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

"Y...es?" Luka's surprised that this, of all things, caught Gyre's attention and he momentarily forgets his troubles. "Well, not everyone does... but it's common. You don't?"

Luka hadn't considered Gyre's relationship with his parents until that moment, but he supposes it makes sense that he wouldn't be in contact with them. He seemed to lead a solitary lifestyle, but at the same time Luka had gotten the impression that community was still an aspect of it.

"How are you going to get stronger? We don't exactly have the Protector around to hand out power anymore." Luka frowns, raising an eyebrow. "And... why does it have to be you? It's dangerous to do something like that alone, no matter how much stronger you get."

"No," he answers automatically, sounding bemused at the idea of keeping in contact with any of his parents. "I haven't met a wild elf who does. Do you... continue to learn from her?" He asks this like it's the only reason he can think of to continue contact with a parent, tilting his head curiously.

For once, this kind of conversation feels easier then this second bit. He's been avoiding trying to explain himself this entire time, hoping that people will just let him do this so that their plan can go off without having to work too hard.

"The Wizard told me to talk to Eleven. She said they might be able to do something. I'm going to find them tonight," he explains the easier part of this, sighing faintly and looking away for the next bit. There's a long pause here, as if he's going to ignore the more complicated part of this question. He takes a deep breath.

"There isn't anyone else," he finally declares. "I have a shield that can keep him away from me. No one else has anything like that anymore. You need to speak to the people. Matilda can't fight. Garrot should stay with you in case I fail. I don't see another option."

"Yeah." Luka confirms, the corners of his mouth curling into a wistful smile. "I don't get to visit as often as I used to, but she always has some wisdom to impart... whether or not I want to hear it."

He can't fault Gyre for not keeping in contact with his parents. Luka himself couldn't wait to be independent of them in his younger years, though he can't imagine never returning to his family at all.

Luka listens intently to Gyre's explanation of his plan, his expression falling into an apprehensive frown.

"Garrot can fight. He can back you up." He says, his hands finding Gyre's at his knee and taking one in his to idly hold. "I don't need him to protect me. Olivia and Haizea are good enough, if it comes down to it."

Gyre tilts his head slightly, trying to understand that smile. The idea of enjoying someone giving advice you don't want or don't need sounds annoying to him, but Luka is smiling to sweetly. He supposes it must be different coming from a parent. He can only imagine it feeling like you're a child again though, and that idea sounds so completely infuriating that he decides to set it to the side for now. He can ask more when there are fewer stakes. After the Protector has been dealt with.

He gently squeezes Luka's hand, reaching up to cover his, engulfing his hand with both of his. He sighs faintly, looking away.

"I... want to talk to him. The Protector. While he's trapped," he admits softly. "And I don't think Garrot can hold himself back long enough for me to do that, if I can even convince him to talk in the first place."

"I want to talk to him too!" Luka insists, just slightly exasperated. "I have a thousand things I've been dying to confront him about. Even before he turned on us like this."

He sighs in resignation, his shoulders relaxing as he exhales a small part of the tension wound up inside him.

"But... my fans are more important than him. I need to reassure them about our loyalties more than I need answers from The Protector." Luka says, though he's not entirely accepted that he can't be in both places at once. "What are you going to say to him, when you do?"

Gyre makes a faint, flustered noise when Luka gets exasperated with him. He sits up straighter, squeezing his hand again, trying to resist jumping in to explain himself.

"I-I want him to talk to everyone," he says quickly. "But if he'll talk to me, I trust him more, to talk to you. Ah, he hates me. So much." He takes one hand away to run a hand through his hair awkwardly. "Does that make sense? I won't do it if my shield isn't strong enough. W-we'll figure something else out then."

He wants this man to approve of his actions, much as he feels strange to admit it to himself. He's pretty sure he knows what he's going to do, unless someone changes the game again, but he would absolutely listen if Luka really objected to this.

"I don't know what I'll say. I want to... talk to him. I want to understand him," he murmurs, sighing faintly. "If he wants to save us now, he should want to save us somewhere else, right?"

He's still... not sure, about this whole plan and it's reflected clearly in his current expression.

"Why do you think he'll be more willing to listen now than before? Now he thinks, or... he says, at least, that you've turned his Princess and Knight against him." Luka asks quietly. He's more concerned and curious than he is combative. "And... how can you be sure your shield will be strong enough?"

"I hope he'll listen if I take away his ability to fight," he says, forcing himself to sound more certain then he feels. It's what the Wizard had told him, and she hadn't been wrong so far about how that man would react.

"I'll talk to Eleven about it. And the Wizard. They'll know how strong it needs to be. If they can't make it strong enough, then I won't do it." Though if it's close, he probably will. He won't say that though, given how unsure Luka already looks about this.

"Maybe he will. What else could he do but listen, then?" Luka says. He's trying to be hopeful despite his wary skepticism of the plan. "Either way, you shouldn't do it alone... maybe one of them can go with you."

He exhales softly, weaving their fingers together idly in a vain attempt to distract himself from the thought of possibly losing another Knight to the Protector's vengeance.

"Have you spoken to the Wizard? About the stuff we learned at the bridge?" He's eager to change the topic, and curious to know if Gyre had gotten any answers that he hadn't yet.

He watches their fingers wind together, mirroring him and sighing as well. He's also thinking about dead Knights. He's already dead and resilient besides. The rest of them seem so much more delicate to him, and he can't stand the idea of them dying. They have lives to return to, children and partners and hobbies. He truly doesn't want any of them to come with him.

He lets it go though, following Luka along to a different subject. They'll have time to figure out logistics for that plan later, when the other Knights are around as well.

"We talked a little," he says, grabbing the back of his own neck with his free hand. "Honestly, I'm not sure I understood a lot of that stuff. She told me to ask that person about a couple things next time I'm there though." He shakes his head a little, feeling decidedly disappointed in admitting that.

And then he brightens as he remembers the one thing he did manage to learn. "Aldyn Malax Tierra, that's the Protector. She said there wasn't anyone that we could contact to stop him."

"You should use that name when you talk to him. Maybe it will remind him who he really is supposed to be."

Learning the Protector's name was interesting, though Luka is unsure that it would get through to him at all. Nothing, it seems, could shake the Protector's will and determination - especially not something as mundane as the Knights learning his name.

The follow-up that there was no one overhead to call on was disheartening, but expected. Their planet was gone and they had no way to signal anyone from here.

"She's the robot, too. That protection unit thing." He adds. "But I guess you know that, now."

He nods softly, returning his free hand to Luka's knee and squeezing both it and his hand.

"Mmhm. She doesn't mind which name we use for her, the Wizard or uh, the other one," he adds thoughtfully as he turns over the idea of calling the Protector by his old name. He decides he's going to try it automatically, but that leaves him wondering how that man is going to respond to a reminder of where he came from.

"Do you think that'll work? Do you think he wants to remember?"

"It's worth a try. If he doesn't want to remember the effect might be even greater, honestly." Luka says, sighing softly.

"We need to employ everything we can to make him come to his senses, even if the experience proves unpleasant for him. It's not going to be easy... the man's totally lost in the sauce." If Luka were in a more pleasant mood, he might laugh at his own words here - but in the moment all he can offer is a brief, disgusted scoff.

"I wonder what it is that made him snap suddenly. I thought he still trusted Olivia and I, at least a little bit."

"Maybe he saw us together," he murmurs, making a low, amused sound in his throat. "We were uh, brazen last night." He brings Luka's hands to his lips, kissing the back of it and then grinning against his skin so he can feel it. He's definitely teasing, trying to keep it as light as he can in the face of all this.

"Or maybe it was the sword..." he muses after that, recalling the blade as it was pulled out of Luka's head. He hopes Twelve wouldn't have done that if it put them in danger though, and........ his thoughts stop there. He rewinds what Luka just said, and clicks his tongue in confusion.

"What is... the sauce?"

"If he watched us... well, that's on him. No one made him do that!" Luka smiles, reveling in the sudden affection. It was, if nothing else, a very easy way to take his mind off of his worries. "But if he couldn't look away? Hey, I get it."

Luka laughs, moving himself closer toward Gyre as he does. His thinking is single-minded, but then Gyre's sudden pause makes Luka stop too. The question takes Luka by surprise and despite his best efforts, he can't help but laugh more.

"I guess, in this case," He explains through a few errant giggles. "It's like when you're in something way too deep. Lost in the sauce."

"I know I couldn't look away," he says, an amused purr in his throat. As Luka tries to squish closer to him, he tucks an arm under his knees and lifts them up, scooching himself closer across the bench. He's smiling broadly as he listens to the princess giggling, lowering the man's legs down over his lap and settling his arms across his thighs.

"Is sauce something that's normally deep? It's a food, right?" He's definitely playing a little dumb just so he can listen to Luka talk here, though he also can't immediately conjure up what a sauce looks like so it'll be informative as well.

"Is this alright?" he adds after a moment, patting the other's legs to indicate the position they're in. He wants the man comfortable after all!

"It's very alright." He says. Luka's always happy to get closer, and as Gyre repositions them he casually drapes his arms over the others shoulders and leans in.

"It depends on what kind of sauce it is, though." He says matter-of-factly, as if explaining the versatility of sauces to Gyre is anything close to pressing matter. "Like, sometimes its just a little on top to add flavor, and other times its practically the whole dish! I'm a fan of the latter more, myself."

Gyre slips his hand around Luka's back, looping his arm up to gently support the back of his neck. He leans towards him in the same moment, nearly close enough to press their foreheads together.

"Aren't they... liquids though? Isn't a dish that's entirely sauce just a soup then?" he says, his tone light and easy and maybe a little teasing? He wants to poke fun at the absurdity of all those Food Names that these people have, but he also knows that this conversation is, indeed, the least pressing matter. But that's fine. The Princess clearly needed the pick-me-up.

"It's usually heavier than a liquid, but you're right." Luka admits. The world of cooking wasn't something he was familiar with in any capacity, and its intricacies beyond the basics eluded him. "Some soups are heavy enough to pass as a sauce, too... it makes no sense when you think about it."

Luka decides then that he's done enough thinking about sauce, instead taking advantage of his proximity to Gyre to move one hand to cup his cheek.

"What about you?" He asks with a hint of concern in his voice. "Did everything go okay for you today? Besides the obvious."

...damn. Gyre was having fun with the other topic. They have to go back to serious things eventually though. He leans his cheek into Luka's palm almost automatically, letting his eyes drift to his face as he asks how the day went. He looks away when he hears the concern though, taking a deep breath and holding it for a moment.

"I wish... that it had gone better. The meeting this morning. Going to that place in the mountain again." He trails off here, making a vague gesture with his free hand. It was all pretty meh if not outright bad, the only highlight of it seeing Five earlier, and Luka now.

"How was Sxicq?"

"Mm." Luka frowns slightly, stroking Gyre's cheek with this thumb. "There's a lot of things that could have gone better today. We're all still here, though. That's at least something."

"Sxicq was... oh!" Luka starts before suddenly remembering that he isn't sure anyone had mentioned the whole fusion thing to Gyre yet. "Sxicq was fused together with Eight! Haizea said they looked totally different. They were doing something with lightning, on the mountain."

Gyre hums in agreement, glancing away. As long as they're all here, there's hope, but he can't help feeling like this morning was such a huge step backwards. He really thought they'd be more on the same page and--

And his brain short circuits completely. Fused together?? They looked different?? "What-- wait, what does that mean? Like they were one person? Was Eight okay with that?"

He can't help thinking about Five saying she doesn't want to be a part of Sxicq again, and his whole body tenses. Sxicq is terrifying but he's not going to let that weird child possess these monsters if they don't want it.

"Yeah!" Luka responds, excitedly. "Haizea said they looked like crystal, like Sxicq does - but dressed like Eight and with his eyes! We didn't recognize them at first, but then they split apart again and Sxicq came to talk with us."

Luka's not entirely sure why Gyre's so tense at the concept. It was concerning at first, yeah, but it was totally cool!

"Eight seemed okay with it. He texted me afterward actually..." Luka says, attempting to reassure him. "That reminds me. The Wizard said he wanted to talk to me."

He tries to imagine a crystalline Eight, tipping his head back slightly as if to look up at the giant monster. The idea is. A little overwhelming? He knows they're all pieces of Sxicq but the thought of them coming together and changing their bodies is uh a little grotesque to him actually.

"As long as he's okay with it," he murmurs after a few moments, trying to reassure himself as much as he's acknowledging what Luka said. He blinks after that though, turning his attention back to the princess.

"Did she say what he wanted to talk about?" He's impressed honestly! Eight had seemed so stoic when he's met him, and it hadn't seemed like Luka's introduction went over that well with him. Maybe the princess' charisma charmed even that very shy dude.

"No, I don't know if she knew... we got kind of sidetracked." Luka shakes his head. "Actually... let me see if I can find out now?"

Luka reluctantly takes his hand off of Gyre to find his phone, and deftly types out a text to Eight.

"I can ask about how he feels about the fusion, if you want." Luka says as he finishes typing. "I'm curious, too, but I don't know how much he's willing to talk about it."

The Weather

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