Ask about mission precautions." She answers, watching him with her characteristic little smirk. At the same time, Five makes a face and immediately interrupts:
"There should've been more of those, huh!" Or else all of this wouldn't have gone so wrong!
no subject
"Mission precautions for this mission, or for all of them?" he asks, trying to narrow it down as much as he can while staying vague enough to get around her blocks. "And uh, should I be... hopeful?"
This second question is one he hopes she can answer, but isn't expecting much for. If he could lift the blocks on her, then he might need to take a day off to just throw a party for her honestly, but he's trying not to hope for too much.
no subject
"All of them, and it couldn't hurt to be hopeful." The Wizard answers, watching Gyre to see how he takes that news. It never hurt anyone to have hope for things. Have fun with that knowledge, Gyre!
no subject
More importantly though, the Wizard says he should be hopeful and he actually grins broadly. A little hope is all he needs, especially after the events of the day. The Protector may be after them, but he may be able to help take off her restrictions. The less restricted they are, the easier it'll be to do what they need to do.
"Okay. I'll ask," he says and he gives her a short, firm nod, turning to Five. "Do you want to keep looking for Nine?"
no subject
"Oh-- Yeah sure, we can do that. Let's go." She gives a little look of confidence because this is something she can do.
"You didn't check her room did you?"
no subject
"No," he says, hesitating, "I was following you. Do you think she's there?"
no subject
"Sometimes she is, but since she hasn't been there all day she's probably there now?" She half-asks, half-tells in response to Gyre's question. She... doesn't really track the other monsters much so she doesn't know where they are a lot of the time.
no subject
"Does she always come back in the evening?" he asks curiously. He wants to know more about their lives so he'll pry now while she seems open to talking about her.
no subject
"She shows up whenever she wants to, I think she sleeps on the bridge most of the time. She doesn't really tell me anything." She answers, shrugging, before pausing and realizing--
"I don't really ask."
no subject
"Well I want to get to know her. You could do it with me if you want," he offers, tilting his head and smiling gently at her. Come learn how to do community with him, Five!
no subject
"Let's check the house first." She follows up with, not wanting to go to the bridge in this moment.