Day 8: Evening

Evening: 5:00pm - Midnight

[ IRL Timeframe: April 1st - April 15th, 2020 ]

The light rain has changed into a downpour, coating the island, its forests, and its people in a constant barrage of water. After the events of the afternoon, it's like it's all being washed away.

Except it isn't, because the events of the day all happened. They're all real. And social media is abuzz about the loss of Harsen Island's mountain. Now, it's all just flat. There are forests, but Craydon is no longer a mountain-side town. Instead, they have a cog train that rolls horizontally across the flat ground from the main train station and over into their very flat town in the woods. Bamborough's hillside hotels with dozens of floors higher up for an ocean view are now down with the rest of the buildings, and only the highest floors can see out over the touristy area to the water. Far Haven, in contrast, has barely changed. You can't flatten something that's already flat. The only textures left on the island are the silver humps of two ships, one near Far Haven and the other near Bamborough. There's also a hump at the center, the cave entrance, leading down into the cave where the bodies were. For anyone who goes to look, there's a new body there now.

- [1] -

The participants in the fight against "Eight" put up a valiant fight, eventually defeating it in a show of heroic justice somewhere along the tracks. In all the rain, its yellowed body is disappearing away into the ground as it washes away.

- [2] -

#childlost

Sxicq is... somewhere. The internet lost them again. Wherever they're at, it's not out on the surface of the island.

- [3] -

The monsters, meanwhile, have returned back to their home in the garden. At least, the ones who seem to live there.

Five and Six are in their rooms on the main floor with the doors open. Five is laying on her bed, tacking away on her flip phone. Six is in his room, sitting on the edge of the bed, also on his phone. If there's anyone in Four's room, it's unknown due to the closed door. Also on the main floor is the Wizard. She's casually sitting in one of the more plain of the thirteen chairs, reading an unnamed book. There's a steaming mug of cocoa on the coffee table in front of her.

On the second floor, Ten's room is the only one open. The doors for Seven, Nine, and Twelve are all shut. If anyone heads in to look for Ten, they'll find him writing in a small notebook with the title "Chef Notes" on the front.

On the top floor, Eight's door is shut but has a small "Text me" sign dangling off of the handle.

- [4] -

If anyone goes looking for the newly surfaced space ships, all they'll find is the smooth metallic surfaces of them rounding out of the terrain. If there's a way in, it's not obvious to others

The Weather
Heavy rain.
59°F / 15°C
A constant wind.

Prompts:

5:00pm Onward: Monster House, The Garden: For any heroes who are up for meeting any of the monsters, this is their opportunity. Some closed doors will have no one behind them, but the open doors are a guaranteed someone to talk to. Will they talk to the monsters, each other, or the Wizard downstairs in the sitting area?

5:00pm Train Station, All cities: All trains have been suspended, citing the "unknown conditions of the island's tracks" after the events of the day. No one is allowed to ride the rails, no one is allowed to go anywhere. Is your hero trapped at a train station waiting for an uber? Does another hero come to their rescue? What's the deal?

?:00pm General Post, Anywhere: Does your character go to investigate things around the island? Do they meet with other heroes somewhere over coffee? How are they handling being cut off from the world? Their family? Their loved ones? How do they feel seemingly being made the enemy of all people of the world?

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!

Activity Check: April 2020

[ IRL Timeframe: April 1st - April 30th, 2020 ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ten stares downward towards the fallen tank, starting to move the moment after Gyre rushes so he can reach down and start, uh.... lifting the tank back up? Effectively locking Gyre into the room. Inside the room, there's nothing and no one. Nothing that could've pushed the tank over, nothing that seems to be at fault. But there's a circular indent near the wall where Gyre will remember the tank having been sitting previously. That mark is still there, and then there's a visible indent a few feet away from it in the middle of the room like something, or the tank, had been slammed into the floor. How odd!

"The text went to Eight or Nine maybe or maybe they're not awake." Ten answers Gyre over the tank, pausing as he hears Five storm up the stairs. Then a moment later another pair of stomping up the stairs. He has the tank held diagonally upwards in the door, turning so he can lock four eyes each on both Five and Garrot. One is on Gyre, and the last is on the tank in his hands.

But Garrot's arrival also earns Five's attention and she pulls her mask up over her mouth and nose, all five eyes narrowing. Her full attention is on Garrot and she has her hands balled up into fists and looks ready to punch him. Who's this big lumbering fight-man!

"Five, Garrot, stop." Ten calls out, still holding the tank diagonally.

Edited 2020-04-06 03:54 (UTC)

Gyre takes note of the indents on the floor and the empty room, swallowing in confusion. He's tense, shaking his head as he returns to the door, standing on the other side of the tank now that he's been blocked inside.

He shifts to look past the tank, watching Five for a moment before looking up to Garrot. "Seven is awake. They must've moved the tank. There's no one in here," he explains, turning his attention to Ten again.

"How do we open this thing?"

It's very odd watching Ten lift that tank like it's basically nothing. But Gyre's explanation gives him what he needs to know: Seven, the kinda-feral slimy monster who was the Protector's puppet, was up to... something. Decidedly not the Protector or anything actively dangerous. Hopefully. It all gets a terse nod out of Garrot. He's surprisingly serious!

"Should we brute force it?" Garrot has big muscles and also multiple Garrots, so naturally it's his obvious choice. The shield disappears, and Garrot finally decides to acknowledge the quintet of eyes boring into him. In fact, he half-turns and makes stern, disappointed fatherly eye contact with Five once he sees her fists. He lets out a little sigh, and suddenly his free hand is casually outstretched before the masked little monster and it's holding... a crowbar. Offering it to her.

"You wanna help?" Frankly, he's more concerned with Seven right now, especially if that's where Gyre and Ten are focusing. Besides, they're supposed to work together with the monsters, right?

"What? Do you want me to break that?" Five asks as Garrot offers the crowbar, and then she pushes it away and pushes past him. She's gonna make her way over to Ten's side now that everyone seems to be gathering together.

Ten, meanwhile, starts nudging Seven's huge tank into the room Gyre is in.

"Careful." He offers as he nudges it forward, then when he's sure Gyre is out of the way he pushes it back vertical. It teeters in place, rolling heavily against the ground, before finally settling in place--

And then the whole cylinder shakes, and the floor it's on shakes, as something inside impacts it and the whole cylinder rocks back towards Ten. He's close enough that he immediately grips it, holding it from falling over again, but there's very clearly seven eyes pressed up against the glass and looking around. Three eyes are locked each on Gyre, Garrot, and Five. One is straight ahead at Ten. The other three eyes are looking all around the room, examining the world outside of the murky tank.

"Can't open it without Nine." Ten finally answers. "Probably in her room. Or text Eight to text her."

Edited 2020-04-09 00:20 (UTC)

Gyre watches Garrot and Five for a moment, a warning on the tip of his tongue if she tried to react more aggressively then that. He's impressed when she backs down though and joins them instead, and his attention returns to Ten.

Just in time to realize he needs to move. He shifts a few steps back and away, watching as the tank is shoved back inside the door. Once Ten says where he needs to go though, he begins to turn towards the door.

Except there are eyes in the murk? He double takes at the tank, leaning close to the one eye that's watching him. He waves slowly at it, smiling gently at them. "You're almost out," he says, winking at them.

He's done after that though, winding out from between everyone and heading down the hallway to Nine's door where he knocks softly.

Garrot just watches the events unfold. Frankly, given what he'd seen of Ten punching the Protector with the force of a truck, it probably would've just been dangerous to get in the way. Instead, he ends up transfixed on Seven's eyes pressed up against the glass. The Monkey Knight didn't actually get to see the monster up close, and this... doesn't really count either.

"Let me know if you need a hand!" Garrot calls after Gyre, but he's not particularly interested in following. He's probably getting Eight or Nine, and those hallways are a little cramped for his tastes anyway. So instead, he'll look at Five, gesture with his head towards the tank for her to follow, and then walk gently towards it. As much as he wants to talk with her or Ten, the monster awkwardly throwing the box around is kind of a bigger deal.

"Hey there..." His voice is... soft, soothing, very nearly parental. "We're gonna get you out of there soon. How are you feeling?" The question is warm and honest, because he still doesn't really understand the details of what this box is doing for Seven. So Garrot takes a moment to look directly at two of Seven's eyes, and then he gently places the palm of his hand on part of the glass, farther from the monster's face. But then he pauses, blinks for a moment, and in slightly more gruff voice, with a bit more volume and amusement...

"Uh... Tap on the glass a little if you can hear us?" Because, well, if they couldn't, there's no point in him being all warm and fuzzy.

Five would shove Gyre if he said any of his thoughts out loud. She was plenty aggressive excuse you. Fortunately she's not in a position to react and he's leaving to go to Nine's room. When he knocks on Nine's door, he'll realize that it's actually open and the door moves inward just slightly.

If, or when, he pushes it open to look inside he'll be greeted with the same room he'd seen before.

Except this time, there's someone here. Barely any of the yellow skin of her monster body is visible, her short form covered in robes and fabrics draped off of her shoulders. They look like they're made up of thin metal with white and silver circuitry running through them, and they're all in shades of black and gray. Now, instead of the metallic holes in the walls and ceiling just existing there, there are long cylindrical tendrils plugged into them. All along the walls, the ceiling, and in the various black boxes stacked up around the room. Every single cylindrical tendril trails back to the center of the room where the monster, presumably Nine, is standing.

Her hands are dangling at her front, head tilted slightly, like she's asleep. But it's impossible to see her face above her nose due to the helmet-like headset she's wearing. Her eyes are hidden behind a slightly rounded mask, all the tendrils slotting in to the back of the mask, seemingly emerging from it or her beneath. She's unresponsive even as he enters, completely motionless where she's standing.

Back in Seven's room, Five is making a point to not follow Garrot at all. Instead she folds her arms, watching him converse with the tank.

Ten, meanwhile, is keeping his grasp on the tank and it's a good thing that he is because when Garrot asks if Seven can hear him, the eyes vanish into the murk inside the tank and there's an unmistakable impact from within. It's as if Seven is punching the glass full-force and when they do, the entire tank shudders visibly. Ten's grip holds it in place, thankfully, but that hit would've sent the tank ping-ponging around the room without his help.

"I think they heard you." He chimes in, watching Garrot for what he's going to do next.

Gyre pauses when the door begins to drift open, blinking down at it. There is the usual hesitation. Sure, he's been in this room before, but she hadn't known about it at the time. For a moment, he feels like a child about to get caught doing something dangerous or taboo. He shifts a little in place, and it's only the bang from the tank down the hall that makes him jump into motion.

He pushes the door open and enters a few steps, pausing once again to take in the changes in the room. He scans the cables, following them in to the back of her head. Is she asleep?

"Nine?" he murmurs softly, drifting a few steps closer. He does not like being around all this technology shit, getting more and more wary as he gets closer to her. He wants to get her attention and leave here as soon as possible.

"Nine, you need to open Seven's tank," he says, a little louder and a little more insistently, and he reaches out to take her hand, patting the back of it gently. Wake up, starshine.

If Garrot knew that Seven would be acting like a caged animal and Nine would be a weird techno cyborg thing, he'd absolutely have shouted for a do-over. The Monkey Knight is really not great with animals, unlike the woodland hermit. Alas. Instead, he'll absolutely jump at the force of the impact against the glass. Thank goodness Ten was there with the, uh, obvious.

"Hey, careful!" Garrot's chiding the monster now, quick to remove his hand from the glass. "I get that you're scared, but you need to be careful not to hurt anyone, okay?" That tank has some heft to it, and Garrot knows full well that if something goes wrong, it'll probably hit him right in the face. And given circumstances, he can't really be in the hospital again! "You're safe here, I promise."

And then, at the lack of Nine running into the room to magically open this medi-box, Garrot looks decidedly cross as he glances towards the door. So a line of about six Garrots appear behind the one nearest Seven, roughly in a line out the room and down the hall towards Nine's room, stopping just a few feet shy of the doorway, if only so his girth doesn't block it.

"Hurry up! Seven wants out!" In fact, all of the Garrots say that at the fabled volume of casual shout, a symphony of gruff bass with enough echo to make it impossible to ignore.

Nine doesn't immediately respond when Gyre speaks to her, but one of the tendrils that's plugged into one of the black cubes on the side wall 'clicks' softly as it separates and starts snaking its way towards him. It drifts along the floor, the end tip of the tendril looking very much like a UHF connector. It's nearly to Gyre's foot when Garrot happens.

Ten has no way of knowing what Garrot is about to do so he can't even come up with the warning to try to stop him from doing something monumentally stupid. Going from silent to shouting was not really the best option. All at once, every tendril and connector in Nine's room disconnects from the walls and boxes and she drops down into a crouch, looking very much like an animal ready to pounce--

And pounce she does. Straight up, to the ceiling, above Gyre, and then back down and out again out the door to land directly by the nearest Garrot. All of her tendrils snake after her, but once her momentum has ceased when she lands, they all lash out with the full intention of wrapping up every single Garrot in this hallway. More specifically, wrap up every Garrot, bind their mouths, and shut them up.

"Don't yell you idi--" Five barely manages out before Nine is there and trying to bind Garrot. "Woah-- h- hey!" She stammers, realizing that her warning is uh. Way too late.

His attention jerks up very slightly when the cord unplugs itself and starts moving towards him. He watches it quietly, holding Nine's hand as it... she? approaches him. It's a quiet moment that gets ruined entirely by Garrot screaming into the room??

"Garrot--" he snaps, turning sharply around to glare at him. He doesn't get more then a moment to realize that there are multiple clones and all of them were yelling before Nine jumps past him and out the door. He follows behind her, dashing and throwing a shield up around the first Garrot he sees. He has no idea which one is the real one, so he'll settle for putting a cylinder of hard air around this one and hoping he guessed right.

He skids out the door a moment later, looking down the conga line of big men all the way to Seven's tank. The one at the end, the one he's pretty sure is the real one, gets a withering glare before he turns his attention to Nine.

"Wait, wait, wait, Nine. Please don't hurt him, them--" he says quickly, stumbling over himself as he realizes he has no idea how to refer to these clones. "Uh, those things?"

Y'know, based off the dirty looks Gyre gave his clones, it seems he misunderstood the wild elf's investment in this situation with Seven. Nine leaping out of the room like a bat out of hell tells him that Gyre was not able to communicate much of anything meaningful, even though time seemed of the essence. Sure, he was loud, but you know what else is loud? Seven banging around and knocking doors down in a giant box! How did that not bring Nine leaping in to save the day?!

All those thoughts and more race through the Garrots in the hall as one gets barrier'd and a few more get uh wrapped up in weird metallic tendril things. They're not hurt, they can all still think, and every single Garrot has definitely been tied up before. A lot. So, like... there's a bit of squirming and grumbling from the accosted ones as their hands try to touch whatever material the tendrils are made out of, but other than that? He's not really making much of a scene or reacting, which will probably be very concerning for Gyre given the bigger man's bombastic tendencies.

Until all the clones are gone in a collective, hallway-filling puff of golden-bronze glitterdust that, if one is attentive, continues in a trail to Seven's room. Garrot knows they're all supposed to be working together, and he has absolutely no intention of giving unnecessary distractions to the one person who can get Seven out.

"Nine." The original Monkey Knight voice calls out from Seven's room, heeding Five's advice as it takes the tone of a stern, disappointed parent. "You can hate me after Seven's out, understand?" Gyre and Nine are on their way over, hopefully, and that's what matters to him. But, uh, those crazy metal tendrils are quickly making their way up the list of priorities, they're cool...

Nine takes note of the half dozen things that happen all at once. The balloon around Garrot. Gyre following her out of the room. Gyre saying not to hurt him. A few Garrots getting successfully wrapped. All the Garrots disappearing.

And then, of course, Garrot talking to himself just inside of Seven's room? Or is he talking to someone? Context says he must be talking to her. Her head abruptly turns in Gyre's direction and, despite her eyes not being visible, he'll feel that she's staring right at him. Her tendrils are draped on the ground now, without any target to wrap around, but two are starting to snake their way towards Gyre's ankles.

"Are you an idiot?" Five interrupts the aftermath of all that nonsense that just happened. She snaps at Garrot, definitely sounding annoyed.

"Can you stop antagonizing each other please." Ten chimes in from within the room, setting microsoft sam to a higher volume so everyone can hear him.

There is a lot going on. Gyre agrees with Nine that it's too much, and he stares down the hallway in irritation as Garrot starts yelling at them. He's honestly just about to yell back and make more of a mess for Ten to clean up when Nine suddenly turns to him, and his skin prickles.

He turns back to her immediately, his eyes widening as he feels how intense her gaze is. It is extremely alarming! to not be able to see her eyes but to still know she's looking at him and he makes a faint, uncomfortable noise, "Uh."

He shakes his head after a moment of stunned quiet, glancing down and noticing the tendrils creeping towards him again. He calls down the hallway, hoping the three hear him before they start arguing, "We're coming."

Then he bends to pick up the two tendrils, scooping them up into his hands and straightening again. "Is this what you needed? Seven is trapped right now, so we should hurry."

"I don't think she's antagonizing me. I did just piss off her big sister." Garrot is surprisingly dismissive of the situation, literally shrugging it off as he looks to Ten. "Besides, medically, Seven is a priority, and doctors don't get to sleep through getting paged." He would know. For someone so predisposed to being angry, he's very... not.

"Just a little longer, kiddo." The once-main Garrot places a hand on the tank's glass again. Seven is what matters to him in this moment. But then his eyes drift over to Ten. "So how can I help Nine get him out?" Being a living alarm clock is great and all, but... he wants to do more.

Gyre's decision to take the two tendrils is correct. They both snake around his hands, then his wrists, and up his forearms. A moment later she's turning to walk down the hallway towards Seven's room. The tendrils basically drag Gyre along after her. If he doesn't walk, he'll get dragged.

But hopefully he walks along.

No matter which, though, she tugs hard with the tendrils to forcibly insist on sending Gyre in Garrot's direction. She basically pulls him straight at Garrot while she stops just inside the door, her tendrils tossing the boar knight at the monkey knight. They release as they do, freeing him.

"What are you even talking about? You don't know how old any of us are or what we ar--" Five counters incredulously, moments before Ten holds up a hand to stop her. But they're both stopped as Nine barges into the room with a thrown-Gyre. Then, a moment later, Ten chimes in trying to stop all of this--

"Everyone please stop."

"Wait--" he starts when she wraps his arms up and starts tugging him along. He follows, of course. This is where he wanted to go to begin with after all. Through all this, all he's wanted is to bring her to Seven so she can help them, but now she's gone and tied him up in the process. He grits his teeth, trying to fight the immediate fear that jumps up into his throat.

"Let go," he says quickly. And when she doesn't, he tugs on his arms, making an anxious grunt of a noise. "Let go-- let go," he repeats himself a little sharper each time, beginning to struggle in earnest by the time he's pulled through the door. It's almost a relief when she throws him off, even if he's sent stumbling over his legs by the force of it.

He realizes exactly where he's getting thrown a few moments too late to stop himself, bringing his hands up to catch himself against Garrot's chest with an oof. The moment he has his own momentum under control though, he's going to take a few quick steps back and away, putting distance between them. He rubs his wrists nervously, little shivers running up his back as he tries to breathe and calm himself. But he's not going to say anything until Seven is out, especially not after Ten asked for all of them to stop, his eyes meeting Garrot's before he turns to watch Nine. The last thing he wants to do is add to whatever chaos Ten was trying to get under control.

Chaos? Garrot resembles that remark! And also kind of resents it, because as far as he can tell the only chaotic thing he did was spook Nine. Which. Uh. Yeah. Not his fault she's skittish and nobody told him. He'd feel worse, but she's here now and can fix things and help Seven.

Or, well, that was the assumption.

As she drags a clearly uncomfortable Gyre into the room, the Monkey Knight tenses up. Garrot can hear the discomfort in the elf's voice, and the way she waits before throwing him isn't exactly endearing, cool tech be damned. But since his buddy's aimed right for him Garrot braces his body and squats down a bit, making sure he won't move an inch when Gyre makes contact. The moment he hears that oof he takes it a step further, gently wrapping an arm around Gyre's back, his hand resting on the elf's shoulder.

At least until Gyre backs away. Instead, that arm stays slightly extended, as if begging for Gyre to come back. For Garrot to be some kind of comfort instead of chaos. But the Boar Knight has never been one to draw attention to his emotions, let alone in a room full of people.

"So the gang's all here." Garrot's smiling, but it's a little forced given the situation. "What do we need to do to get Seven out?" Focus everyone on the obvious, and not on Gyre. And then, as if to cede the floor to Nine's alleged knowledge and Ten's desire for a moment of peace, he even goes so far as to take a few steps back towards the room's walls. There's not much he can do unless asked, after all.

If Nine noticed any of Gyre's panic, she doesn't show it. Instead she's left standing inside the door as Five leans grumpily against the doorframe. It's all really left to Nine, and Ten knows it as he grips the tank and nods at her. A moment later, he glances over to Gyre and asks as quietly as his microsoft sam can manage:

"Are you okay?"

But it's Nine that's doing everything in this moment. She's taken up a pose similar to the one Gyre first found her in, standing with her head slightly tilted and her arms dangling at her sides. The metallic tendrils coming out of her head slide along the floor until they reach the bottom of the tank. The plugs slot into place in several circular ports and only a moment later, the liquid in the tank goes pitch black. There isn't even a single sound or a single movement that follows.

Five looks at Nine for a few moments, then looks at the tank, and then finally looks at Garrot, Gyre, and Ten.

"Uh. Maybe don't stand near the tank."

And that's all the warning anyone gets before all the glass of the tank splinters and cracks. Spiderwebbed fractures line the entire cylindrical shape of it and the liquid inside starts spraying out of all the cracks. Ten's hands immediately let go and he takes a few big steps back, hands staying warily up in the air in case something jumps. Here goes.

Gyre tenses when Garrot puts his arm around him, retreating from him and uh, yes entirely ignoring that offered arm. He just barely glances at it before settling his eyes on Nine.

Ten gets a similar response at least? He eyes the smaller monster for a little longer then the offered arm before nodding just slightly. "I'll be fine," he mutters, just loud enough to be heard. He folds his arms over his chest after that, closing himself off to further interrogation. There's more important things to pay attention to you then the panic attack he would've had if the hallway had been much longer!

When Five tells them to back up, he starts to automatically, freezing in place when the tank suddenly shatters like that. The sound is terrifying in this moment, after being tied up even briefly, and he jolts several steps back all at once, smooshing himself against the wall.

He only thinks to respond more then that when he sees Ten's hands go up, and a moment later the air begins to shimmer in a cylinder around the tank as he sets a shield up between all of them and it. If Seven comes out calm, he'll drop it immediately, but he's going to hold this here until he knows what's coming out of all that black liquid. Or well. He's trying anyway. The shield is shivering and flickering a little as he continues trying to breathe deep and calm down, but he's doing his best.

Gyre's retreat gets the tiniest of whimpers from Garrot, as he's clearly the sort to take rebuffed compassion as a personal attack. And he has been terrible, especially to this guy. He's been trying to do better, but he needs to try harder. He's a Knight, dammit! So when he hears that weak response from Gyre, when he sees him freeze before scrambling back, he knows he needs to step up.

And that shield gives him all the inspiration he needs. Gyre's a clever one. So he takes two steps back, a few feet from Gyre but placing him directly between the Knight and the tank. Sure Gyre can still see, but if anything happens, Garrot's bigger, he's in the way.

"Knock the glass out!" The Monkey Knight knows Seven could hear before, so he's only raising his voice a little as he puts on the mask of the confident, commanding surgeon. "Then we'll let the barrier down..." Make it all seem like part of the plan, even though the board keeps changing, just like a shift at the hospital. Fake it till you make it! "...and you can jump out. Okay?" But by the end, proud and mighty Garrot's voice has an edge of desperation.

Because what he's not saying is that if it comes down to it, he won't be able to stop himself from sticking a spear through Seven's skull. Vengeance, protecting his allies, he'll have all the rationale he needs. That means he's praying for the most monstrous of monsters to be on their best behavior during a terrible time, when he himself can't do the same. And Garrot hates it.

Unfortunately for everyone in the room, absolutely nothing that happens could've been predicted by anyone. The black liquid in the tank may slowly be draining from the tiny cracks, but there's a flicker and all of that liquid is suddenly in the room. It sloshes down to the floor as the door swings shut behind Nine and Five. The sound of all the tank water simultaneously dropping and filling the floor to ankle-level drowns out Five's confused outburst as she whirls around to face the door. The tank is empty--

And the room is upside down. It's instantaneous, the gravity in the room flipping over, and it takes everyone by surprise. The tank is the first to hit the ceiling-now-floor and the force of the landing causes the glass to shatter into a horrible pile. The fall of the tank takes Nine with it, her body falling like a ragdoll and landing like a discarded toy doll when she lands.

Both Five and Ten do particularly cool flips before both landing like Iron Man. But Ten's fast enough that he can at least reach out and try to stop both Gyre and Garrot from landing and breaking their necks. He absolutely can't catch either of them, but he can stop them from dying like this.

The furniture falls afterward. The wooden bed slams down in a corner, splintering everywhere. The bookshelf and side table do the same, landing in unfortunate piles of destruction at the edges of the room.

And Seven is perched on top of the lid of the tank, staying well-balanced despite the diagonal orientation of the disc-shaped chunk of metal. All four of their limbs are gripped into it, claws sinking deep into the material as if it were made of butter. The pose would make them right at home as a gargoyle on a castle top, which also makes this that much more terrifying.

Their body is a deep yellow with swirls of black running through it like scars. Actually, they are scars. They're almost perfectly precise, lined up in sets of five all over their body, all the same length. The only scar that's any different is the circular one right on the back of their neck. Their eyes form a crescent moon all the way around their face, one on their forehead with three on each side, ending on both sides of their mouth that's clenched and baring their terrifying set of fangs. The bright orange color is intense.

Instead of hair, they have a messy liquid shape that looks metallic draping down their back. It's shifting slightly like ferrofluid, as if waiting to be directed. They growl low and long, gaze shifting around at all the people in the room, finally settling on Five. Since she was the only one to land without an issue, she's the first one to react and she holds both hands up in a pacifying gesture.

"Uh, calm down, we're cool?" She tries, hopefully.

Gyre gets about ten seconds to be impressed with the way Garrot is handling this. He doesn't know what chaos the man was wrecking that made Ten yell at them, but he seems surprisingly calm here. Surprisingly protective. Surprisingly invested in helping Seven out into the world.

And then said world flips. He yelps as his stomach drops in the wrong direction?? and he pinwheels his arms, trying to get himself in a better position to fall. His body twists, like a cat's, setting himself up to land on his shoulder if not his hands and feet, and then Ten collides with him, knocking him more fully onto his side. Which is good. It's less good that the shove forces his hands away from his head where he was trying to uh keep it attached to his body.

This is to say, he slams into the ceiling and his head flies the fuck off. His body goes through the very strange pantomime of being winded, arching and curling as if trying to gasp despite having no mouth to actually breathe through. Shining green smoke begins to pour out of the hole of his neck, and he scrambles to grab his own head by the hair and yank it closer again.

He curls in on himself here in the corner, trying to hide as he tugs his collar off and moves to replace himself in the least disturbing way possible. Sufficed to say, he's going to miss the chance for a pleasant greeting with Seven as he tries right himself. His eyes stay strained to the corners as he spins around by his hair, trying to keep his gaze on the new monster even as his body wrangles his head back into place. Give him a second.

Garrot has had to deal with many a baffling circumstance in his life, but the inversion of gravity is not one of them. In fact, as a man of science, he didn't even think that was possible.

But magic sure is fuckin' weird.

Garrot is a hefty man, and so the notion of him falling, head-first, is terrible. There's a shout of "Fuck!" as he falls, but it's cut short by Ten's hand. Timely intervention, that. He takes a moment to compose himself as he looks around. Five and Ten are fine, Nine seems out cold, Seven is perched, and Gyre is-

Oh shit, he's headless. Garrot knows it can happen, but seeing it in person is still plenty upsetting! Heads just don't do that! He also knows that Gyre was plenty stressed already, and that Seven doesn't need to be on edge and seeing a decapitation.

So he conjures a clone that's standing on the new floor. Garrot takes a similarly pacifying gesture as Five, but he's standing such that Gyre's little uh problem isn't obvious. Gotta give him some privacy, y'know?

"How are you feeling?" Garrot's tone is far less hopeful, and more... medical. More calm and compassionate and authoritative, as opposed to a sack of grumpy potatoes. In fact, as long as he framed this as him being a doctor checking on a confused patient, it was much easier to do the right thing. "How can we help you?"

Because despite the laws of physics getting funky, they're all here to help. And as long as he focuses on that, Garrot can't give emotional space to outbursts or revenge.

Fortunately for Gyre and unfortunately for Garrot's efforts, Seven doesn't care about the head rolling around. In the time it's taken Garrot to get up off the ground from the fall, Seven's gaze is on Nine's body. Then it's on Five. Then Ten. Really it just seems like they're scanning the room, gaze shifting one by one to touch on everyone here.

From where Nine is laying on the floor, several of her tendrils start slowly moving again. They shift at first, like snakes, before seeming to find their way. That way, for anyone paying attention, is towards where Seven is perched.

But Seven is observant, and three of their eyes lock on the approaching tendrils. Their remaining four eyes keep one each on the others in the room, one each on Garrot, Gyre, Five, and Ten. One each was enough, three were checking the other monster's actions, seemingly wary of the threat they might pose.

And then their eyes bulge slightly as something abruptly surprises them. A moment later they hunch forward and vomit all over the ground. It's a horrible mess of black liquid, metallic goop, and chunks of what could only be described as thick caltrops. Truly awful things that shouldn't be inside of anyone, much less a monster. All of their limbs grip hard into the lid of the tank that they're perched on, holding them in place as their body forcefully expels that awful liquid again and again. If anyone's keeping tabs, they could've easily filled a twenty gallon fish tank with what comes out of them by the time they're finished with those heaving convulsions.

But the benefit was that Nine's tendrils have reached the tank lid and are plugging into it while Seven is distracted. What's she doing?

Ten, being the good monster he is, is grabbing a towel after making sure to check on Gyre and give him a "do you need help?" question that he gets a denial from. It's one of those fluffy towels that feels great to use, and he's moving over to offer it to Seven. Five, meanwhile, looks absolutely stunned. She can't believe what Seven's throwing up and god damn does it show on her face? That's so gross?? Fuck that???

The Weather

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