Day 9: Twilight

[wizardseason]

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

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The Weather

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

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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!

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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.

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Comments

12:00noon The Return, The Garden

[wizardseason]

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?

[eutychia]

Luka pulls himself from the ground, taking a quiet moment to discern his surroundings. Wherever he found himself now, at least, was less... chaotic. The open air felt distinctly different than the cavern under the mountain, the breeze through the leaves around them somewhat familiar.

"I'm in...the garden?" He whispers to himself. "What the hell happened?"

[sustainer]

Gyre sits straight up from the ground the moment consciousness returns to him. His eyes dart around, taking in the now familiar space, and he slowly relaxes as he realizes they must be back in the right time. Or... some time when this space existed like this.

"Are we back...?" he asks, hesitating as he moves slowly to stand

[eutychia]

"Gyre!" He says, relief evident in his voice. At least they hadn't been sent somewhere scattered all about again. "How does it look? Normal?"

1:00pm Onward, Around the Garden

[wizardseason]

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!

12: The Gazebo

[wizardseason]

Much like the first time anyone had ever seen Twelve, she was back under the Gazebo at the lakefront. Today she was wearing a form she'd never shown off to the heroes. With a coiled snake body atop a pillow cushion, her naga body looks out on the serene water like she's seeing something out there.

No Twelve body would be complete without multiple limbs, but exactly how many are obscured by the layer upon layer of fabric she has draped over her shoulders and down her body. Either she deliberately picked out every fabric in a different color, or coincidences were strong with her.

Either way: Who's going to interrupt?

11: Reading

[wizardseason]

Eleven can be found sitting on the front steps of the house, a little to the side so no one trips over them on the way out. In their hand is a copy of a popular crime mystery science fiction novel that they're about halfway through.

It has to be good, because they don't look up if anyone approaches.

[sustainer]

Gyre steps out of the house with a little rattle, pausing a moment in the doorway to adjust his grip on the plates. He pauses a moment longer after that though when he sees Eleven, just right there where they're easy to find. Who would've thought!

"I've got a question for you," he says immediately, moving to descend the stairs and pause at the bottom to look up at them.

[wizardseason]

As Gyre speaks to Eleven and descends the stairs, Eleven holds up one of their hands with an index finger extended to silently say 'wait.' They don't look up from their novel just yet, apparently engrossed in what the current page's story.

About thirty seconds later, they reach into their front pocket to pull out a pressed flower that they slip into the book's pages as they snap it closed.

"Gyre. How may I help you?" They ask, settling their eyes on him. As they do, Gyre might notice a faint blue glow in their eyes. Was that always there?

10: Cooking

[wizardseason]

Ten is exactly where everyone would expect him to be: In the kitchen. Anyone who steps inside will find that the room is saturated with the scents and sights of no less than a dozen vegetables and at least six fish filets. Is he making a feast?

Also the orbven was on and radiating heat, so the room was pretty toasty. How long has Ten been in here?

[sustainer]

After listening to Nine's stomach growl, Gyre has decided to rectify that particular situation before pursuing his own questions. To that end, he pokes his head into the kitchen, watching Ten for a moment before looking quickly around to see if anything looks, ah, complete.

"Nine is hungry. What should I take to her?"

9: Asleep(?)

[wizardseason]

Nine was one of the few monsters who hadn't left her room. Though the door was cracked open a few inches, it wasn't clear if that was unintentionally left open or if it was deliberate.

The only thing that's certain is that she's sitting in the lone chair in the center of her room, body flopped backwards as if she'd fallen asleep, with nine 3" thick metal cables running to her body from various ports in the walls. How are those plugged in? What are they? How bizarre.

[sustainer]

Gyre stands outside the cracked door for a long time, trying to justify to himself why he was allowed to just barge in. An open door had never symbolized an invitation to someone's space before, but he knows it doesn't work like that for these people. He's already inside their home. Is it any different to go into a room that's been left open?

Yes. Yes it is.

But he does need to talk to her, and she doesn't seem like the most social of the monsters. He reaches forward and slowly pulls the door open, peeking inside and seeing her body splayed out in the chair. He pauses there, glancing backwards over his shoulder nervously. He shouldn't do this. He has to do this.

"Nine?" he calls into the room hesitantly, knocking light on the inside of the door.

[eutychia]

After some investigation, Luka makes his way to where Nine should allegedly be. He approaches the door with some trepidation, having never spoken to this particular monster in any meaningful capacity before. But his curiosity about the weird cube in Four's room outweighed any reluctance he had to impose himself upon a near stranger, anyway.

"Uh, Nine?" He gently knocks on the doorframe. "Are you in here. I've got some questions about a... cube thing."

8: Music on the couch

[wizardseason]

Eight can be found sitting in his chair in the ring of chairs in the living room. The soft humming of the massager behind his back can be heard for anyone who walks up.

But he can't hear it! All he can hear is the sweet jams of the music playing on his headphones. He's reclined back, clearly in a moment of relaxation. Will you interrupt?

7: Starving

[wizardseason]

Sat directly outside the window to the kitchen, Seven is pressing their face directly against the window to watch Ten as he puts together the meal later.

They can taste it. They're in the middle of tasting it. They can't wait to taste it when it's finished. Huge blobs of drool land on the hedges beneath their mouth. They can't help themselves: At least they're outside??

Good luck to anyone who comes across them.

6: Vegetable

[wizardseason]

Six is the one monster who's furthest out. He's in the middle of the vegetable garden with a basket dangling from one arm. It already has some vegetables in it that look like grapefruit-sized kiwis, but he's on the lookout for more that have finished growing.

He'll give a wave to anyone who drops by.

[eutychia]

Luka stops in the vegetable garden when he is alerted to the presence of another person there. He had come out this way in search of somewhere quiet, but he welcomes the distraction nonetheless.

"Six." Luka can only assume he's out here tending to the garden in some way. "Do you need any help? I'm not too experienced, but there might be something I can do."

5: Organizing

[wizardseason]

At the very top floor of the house, across from Eight's room, is the attic storage. It's a space filled with cardboard boxes, wooden boxes, and barrels. Some of them look very dusty, others look brand new, but Five is clearly looking for something in the mess.

Despite how heavy they look, she's almost effortlessly nudging things around in her search. She's not being quiet about it, though, so everyone else in the house can pick up on the loud scraping of wood being shoved around. Oops.

[sustainer]

Gyre watches for several minutes, curious to see if she'll find what she's looking for, curious what exactly it is that she's looking for. His eyes raise at some of the boxes she's able to lift and push, and eventually he can't help but ask.

"Do you need help?"

4: Impossible

[wizardseason]

Why is this thread here?

Four was slain five days prior and the door to their room has been shut ever since.

[eutychia]

Luka finds himself lingering outside the door to what was once Four's private room. He had avoided it previously, for obvious reasons (one of them probably some form of retaliation from Five). But something today gave him pause - perhaps a desire to confront the situation, or simple curiousity.

Either way, he tries the door knob.

I. Luka -> Anyone

[eutychia]

It's later in the evening and Luka's loitering at the portal they'd all been deposited at that afternoon. He's turning his phone over in his hands, stopping to prompt his screen reader to read the time aloud every few minutes.

A few times, he lifts the phone to his ear as if making a call - but either ends it early or gets no response. Clearly something is on his mind!

[sustainer]

Gyre is walking down the path nearby, shuffling to collect some last few things for the feast for Sxicq, when he hears Luka's phone read out the time. He pauses where he is, looking over and watching him for a few moments. At first he expects to catch the man's eye, but when he remembers that, well, that's just not going to happen from way over here, he takes a moment to just look him over. Running his eyes along the lines of his body.

He feels guilty for taking the moment almost immediately, especially as Luka moves to call someone and fails. Again. He realizes all at once that the man is thinking about something, and he steps off the path, crossing through the grass towards him.

"Princess?"

[eutychia]

Luka is too lost in his own thoughts to notice Gyre's approach. When he announces his presence, Luka jumps in surprise and sends his phone flying somewhere into the gravel around him.

"Oh! I— Gyre," He says, straightening his posture. "I... didn't hear you. Are you headed somewhere?"