wizardseason: (Hope)
Hope RP ([personal profile] wizardseason) wrote in [community profile] pajamabox2021-07-20 09:13 pm

Day 9: Twilight

Twilight: 12:00noon - ??:00 Unknown

[ IRL Timeframe: July 20th - Onward, 2021 ]

In the past, the heroes had found themselves face-to-face with the Protector and the Wizard on year 0. They'd found the shattered pieces of Sxicq. They'd found the story before anyone had polished it into what it was today. It was free of all the lies, save for the ones coming from an alien's mouth.

The heroes influenced the past in subtle ways: Confronting the Protector with questions. Shaking the Wizard's solid foundations and instilling curiosity about the truth. Most importantly, Sxicq had seen all of their faces.

After chasing the crystals around the town and mountain, the heroes were pulled back into the room beneath the mountain. There, to their huge surprise, they were hidden behind some incredibly convenient piles of rocks to watch the events unfold that would define the next forty years. Floating over twelve of the platforms in the cavern were twelve of the crystals with kids inside of them that had been floating around the mountain. In the center of the circle stand two figures: Sxicq and the Wizard. The two appear apprehensive, but it's the third figure at the edge of the circle that's ruining it:

"Contain it! What are you doing!" The Protector shouts, stomping a foot. The air feels heavy, like it's made of electric cotton, and the hairs on everyone's arms stand upright.

"Get-- out! Of the way!!" He continues, stomping forward into the circle. As he does, a familiar blade slides out into his hand. Its shape is a tear in reality, a hole in the very makeup of the world itself.

The only thing that keeps the heroes from leaping forward to change history is the twelve small, glowing forms that are holding their hands. Smaller than children. Animals. Twelve of them, pleading in whispers: Stay. Watch.

True to their word, there is something to watch. The Protector rushes in, swinging his blade in a high arc before plunging it downward into the center of the circular floor of the platform. From it: A blue beam of energy, like lightning, fires forth through his chest. It pierces out from him, through Sxicq, through the Wizard, through the twelve crystals, and finally through the twelve animals where they're sitting around the heroes.

One bright white explosion later: The animals are gone. The crystals are gone. Sxicq is gone. The Wizard is gone. Only the Protector remains, standing over the circular rings in the floor. Slowly, he retracts his blade from the center. The edges of reality start to go to static.

"It is done." He declares with an air of finality. The static creeps in on the edges of everything, fading the vision as Sxicq descends into slumber.

The Protector's wrist beeps in defiance. He looks down at it, his face scrunching up in disgust. "It has to be done! Acknowledge: Mission complete!" He nearly yells at his wrist, only to be met with a response that stuns him.

"User not recognized, access privileges locked down." Says the same voice that came from within the ship. The static finishes pouring over everything, fading the vision of the cavern into nothing but noise.

And then everyone wakes up.

Everything feels wrong: The clocks all say it's sometime after noon, but the sky is an ever-churning, ever-shifting muddled mess of blues, purples, and darkness. The sun is missing. Weather outlets everywhere didn't have any explanation for the phenomenon. News stations were being careful to avoid referring to it as a sign of the end. The Protector had told them things were dire, after all, but they couldn't cause a mass panic.

And, most importantly, a small handful of news headlines on the planet were talking about time travel being real. They're talking about the blip to forty years ago. They're talking about the very same things that the heroes had just experienced, like they had experienced those exact same things. What effect would this have on the carefully-crafted story that the Protector had pieced together over forty years? Just how many people had shared this experience too?

Unknown to Luka, Gyre, and Olivia: Terrence had been to the past and had an experience much like the one they'd shared as a trio. He ended up with two regular people from the world who didn't recognize him as one of the heroes from this year.

What would happen now?

Ninth Afternoon Event: Afternoon Twilight


The Weather

  • The birds aren't chirping.
  • 68°F
  • A little breezy.


Prompts:

  • 12:00noon The Return, The Garden: When Gyre, Luka, and Olivia return, they're placed on the ground around the portal arrival in the garden. Nearby, Terrence has also been deposited: But he's in a tree about three feet up.

    At least the gang's all here?

  • 1:00pm Onward, Around the Garden: Once the heroes start making their way around the garden and inside the monster house, they'll realize that, for the first time, all of the monsters are here either inside or somewhere nearby. If the heroes wanted to find anyone, now was the chance for them to do so!




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.


eutychia: (Default)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-12 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
Well, that makes perfect sense to Luka. If they're constantly trying to float away, it must be pain to keep them all contained long enough to put a new one in. And with half the amount of arms that Six has, Luka probably wouldn't stand much of a chance at keeping them controlled.

He nods in understanding, turning the basket upside down again.

"Well, plucking them sounds easy enough. I can handle that much, at least." He laughs, and focuses again on the vine as he feels around for a berry.

"What do you make with these? Anything good?"

eutychia: (blank)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-12 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
Luka lands in the recliner— jolted by the impact, disoriented, and irritated now by being soaking wet. He stays motionless until the conversation between the two voices reaches him.

Ah, that voice. It's me. He thinks. For once in his life Luka is disappointed to hear his own voice. That guy, again. What a pain.

And then: Five..? At first she seems to be advocating for him, until she follows up on her intentions. Of course not. Ugh.

He's grateful that Nine is still with him. At least someone was. He's also grateful that, despite finding himself in a police interrogation room, he's mercifully not handcuffed.

"Stabbing is a little extreme, don't you think?"
eutychia: (thonking)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-12 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
Luka listens intently to the myriad ways that the monsters enjoy their balloon berries.

He's simultaneously picking one from the vine and carefully placing it into his basket as instructed, though his pace leaves a lot to be desired.

"Hmm, but you don't bake them into pies or anything?" They sounded like something sweet, but you never know what you'll get with monster-grown produce. "You could get the best peach pie in the world in my home city... and it's amazing with ice cream on top. Would these be good with ice cream, do you think?"

He had intended to come talk about the weather function of the ship, but he's completely gone off course. Regardless, it felt nice to talk about something as simple as this, for once.
eutychia: (Default)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-12 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Luka makes note of the switch, and readies one hand to flip it when necessarily. But he doesn't make the move to flip it just yet.

"I'm not the only one who's killed a... one of you, you know." He says. "Why do you reserve this resentment for me alone?"

His fingers are resting on the switch now, and he'll flip it if he hears movement before words. But he figures some dialogue might be worth an attempt, at least.
eutychia: (Default)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-12 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hmmm, well..." Luka hesitates to answer as he picks another berry from the vine. He doesn't want to crush Six's clear enthusiasm, but he doesn't know the first thing about baking a pie or making ice cream. "I'll bet Ten knows how to make them."

He slips another berry into the basket and re-fastens the net containing his meager collection.

"In fact, we should go straight to Ten and request a balloon berry pie, with ice cream, right after we're done here."
eutychia: (Default)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-12 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, he's not sure what to make of this. Luka's hand falls from the switch, but not too far, just in case.

"That's bullshit." He says, hoping to distract her attention from Bad Luka. He'd noticed now that something was wrong with him, and as annoying as Bad Luka has been, there was something deeply unsettling about hearing himself in pain.

"You like Gyre. You never stabbed him."
eutychia: (Default)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-12 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
"Not very full." He says. "It was my first time though! I'm no expert like you."

He returns the basket to an upright position, making sure the net is keeping them all in check.

"It's... probably enough between the two of us for a pie though, right? Depending on how big Ten wants to make it, I suppose."
eutychia: (Default)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-13 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
"... your cube is definitely broken." He sighs heavily, clearly tired from that fruitless and kind of frightening experience.

The constructs don't listen to reason. They only seem interested in stabbing him, and fighting them off every time was exhausting.

"What was that Five doing to uh, the other me?" He asks. Maybe Nine could enlighten him on what exactly he'd dropped into.
eutychia: (thonking)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-13 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
"That sounds accurate. Probably." Luka reaches out a hand to receive Six's basket. He knew far less about these berries than Six did, but if Six thought two of them was sufficient, it was probably correct.

"Ten could probably make quite a few pies with all of these, then. Maybe we could bring one to Sxicq, too!"

Sxicq would definitely want a pie, Luka thinks. Genius idea.

"I'll bring these to the kitchen." Luka says before turning back toward the house. "Don't take too long, okay?"
eutychia: (huh)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-13 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
"Ah..." It wasn't much reassurance, but it was better than nothing at all.

Luka still had some lingering questions. Perhaps it didn't matter, anyway. He perks up when Nine explains that the next switches will be the last ones.

"Oh, thank the gods. I'm ready to be out of this cube - no offense, Nine." He did hear the part about the last one being the hardest, but he's conveniently chosen to ignore that.

Regardless, he flips the switch beneath the desk.
eutychia: (Default)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-14 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
Luka recognizes the sword near instantly. He'd never held anything like it before. He recalls laughing with the Protector as they'd discussed the specifics of its design, and he felt those details now weighing heavy against his palm.

"Four?" He calls out, though he doesn't expect an answer. Luka knows what part of the scene he's dropped into, and he knows well that Four wouldn't be here to respond.

"Where's the switch here?" He asks Nine. He didn't prefer to linger here long, if he could help it.
eutychia: (grin)

[personal profile] eutychia 2023-02-14 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, Sxicq is kind of weird." Luka can't claim any of his interactions with them had been very normal so far. "But I'll save your piece. If anyone tries to take it, they'll have to go through with me first."

It would arguably be the safest piece of pie on the entire island - not that there was likely to be much competition for the title.

With that, Luka's heading off to Ten's kitchen to deliver the berries.

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