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

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???

What a horrific sound to have to listen to while he adjusts his head, balancing it in place while he ties his collar back on. He notes Garrot's double blocking his body from view, and he's utterly grateful even if he can't say so. Same for Ten getting close to him and quietly checking his status. He dismisses the concern because there's more important things going on in this room, and he winces as he hears those last ragged notes of Seven purging whatever awful thing was in their body.

By the time he's standing again, Nine is nearly to the tank and Ten is offering the towel out. He scans the scene, taking in as much as he can. The glint of metal in all that black goop. Five's horrified face. How nice that towel looks. Garrot standing there like a hero.

He makes a slight gesture to catch Five's attention, miming breathing in and out in a calming way. Breathe, little monster, it's going to be okay. The tension from her is palpable and Seven doesn't need it.

And then he turns to another thing Seven doesn't need at this exact second, grabbing Garrot by the back of his shirt and murmuring quickly and softly, "Don't approach. They'll need space." He says this like a person who knows this is the case, and he lets go of the other's shirt a moment later. He's not forcing him to do anything, but it is clearly a strong opinion he has.

As Seven starts vomiting caltrops profusely, Garrot makes the executive decision to go back to basics. That means the Garrot that tumbled to the floor is gone in a gentle puff of golden-bronze dust, and if he's still got that gauntlet or crowbar at all, they're definitely gone too. Just in time for Gyre's incredible vote of confidence. If he didn't know any better, it'd be like another day of surgeries.

"Ugh, shut up and catch your breath. I know what I'm doing." The bugbear's disdain is impossible to ignore, especially with the dirty look he shoots Gyre. Garrot Murtakhor is a world-renowned trauma surgeon, he won't take orders from this hermit. He will tell the elf to take care of himself though, which is in stark contrast to his tone.

And then he takes a big step away from both Seven and Gyre. Can't give the impression that two Knights, people who kill Seven, are being secretive. So he goes back to being authoritative.

"Xaljim, get me two big buckets of drinking water for Seven." If the monkey could do it the day before, he could do it today. And even if Seven isn't thirsty, it'll help with cleanup.

"Ten," he calls out, firmly emphasized to cut through the vomit chaos, "is this normal? Any ideas?" Seven's in distress, Nine is busy, and if Ten can't come up with anything, Garrot'll have to ask Five. Even though he'd much rather laugh at the face she was making until his own turned blue.

If Five knew what Garrot was thinking about, she'd throw him out of the house. Right out the window. Don't be a jerk, Garrot. Fortunately she doesn't know about his rude thoughts and instead gets Gyre's look urging her to calm down. The squint she gives him is almost palpable, and she turns her gaze slightly towards Seven like "don't you SEE this?"

Gyre and Garrot's little moment isn't lost on Ten or Seven, both get the full show right in front of their eyes. A moment later, Garrot's stepping back. Another moment later, three wooden buckets filled with water appear. Two splash into the sloshy mess of liquid on the ground, the third is upside-down and dropping onto Garrot's head. It dumps its water contents all over him (unless he somehow predicts the third bucket, but it appears only a foot above his head so good luck).

It happens a moment after he asks Ten if this is normal, so Ten waits for Garrot to Deal With That before he answers.

"No ideas." He admits, seven of his eyes locked on Seven.

Seven, meanwhile, is still keeping their gaze on everyone. The towel is there, and they know it's an option, but the sudden commotion means that they're about to react and-- A bubble forms around them attached to the metal of the tank disc. The bubble is bright yellow and seems to have the consistency of pudding. All of seven's eyes snap open in surprise, they look down at the pudding bubble-- and then they disappear into it.

"Oh." Ten adds immediately, staring at the new pudding orb. Uh. He turns slightly, looking at Garrot and Gyre.

"Problem solved."

Well. Whatever specks of good will Garrot had begun to get back are immediately extinguished by that tone and that look. Being told to shut up doesn't help much either. Gyre's eyes widen in immediate fury, and he forces a breath out through his nose, pointedly retreating across the room towards Five instead of engaging.

Seven doesn't need the first thing they see be two Knights fighting each other, much as he would like to smack this dude across the face right now. Instead he folds his arms over his stomach, his eyes darting from person to person, watching the buckets appear, watching Ten admit he doesn't know what to do and then--

"Ah--" He takes a step forward, raising his hands as if he has any idea how to help with a yellow ball consuming Seven? He doesn't! He has no idea what to do here, and feeling useless in this situation sucks!!

"What should..." he starts, trailing off as he notices just how unconcerned Ten seems to be. He glances back to check Five's mood as well. "Are they okay in there? Is... is Nine okay?" he adds, glancing pointedly towards Nine's uh limp body?

As much as Garrot wanted to make snarky remarks about how he totally got Gyre to take breaths and now they're definitely not looking conspiratorial, Xaljim had other plans. Bucket-shaped plans. A third bucket. Garrot's bucket. On his head. Water-side down. There's a low yelp from Garrot since he was more concerned with the gross liquid-adjacent substance on the floor, and his entire body visibly tenses up. And then there's a loud groaning sigh and the tension releases, his shoulders relax, and he casually removes the skull-bucket and tosses it into an empty corner, out of the way of anyone else.

And that all took just long enough for the first thing he consciously sees to be Seven getting eaten by some weird, yellow bubble. It's just too weird for him to parse in this state!

"Solved?!" He does not believe you, Ten. "Why is- What is-" The sputtering betrays his surprise more than any actual frustration though. Garrot just sighs, again, as he trudges towards a wall nearish to Five and Gyre to lean against it, but not enough to be all intrusive and nosy, because Gyre's mad at him again. Big guy seems a little defeated!

"Y'know, I figured I'd give Seven some medical attention, but..." Another sigh. "I can't even act like I know how your bodies work." Garrot would be far more enthused about medical discourse and scientific discovery if being doctorly wasn't his main distraction from demanding answers from Seven. "Is there any logic to this, or is it just weird magic?"

And given that he doesn't say or do anything else, it's not rhetorical.

"That isn't solved at all. And--" Five chimes in, voicing literally everyone's thoughts in this moment. She's looking at Gyre as he's asking about Nine and finally she looks down at the smaller monster's prone form.

"Uh. She's fine. Probably. Maybe? Actually, I don't really know. We don't talk." As she answers, her face is scrunching up as she works through her own brain on this situation.

"They're fine in there. It's weird magic, all weird magic. They'll be hungry. Can you go downstairs and get them some food?" Ten chimes in, answering nothing but also answering at least something? At the same time, Five is looking awkwardly at Gyre, Garrot, and Ten before abruptly adding--

"I'll make sure Nine is alright and stay right here making sure she's alright and not going downstairs for food at all because I'll be right here." She says it all a little too fast, shuffling over to where Nine's laying.

Edited 2020-04-18 23:21 (UTC)

It's a little alarming to hear that Five also has no idea what's going on. He figured Garrot probably wouldn't have any more ideas then him, especially when the man comes and stands at the wall there, but another monster?? Did Nine and Ten really not explain a single thing about how this was supposed to work?? The idea frustrates him tremendously, and he makes a note to ask about it later.

For now though, Ten gives him a task to do and he... wants to accomplish it. He even turns towards the door the second he's told what to do, only to remember that uh they're on the ceiling.

"How do we get down?" he asks, turning towards Ten once again and giving him a dry look. "And what do they eat?"

Garrot, on the other hand, is very comforted by the fact that at least one of the monsters doesn't know what's going on. It makes him feel less out of the loop, less useless. And as he watches things unfold, the most he can contribute seems to be just getting food. They've survived eight days of this, and all he can do is walk to the kitchen. It makes him want to scowl and scream, but as soon as he hears Five say she wants to make sure Nine is alright, his bodies move almost automatically. Two Garrot clones extend towards where he'd thrown that bucket, and they disappear as it's tossed back to the original. Then, the now-singular Garrot grabs the empty bucket in one hand, a filled bucket in the other, and walks over to Five and Nine.

"You can sit her on this and clean that crap off her, if you want." And then Garrot sets down the filled bucket and flips the other before it thuds into the floor, a makeshift stool. His head gestures towards that towel, because it is just right there, before smiling at Five. "I'll check her out when I get back, okay?" But then he turns to the door, putting his back to the wall below (above?) it. And then there's another Garrot standing on his shoulders, trying to open the door. It's uh a lot harder to do that when you're upside-down and standing on yourself.

"And we climb, obviously." And then the bottom Garrot links his hands together to make a little platform for Gyre to step on.

Five sloshes over to where Nine's laying on the watery floor and scoops her out of the water. The smaller monster's form is completely limp, like she's a ragdoll, and Five stabilizes the offered bucket from where Garrot placed it. A moment later she's hoisting Nine's body atop it with one hand while grabbing the filled bucket with the other. Another second later she's dumping the bucket of clean water all over Nine to wash away the black and metallic muck.

Nine doesn't respond at all, and actually starts tilting like she's gonna fall again. Fortunately Five's quick to hold her steady. None of those tendrils have come unhooked from the tank top that caused the yellow pudding balloon yet. But Five's quick to take a jab at Garrot:

"She doesn't need to be checked out."

Ten, on the other hand, is shuffling over to Five to place the towel around her neck so she can use it on Nine when snaps out of it.

"They probably eat fish. But bring a little of everything. There's a cupcake serving tray under the counter, fill each cup with something different." He explains as he turns his attention to Gyre, then turns towards Garrot as he makes an impromptu climbing machine. The two will be able to get up to the door that way, but they're also going to enjoy gravity re-asserting itself the moment they get through the door.

Honestly Garrot didn't even need to self-stack, the door wasn't too far away. Ten foot ceilings, but getting it open meant it probably didn't hurt to get up there. But what higher-Garrot does get, when he gets the door open, is gravity slurping him off of lower-Garrot's shoulders and dropping him onto the hallway floor above (below?). Have fun with that vertigo, buddy!

"No rush, they need about thirty minutes." He clarifies, giving Gyre and Garrot a thumbs-up each.

"I'd like my jerky too if you see it!" Five adds abruptly, two eyes snapping towards the departing heroes.

Gyre watches Garrot helping with Nine, smirking slightly at the way Five rebuffs him. The expression falls when she just uh dumps water all over Nine though, his hands jolting up as if he'll be able to appear at their side to help as well. It takes him a moment to realize that no one seems concerned about it, and Five is still keeping Nine up and out of the goop. That's probably enough, right? Especially if a check up from a doctor isn't going to help at all.

His attention is split after that, between Ten describing what foods to grab and how to bring it up, and Garrot coming over and stacking himself up. He glances down at the offered, cupped hands, frowning slightly at the idea of taking the man's help.

It's a frown that gets turned upwards in surprise as the top Garrot just uhhh falls off?? He blinks once, standing up a little straighter. "That's easy enough," he murmurs, turning to give Five a thumbs up about her jerky. Then he bends down slightly and jumps the couple feet up to the door frame. He grabs hold of it and swings, and as gravity reasserts itself, he manages a very nice little twist in the air and lands firmly on his feet beside the fallen Garrot.

"Are you okay?" he asks him, bending down to offer a hand to help him up if he needs it.

Garrot should've expected Five to shoot down his support and just drench Nine, because nothing about this situation has been calm or reasonable. But, well, oops. There's a bit of a wobble from the climbable Garrot when the other just drops in reaction to normal gravity. The clone lands flat on his back, legs in the air, making it just annoying enough for both bugbears to stay within the distance limits of his power. And hoo boy does it suck, because Garrot's experiencing reality from two different gravities!

Naturally, Gyre follows up with the sheer audacity to bypass his human ladder altogether and just parkour through the doorway like some kind of fucking cat before being polite. Ugh.

"My brain feels like it's being pulled in opposite directions, but..." Garrot trails off for a moment, willing the clone in the room away and probably covering Nine in soggy, golden-bronze magic particles. As much as he wants to try and save face and do something cool to get back on his feet, Gyre is right there, and these hallways are pretty small, so...

"I'll be fine." He does actually take Gyre's hand to pull himself up, but the way he braces himself from the waist down shows that Garrot's trying to do as much of it himself as he can, without tossing the elf around. But when he comes up, his face is... redder than before. "Th-thanks. Do you know where the food is?"

He'll still pick a random direction and charge onward, if needed...

Gyre raises a skeptical eyebrow at him when he feels the way he's moving his body, squeezing his hand and giving him a hard tug at the end as if to prove he's not some delicate waif who can't hold himself up. He won't say anything about it though, releasing his hand as soon as he's up and turning slightly.

"Good," he says, giving a slight nod to that first bit. He's pleased the man didn't hurt himself in the fall, if only because he doesn't want to see anyone in particular suffer.

"Yeah, it's down here," he adds after that, heading towards the stairs. The kitchen is on the first floor, behind the stairs, and he's hoping the """cupcake tray""" is fairly obvious once he gets there so they can make the trip quick. He's not trying to pick a fight with Garrot, but he's definitely pretty lukewarm on the idea of spending a whole lot of time with him here.

The Weather

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