Day 8: Evening

[wizardseason]

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 ]

Comments

[sustainer]

Gyre looks at the ground as Eleven breaks out the fancy words, mumbling, "Voracious..." under his breath as if repeating the word will clarify what it means to him. He's pretty sure he's got it from context but damn his brain has to work twice as hard for such a simple phrase when they say it like that.

Which is to say, he adds nothing to the conversation, glancing towards Luka instead for an answer. He's curious about the guestlist as well honestly.

[eutychia]

"Mmm." Luka hesitates. It wasn't an easy answer, since he hadn't really gone around inviting everyone, and he wasn't clear on who Sxicq was totally cool with. "All the Knights- well, the ones who are willing to come. Eight and Ten, too, probably."

He knew Sxicq would probably be okay with those two monster being there, since they seemed to be friendly with them. But the rest weren't so obvious.

"Hey, Eleven, aren't you all and Sxicq like... part of the same being? Why wouldn't Sxicq want to be around the rest of you?"

[wizardseason]

Alas, if only Gyre knew anything.

At Luka's answer and then follow-up question, Eleven gives a soft 'mmm' sound.

"We have all grown into our own after all this time. There was a time when we were all similar enough to come back together." They start to explain, wracking their brain for an explanation until they settle on one that seems appropriate.

"Imagine you like Pizza. You're copied, and your copy grows to love pizza passionately while you fall out of interest. Something like that. With enough time, our passions have set us apart from each other." They finish the example, hoping that's enough to make it clear what they mean and what has happened.

[sustainer]

He shakes his head a little, deciding to throw out these new words. He's gotten by without them so far! Instead, he listens to the other two, nodding very slightly in understanding as Eleven answers. This is not incredibly surprising to him. This is more or less the impression that Five gave him when she mentioned wanting to stay her own person. Still, it's interesting to hear it confirmed, more so when he thinks about what Luka said about Eight and Sxicq.

"Does that mean Eight and them are still... similar? Is that why they could... uh," he trails off there, deciding to knit his fingers together until his hands are pressed together. You know. Fuse??

[eutychia]

Luka nods understandingly at Eleven's explanation, though he's not sure why they chose pizza in particular. He'd experienced many bittersweet growing-aparts in his life so far, though none over pizza (yet?).

"You became your own people." He says. "That makes sense. People change a lot when they grow up. So when you first... broke apart from them, you were really no more than just fragments of Sxicq?"

Luka's not sure what he'd imagined, but he'd kind of thought they'd all just burst from Sxicq as their own full formed little personalities.

"Sxicq said they wanted their pieces back." He adds, sighing slightly. "But I like you guys. I want you all to stay."

[wizardseason]

Eleven gives a soft laugh when Gyre tries to explain fusion but just ends up settling for mushing his fingers together.

"What he did is something he discovered by working with them. It is, as I understand it, magic." He answers as best he can before turning to Luka.

"You're correct. Some of us came into our own quickly, within hours. Others took longer. But I am certain none of us wish to go back, fortunately that isn't what Sxicq desires even if there have been some..." He pauses, giving a soft 'hmm' as he decides how to phrase this last bit.

"...Miscommunications about that."

[sustainer]

Gyre breathes an immediately, enormous sigh of relief when they say Sxicq doesn't want to make all the monsters a part of themself anymore. That had been one of the things he worried about the most in all this, trying to figure out how he could possibly fight that little god if they decided to target the monsters once all this was over. He can feel his whole body instantly relax a little more. There's one thing settle out of the dozens still left.

"Is there a way we can talk to them? Easier, I mean. A... a translation spell?" he asks to that last bit. Miscommunication wouldn't be so likely to happen if he could understand a word they were saying after all! "I'd like to learn their language but we don't have the time right now..."