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

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.

Garrot offers an affirmative grunt once Gyre starts in the right direction. That hard tug moments ago was pretty curious, but not enough to ask about. He's a big bugbear, so maybe he was trying a little too hard? But as they walk there's the unmistakable, almost rhythmic clack of the doctor's claws as he places a hand against the wall with every step. That gravity switch did a number on him in the moment, and residual effects would be entirely unsurprising.

"So..." Garrot does not want to sit in awkward silence with Gyre. As long as he forces a conversation, he doesn't have to confront his behavior over the last 24 hours, right? "You want to save the monsters, and Seven's fine. Going to be." They absolutely have to talk about the vomiting gargoyle in the metaphorical room, though. "I figured you'd be more excited."

Gyre glances back with each clack of Garrot's claws, slowing down each time it happens until finally he stops beside the stairs.

"I am excited," he says dryly, gesturing back towards the room. "I think it was a mistake for all of us to be there. It's probably overwhelming for them after what they've been through. I'm trying to be... careful."

He runs his eyes slowly over Garrot, glancing down the stairs for a moment. "Do you need a second? I can go get the food myself."

"I'm fine!" The admission is quick, almost as if he was waiting for the question. "I wasn't sure if being in two kinds of gravity would mess with me. But I'm fine." He sounds more confident when he says it the second time, and he even pulls his hand from the wall, standing without any balance issues at all!

"I was trying to be careful too. I was treating it as urgently as I thought Seven needed, but..." The doctor sighs, glancing back towards the room. "I think I just got in the way. If I'd have known everything would've been fine because of weird magic, I'd have waited in the hallway..."

Garrot sighs again, and now he's just looking down at the floor, visibly sulky and defeated. Sure it's a win that Seven didn't attack and that nobody got hurt (hopefully?) and that the Monkey Knight didn't give into his angriest impulses. But how much of an improvement was that chaos?

Gyre looks up at him as he straightens up, watching a moment just to make sure he's not going to wobble. But he sounds confident and Gyre can't ask for anything more then that so he turns and continues down the stairs, expecting Garrot to follow. They have to go to the same place after all.

"Me too. I only wanted to change their music when I knocked," he admits, sighing at how useless he feels right now. He was just an extra body in the way through all that, and now he's just fetching food. He didn't even really get Nine there. She dragged him down the hallway after Garrot woke her up, and he grits his teeth as another wave of frustration washes through him.

He forces himself to exhale. Forces himself to say something positive in all this. "I'm glad they're free now, but... I wanted to meet them after they'd recovered with their family. This is. Messy."

As Gyre began down the stairs, Garrot followed suit fast enough that he clearly must not have been worried about his balance anymore. Maybe he was fine, maybe Gyre's similar feelings have made him overeager.

"Let it go." Despite the words being dismissive, his tone is soft and gentle. "I've been doing this sort of work for years, and it's messy without weird magic." A sigh drifts into a chuckle, and Garrot's shaking his head. "I'm just glad nobody got seriously hurt from all that, you know?"

Garrot was more than ready for a fight, but he's undeniably glad there wasn't one.

Unfortunately, Garrot has gotten his last benefit of the doubt about the disparity between his tone and his words. He tells Gyre to let it go as if he's holding on to some angst and not just worried about a very current situation, and the elf's whole body tenses up, his shoulders going straight and tight.

"Don't tell me how to feel," he says, his voice iced completely over. And apparently that's all he thinks needs to be said there as he drops the rest of the conversation on the ground behind him. He steps off the stairs, and circles around it, heading back towards the kitchen without another word. Garrot might not want to hang around him in awkward silence, but Gyre has no interest at all in potentially getting into a fight with him again. They've got a more important task then talking to do anyway, and he pushes the door to the kitchen open.

Edited 2020-04-20 21:49 (UTC)

Gyre's return to the kitchen rewards him with a similar sight to the one he had before. The kitchen is maybe big enough for five or six people, with wooden countertops spanning two of the walls and cabinets above and below. The most striking feature of the room is the huge black metallic orb sitting against the wall directly beside the door they enter through. Is it an oven? It's probably an oven. It's definitely an oven. But how does it work? It's not hooked up to anything, there's no heat source that seems to be connected, it's just a metal orb about the size of a person. The door on the oven is hanging open, revealing that there's a massive stew pot sitting inside of it.

The countertops are coated with an array of meats and vegetables. Directly beside the orbven is a pile of what looks like reddish jerky (if either of them sneak a bite, it's tender and tastes like honey, cardamom, worchestershire sauce, and broccoli. Beside it is a pile of bright green fish slabs. Further down the countertop are piles of various vegetables.

Gyre will recognize all of them, actually, it's almost like they're all from the garden and they're what's in season right now: There's a pile of lumpy root vegetables that look like purple ginger, about two dozen garlic bulbs that are a pale blue, a pile of what looks like orange asparagus, a collection of purple leafy "greens", and lastly a pile of multicolored potatoes(?).

Guess he'll get to either explain to Garrot what they are, or he could make him guess. Either way they'll both be subjected to the wafting scents that rise off of the vegetable pile. It's making the room smell utterly incredible. They were all so potent. The strongest scents are lemongrass, orange citrus, and vinegar.

Gyre goes into the cupboards like he owns the place the moment he walks in, searching through the shelves until he finds a large tray with a few indentations in it. He doesn't know if this is what Ten meant, but he dumps some of the vegetables into each bowl before uh piling the other half of the platter with fish. Seven's teeth had looked more like his and Five's so he's not about to starve the kid with these weird nonmeat things.

Once the platter is full, he steps out of the kitchen and pauses a beat to look around. He had expected Garrot to follow him but the knight is nowhere to be seen. A little prickle runs up his spine, but he squashes it down. If the man found something else to do instead, then he'll just have to handle this by himself.

And so, about fifteen minutes after heading down, he reappears in the door to Seven's room, pausing a moment there to take the scene in before he enters. If Seven is out of the marshmallow fluff, he'll move closer to off the platter to them. Otherwise, he'll stand here holding the plate and waiting.

When Gyre returns to the room, the most important thing he'll find is that the room has un-flipped and the majority of the mess on the floor has been cleaned up. There are still some dark stains, but there's no standing water. He'll find that Seven has been freed from the marshmallow fluff and both Nine and Five are gone. He'd passed their rooms and the doors were closed, though, so maybe that's where they went? But Ten is still here and he gives a little wave upon Gyre's return. He's in the middle of... fiddling with something? Seven is uh... back to their gargoyle pose with all four limbs perched on the floor. They look ready to pounce, all of their fingers look sharper than knives and are dug into the floor.

Their messy ferrofluid-like hair shifts and bobs in the air away from their head, most of the metallic mass staying draped down their back. Gyre's timing couldn't be better, because the moment they see the platter of food all of their eyes are on it... When he offers it closer, they reach one hand out to be given the platter. They won't abruptly take it, but they are clearly moving to get it--

And then Luka arrives, too, escorted from somewhere else with a new face at his side. To Luka's right is a figure who's exactly the same height as the Princess.

They're wearing a suit (or is it religious clothing?) consisting of a lot of black with white accents. There's a glowing white necklace dangling around their neck. Their skin isn't the normal bright yellow of the other monsters, instead it's a slightly tanned human complexion. They've got hair, too, black that's short and well-kept. They're in the middle of explaining to Luka in their deep, gravelly voice as they turn the corner to see Gyre, Seven, and Ten.

"We're here. The floor is slippery and Seven is watching you." They explain to Luka before turning to look at Gyre. With their arrival comes a waft of scents: bergamot, cedar, melon, and thyme.

"I think you brought some of their favorite food." They comment with a slight smile appearing on their face. They look happy, proud? Just unmistakably pleased at this turn of events.

If Luka takes a look past Gyre, he might be able to pick up on Seven's body being 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. Fortunately right now they're not baring their bright orange fangs like they were when they first came out. Rough! The air around them has the same notes of oil and phosphorous, with an undercurrent of rendered chicken fat. But there's also a side scent of... roses?

Edited 2020-04-28 04:49 (UTC)

Gyre is very careful as he approaches Seven, waiting until they've seen the platter before he even begins to get closer. Even when he's moving, it's always carefully, quietly, pausing if ever Seven starts to get nervous again. Finally he offers the platter out to them, going still when they do to look at the door.

He's uh pretty startled to see Luka, and even more so the person beside him. He tilts his head, and begins to straighten slightly, pulling the food away from Seven as he considers this newbie. Is this Eleven? After everyone saying they had no idea where they were, they just showed up in the same room as him?? There's a part of him that's certain that it can't be that easy.

And then he remembers what he was actually here for, and he turns suddenly back to Seven. "Sorry, ki'ta, here you go," he says, putting the platter of food into their hand and taking a step away once they have it. He pauses a beat there, and then shifts to lower himself onto the ground near them, "Do you mind if I sit with you?"

The relatively short walk to the room where Seven was recovering seems to take ages to Luka. He wants to ask the stranger escorting him all kinds of questions about who exactly they were, but can't make the words form correctly. Instead he's casually cordial as the stranger leads him there, though he analyzes their deep, unfamiliar voice curiously every time they speak and his gaze drifts unconsciously toward whatever shiny thing hung around their neck.

When the pair finally reach their destination, and the stranger casually mentions Seven his watching him, Luka's rendered speechless again.

"...Seven's awake?" He manages to sputter out quietly after a moment passes. This was unexpected, and he hadn't mentally prepared what he was going to greet the monster with at all.

Then the wave of various scents hits him - though he's almost accustomed to this, now - as he steps into the room with mild trepidation. The sound of Gyre speaking softly provides some reassurance that perhaps Seven was not feeling angry or violent, but Luka's aware his own appearance was liable to change that at any moment.

"Seven!" He says, mustering up a fake confidence as he steps in further onto the slippery, damp floor. "I'm glad you're okay. I'm sorry about yesterday."

Gyre. Give them. The food. Stop having it not be given. Seven looks very much like they're going to pounce to take the food when it's moved away? But then things settle when they see Eleven and the food is offered again and--

They grab the platter, giving him a 'Mmmm' of presumably affirmation in response to his question. Do they mind? Probably not, apparently, because they're using their other hand to shove food into their spiky teeth-filled mouth. The sounds of munching fill the air as Luka enters the room, separating from Eleven at the door.

But as Luka approaches, Seven's movements slow and their eyes all settle on him. They watch curiously, apprehensively, waiting to see what he's going to say--

And then he says that.

"Not killed. Done. Better." They speak in a voice that sounds forced, like every word takes incredible effort. Their voice is like what someone would get if they dragged steel wool down a chalkboard while speaking with a voice that sounded like it was rough and ragged due to a cold. They seem to relax slightly, though, glancing down at Gyre and then back to Luka before they start shovelling more food back into their mouth.

Behind all of this, Ten gives a little wave towards the door at Eleven as they depart. Looks like they just dropped by to bring Luka here? Was that all? Where are they going now? Away from here, apparently.

Gyre can't help but flinch slightly when Seven's voice hits his ears at first, pausing halfway down to the ground so he can actually process what they even said. What a horrifying sound. He wonders if they're still healing, or if this is what the Protector has done to them.

At least they're eating well, he supposes, and he takes his attention off them, smiling faintly up at Luka instead. The apology was sweet, and he'll learn to deal with their voice, and Eleven is here and--

Wait. His eyes focus past Luka just in time to see the new person disappear past the door frame. His whole body freezes up there. He needs to talk to them, and his first impulse is to run after them. But he doesn't want to startle Seven. He could yell after them, but it'd wreck his voice, and he doesn't want to startle Seven. There's a second here where he has no idea what to do.

And then he jerks to his feet again, shuffling the first couple steps so Seven has the faintest chance of knowing what he's doing, before he just absolutely darts across the room, dipping around Luka as he goes. He gets to the doorway as quickly as he can, grabbing it and swinging himself around it and into the hallway outside.

"Eleven??" he calls out, trying to catch this person before they get too far. Assuming they're even there at all.

The sound of Seven's voice similarly sends a prickling wave of discomfort up through Luka's body, nearly stopping him in his tracks as he approaches. The sensation makes him recall how harsh and painful Sxicq's voice had been back when they'd first spoken at the restaurant.

He's considering how to respond to Seven's words when Gyre seems to suddenly rush past him, toward the door. He turns in that direction as the other breezes by, wondering what the hurry is when Gyre calls out Eleven's name.

Oh.

It's so obvious, Luka! There were few options as to who that person could have actually been, and Eleven makes the most sense. He lets the thought pass, however embarrassing, and leaves it to be dealt with later as he again focuses on Seven.

"You're not mad about it?" He says, surprised. It was an assumption on his part - Seven hadn't said much about their feelings - but Luka had braced himself for more anger.

Seven has a piece of fish halfway into their mouth when Gyre finally makes a decision and scrambles to his feet. They watch him go, two of their eyes narrowing as they evaluate what he's doing. He's going in the opposite direction, quickly... They're working through the reasons why when he calls out to Eleven and then, well, it's just obvious. So they go back to wolfing down the fish. At least until Luka asks his question and they have to swallow first before they answer.

"No. Grateful. And you?" They answer, the inflection of their horribly grating voice changing slightly... possibly implying that that last part is a question? Why else would they be saying 'and you'?

Outside the room, Gyre turns the corner and--

He finds Five kneeling, moving to pick something up? But he definitely startles her and she tumbles backwards, one of her hands whipping out a little knife from her boot. She's watching him, wide-eyed with all five of her eyes for a moment before she relaxes and just flops back on the floor on her back.

"Ugggggh don't SURPRISE me like that!" She groans, annoyed, one hand laying atop her with a little post-it note in it. Gyre will be able to see it, and it says "Be back soon. ~11" in very fancy handwriting and gorgeous gold ink.

He halts his momentum the moment he sees her, jerking a step back so that he doesn't just trample over her. His eyes are bugged slightly, and he doesn't know what to do with himself for a moment. The last person he expected to see out here was Five, and he goes to the banister to look down the stairs before he even says anything to her.

But he doesn't see Eleven at all. And Five is groaning, and he can't chase a ghost right now. He sighs faintly, irritated, and turns to her.

"Are you alright?" he asks gently, bending down to offer his hand and help her up. "I was trying to catch, uh, a person. I think it was Eleven?" He offers this as an explanation, giving her a slight shrug of his shoulders as an apology for startling her. As he's pulling her to her feet though, his eyes flick to the post-it note and he gestures down at it.

"What's that?"

Back inside the room, Luka's ignorant to the commotion in the hallway, having tuned out the background noise to focus on Seven's words.

'Grateful' was far from what Luka had expected, but he's realizing that almost nothing lately is playing to his expectations and that he should, perhaps, stop having them entirely.

"I, uh..." Luka hovers awkwardly near the entrance, unsure of the room around him and not particularly eager to sort it out in the moment. He's surprised the monster asked about his feelings, in all honesty, and the question has caught him off guard. "I feel... guilty. For attacking you. Gyre, that guy who was just here - he told me not to. But I thought you were going to kill me, so..."

Any air of confidence he had once been projecting is beginning to crumble as he stumbles over how to navigate this situation.

"Well, whatever. I'm just glad it worked out. I'm glad I didn't end up killing you, after all." He sighs heavily. "Do you remember... all of that? Yesterday?"

Seven is uh... still munching on the varying foods that had been provided by Gyre for the entire time that Luka's speaking. They're watching, listening, curious what point he's getting to. And then he asks a question at the end and they pause mid-nottato to consider it. They shift a foot on the ground, their claws scraping across the wooden floor.

"Yes. Remember. Saved. Better now." They answer... a moment before their body just makes the world's worst gurgling sound? It's the kind of sound that a human's intestines make a moment before they go rushing to the bathroom for an hour. Or the kind of sound a human's throat makes a moment before they throw up. Or both, at once.

And then they make a horribly biological sound as their body throws up a big black ball of spiky tar onto the floor. It lands with just... the worst plop and promptly acts all prickly at the air around it. Seven speaks again a few moments later, their voice sounding much less... ragged. It's still rough, but the steel wool effect is reduced to more like... dragging a washcloth over a blackboard.

"Better slowly." They add.

In the hallway, meanwhile, Five's being helped up by Gyre and he's asking the most obvious question--

"You missed them, it says they'll be back." She answers him, offering the post-it out right into Gyre's face. Take this, doofus, it's for you.

"...what was that sound...?" She follows, glancing towards the door of Seven's room. The sound in question, of course, was the vomit experience that Seven just had and shared with Luka only a moment ago. What an awful sound to hear but not know where it came from!

Gyre takes the little note, squinting at the gold ink and the fancy writing. His eyes immediately rebel from the script and he puts the note into his coat pocket instead. If they'll be back then he can focus on the situation at hand a little better.

"I hope they stay this time," he murmurs, a moment before that sound hits his ears. His skin prickles, adrenaline shooting up his spine. What a terrible noise!

"We should check on them." He turns as he speaks, darting around the door frame and back into Seven's room. The sight of the black goop prickling on the ground makes his stomach turn and he glances nervously between Luka and Seven.

"Is everything alright?"

The Weather

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