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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He wants to complain about the stickiness of the cables, and how irritating it is, but Luka's thought is interrupted by the sudden, jarring shift in his location.

"Inside of the cube, I hope." He says aloud after the text comes through. He wonders if Nine can hear his response at all, and types it back for good measure. "Give me a moment."

It doesn't take long for him to recognize his surroundings.

"This is... my house?" His confusion is quickly overtaken by excitement, despite this being some kind of simulation. He hadn't realized just how much he missed the comfortable familiarly of home. "What are we doing here?!"

"I can hear you." Nine offers Luka as a reassurance as he moves to also text her back. She doesn't want him distracted by texting her while also trying to deal with the situation he'd found himself in.

When he declares that this is his house, she takes several moments to analyze the space before answering his question.

"You... don't have any machines here?" She asks, confused. He seemed excited, but she didn't get why. Why would they be in his house if he didn't have machinery here? The way this was supposed to work were that there were six machines? She's silent for a few moments before she tries a theory:

"What's under the sheets?"

If he looks: Where the center of his mattress should've been, there was a comically huge power throw switch just sitting there, waiting to be flipped.

"There's machines!" He begins to protest, as if Nine's question was a criticism of his personal choices. "Look, this is a record player. Machine, right?"

Her next question takes him by surprise. There were certainly no machines under there, as far as he knew.

"Wow, Nine, at least take me on a date before you try to get into my bed, hmm?" He laughs, heading toward the unnecessarily large bed in the middle of the room pulling the bedsheets back.

But the pull doesn't feel right, and he quickly notices that something is amiss.

"What the fuck?" He whispers, his hand finding the switch. "Is this one of your machines?"

"Not complicated enough. What's a date." Nine answers both Luka's claim about the Record player and also his other statement, but the answer to both are far less important than what Luka's found in the center of his bed.

"That's one of the six for the cube." She confirms, taking note that this is what they're going to look like-- actually, she should probably tell Luka that. It takes her several moments to come to that conclusion, though, she's far too used to working through things in her own mind.

"The other five will look like that. You have to flip all of them." She explains.

Sure enough, if he were to pull it it would start to move. It was honestly probably deeply tactilely satisfying to pull. The hinges in the middle were metal with an overly gooey grease on them that helped them move but with resistance. The handle had some heft to it. And on both sides were three clips that the handle snapped into with a grinding sensation as they pinched it into place.

A common household light switch couldn't hold a candle to it.

"It's when you go somewhere with someone to get to know them. In a romantic sense." He says as he feels out the switch, unable to pass up the opportunity to explain. "Maybe it's not a thing for you?"

Do the monsters experience romantic love? Luka's pretty sure they don't, but he's been wrong about a lot of assumptions he'd made about them so far.

Regardless, as soon as Nine tells him he has to flip the switch, he's going to do it.

"Easy enough." He says, pulling the handle into position.

Nine considers why Luka was bringing up a date. Sorry Luka, she's missed the chance to board the train of thought she needed to be on to understand. So she defaults to the easiest answer that meant she could perhaps get clarity later.

"I don't know." She lets that float in the air as she watches him pull the switch.

Once the switch has clasped into position, someone kicks open the door to Luka's bedroom.

That someone is Luka.

"I thought I heard a rat sniffing around." False Luka says, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. Light from the room behind him illuminates his silhouette. That's not good!

"Oh, it's the you I warned you about." Nine adds, clearing up any doubt that it was, in fact, another Luka. A bad Luka.

Okay, well - he wasn't prepared for this guy to pop up quite so suddenly. As such, he's caught completely off guard when.... Luka bursts onto the scene.

"Hey!" Luka jumps up from his position leaned over the switch. "A rat!? Really?"

He keeps a distance between himself and the doorway as he tries to gauge the other Luka's intentions. At least he had intimate knowledge of his surroundings, even if it was some kind of cube-generated simulation.

"I'm only sniffing around here to try and fix your fuck-up. What do you want?"

"I knew you were delusional, I'm all your best parts. I've never made a single mistake in my life. Unlike you." He counters Luka, absolutely going for the emotional kill with his words.

"If you can get through the door behind him, the second switch is through there." Nine chimes in. Her voice is played out loud but bad Luka doesn't seem to react?

"Just lay down on the bed. I'll take it from here." He says as he steps into the bedroom with his arms folded. It's just one Luka, how bad could he be?

'Good' Luka doesn't react to Nine's words either, though he hears and makes note of them. He's too busy processing just what the hell this other Luka is trying to get at.

"My best parts, hm? But not my mistakes." He just can't let this slide. Who did this guy think he was? He literally lives in a cube. "Well, that's too bad. Some of my mistakes have been pretty sexy."

Luka is still visibly on the defense as he steps closer toward the doorway.

"And what will you do if I do that?"

He lives in an amazing, expensive cube! He rolls his eyes in the most exaggerated way possible when Luka asks the dumb question of what he'll do.

"The pillows are soft, I'll make it quick. It's the least I can do to thank you for all your hard work." He explains, threatens?, as his answer, before he repeats himself.

"I'll take it from here." and then he's advancing on Luka? He's walking with definite intent. The biggest thing, the biggest danger, is that he's got ~~brass~~ gold knuckles on that he's going to take a swing with.

Good thing Luka's not a professional fistfighter.

"He's going to punch you." Nine chimes in as bad Luka advances. Yikes!

Thank him? For his hard work? Luka can't help but agree he's deserving, especially considering the chaos of last couple of days.

"Welllll, I— " He's readying his next cheeky reply when the other Luka is suddenly approaching.

Luka reacts as soon as Nine graciously explains the situation, throwing himself out of the way. No way, this was not happening again.

He doesn't have any magic or weaponry to fight back with, but he can at least try to subdue the copy. So he's going to throw himself at himself, and hopefully at least get the other Luka off his feet.

One of the fortunate things about being Luka was that he could expect what he would find unexpected. Sure enough, bad Luka doesn't expect to be tackled?

But he has a surprise up his own sleeve: When he hits the ground, when Luka lands toppled atop his now-prone form, he bursts into little cubes. Little cubes with the consistency of jello. Every single part of him glorbles apart into a splattered mess of jello cubes.

"You won." Nine contributes, helpfully.

Could that... really be called a victory?

Well, that was... gross. And kind of terrifying? And definitely not victorious.

Luka recoils from his position after his other self seemingly melts away beneath him. He feels around the goop just to double check that he's really gone.

"Let's get the hell out of here." He says to Nine, heading for the door she'd mentioned earlier.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Luka's going to know exactly where he is when he goes through the door. The dust in the air is obvious from the moment he passes through the threshold, the space seemingly not even in the same building as the bedroom he'd just left. Shouldn't he have exited into a hallway?

Why was there a bit of an echo...?

Was this a concert hall?

Sure enough, the door has deposited him on the left side of the first stage he'd ever played on that sold out. Honestly, it looked like a place that had seen better days... stayed open, and then got worse. At least the brickwork would stand up for generations? But the balcony seating was probably only for people who had a death wish. The alcohol in the bar at the back was probably pure poison by this point too.

"Where are we?" Nine asks, a little distracted as she tries to figure out where a switch would be in this location. It was all open, so... was it just on a wall or something?

Though neither she nor Luka had found it yet: It was behind the bar.

It takes Luka a few moments to adjust again, his heart still racing from his encounter in the previous room. This isn't his home anymore. The light level, the feel of aged wood floorboards under his feet - none of it matched up. But the location was all too familiar nonetheless.

"No way." He whispers, stepping out onto the stage. He wasn't used to it being quite so empty - there was usually at least a few crew members bumbling around somewhere. "This is the Queen of Clubs!"

He hops into a seated position and slides off the stage, taking a few steps into the open pit area.

"Oh, I saw so many great shows here!" He beams proudly. "And I played a few myself, too."

But his excitement tapers off when he remembers that they're here for another purpose. And that none of this likely interests Nine at all!

"Right, the machines. You see one anywhere, Nine?"

"I forgot you were a performer. Eight talks about you a lot." Nine answers as Luka explores the space and basks in the nostalgia of it. Somewhere else, Eight would be up in arms that Nine was spilling his beans! Those are his beans to spill, Nine!

"It must be important for it to be here." She adds, considering where the switch is... until a familiar voice calls out from behind the bar. This time there's the clink of a martini glass as he toasts.

"A drink, to the old me. To swear in the new me. Cheers." Bad Luka states simply, elbows leaned up against the bar behind him before he downs the contents of the martini in one go. Considering that the alcohol in that was probably pure poison, the only reason bad Luka was alive was because he was made of jello cubes. Somehow he'd found time to change into one of the outfits Luka had worn years ago. He'd pulled it from their memories, after all, so it fit him perfectly.

"The machine is probably over there." Nine adds, starting to investigate closer to where Bad Luka had revealed himself.

"Hey, wait... Eight talks about me? A lot? What does he say? Specifically." If Luka were in a position to be chinhands-ing, he would be chinhands-ing here. He's a little too excited at the idea that one of the monsters might genuinely have a positive opinion about him.

He's still all ears when bad Luka butts in to ruin the moment, refocusing his attention toward the bar area in the back.

"Not this again..." Luka turns toward him, gritting his teeth. "You want to kill me, right? You're not going to. You're weak."

"He likes your music, he has eight favorite songs." She starts to explain, wondering how much she should divulge about Eight in this moment. Would he be okay with her sharing this?

But she doesn't get the chance because of bad Luka. Bad Luka who now has a refilled martini glass that he's holding elegantly as he answers Luka again.

"If I'm weak, you're weaker. And glass cuts all the same." He says a moment before shattering the top of the martini glass against the bar, splattering its contents everywhere and filling the air with the scent of alcohol.

And, of course, the result is that he has a stabbing weapon now. How horrible! But the display he'd put on gave Nine enough time to find the switch, so...

"It's behind him, behind the bar."

How is this guy so annoying? Luka wants to focus on the switch, but he's more irritated that this copy of him has shown up again to say stupid stuff!

"I'm not the one who exploded a few minutes ago." He clenches a fist as he heads in the direction of the bar. "If you want to fight, I'm game, but you can't even take a single hit."

Luka heads behind the bar with determination, seemingly ignoring the threat posed by the other Luka. What is he going to do, stab him?

"You're right, you're the one who's going to explode right now." Bad Luka counters. Is... I mean, that's definitely a threat, right? It has to be a threat? But Luka isn't made of cubes and bad Luka doesn't seem to be wielding a grenade or a rocket launcher, so how was Luka going to explode?

"I'll crumble you in one hit!" He declares, putting his hands up in a fighting pose. When Luka comes behind the bar... well, bad Luka is in fact going to try to stab him! Hopefully Luka isn't trying to be a man who was stabbed heading off to the local hospital.

"He's trying to stab you." Nine contributes hopefully in time?

Also sure enough, if somehow Luka feels for it, the switch is on the floor behind the bar! It's also gigantic, don't trip on it!

"Why!?" He barks back in frustration. "Why do you keep trying to kill me? Is it because of Four?"

Luka is exasperated, being chased around by some copy of himself who's trying to attack him for seemingly no reason is tiring! Sure, he might have said he would have to fight someone stealing his vibe - but not like this. Imagine the scandal if he stabbed someone in public!

Well, someone besides Four, who he very much did stab in public.

He's working on trying to dodge any stabbings when he trips over the switch, and finds himself on the ground. He hadn't expected it to be on the floor when Nine said it was behind the bar, but at least he's found it. And he's going to pull it, hopefully, before bad Luka can get another stabbing attempt in?

"Who is Four?" Bad Luka counters, confused disgust dripping off of his words. He sounds as if Luka had just asked him to pick up dog poop bare-handed.

"Which you is this?" Nine chimes in curiously, but there isn't really a moment for much thinking as Luka hits the floor and goes for the switch.

Unfortunately this switch is going to be an exercise in extremely foolish decisions and unexpected results. While Luka is grabbing hold of the switch, bad Luka is advancing. Unfortunately, his feet tangle in Luka's feet which sends him stumbling and tripping. Because the unfortunate events continue, bad Luka's fall sends him toppling at an angle. The bar is conveniently extremely hard and also in the path of bad Luka's face. The fall and the impact cause his head, from the neck-up, to detonate into cubes. The sound is something similar to a watermelon being dropped from two stories up. The rest of his body goes to cubes right atop Luka, absolutely covering him in lukewarm jello cubes. Awful! At least they don't have a smell.

But the worst coincidence is the broken martini glass. It doesn't go to cubes and instead falls in such a perfect way that it gives Luka a perfectly horizontal line cut from just beside his nose all the way back to, and through, the side of his right ear. Yeowch! The glass clatters to the ground beside him.

If he examines the wound, which he probably will, he'll find that the wound... is surrounded by oddly jello-y texture. Is he... also... made of jello here...?

In good news, when the switch is pulled, a door up on the stage swings open and the faint sound of crashing ocean waves and wind can be heard. That's totally normal for a stage door to have behind it!

"Huh? Which me!?" Luka has hardly any time to react or parse Nine's inquiry before everything seems to come at him all at once.

Quite literally, almost, as the other Luka impacts the bar and explodes into horrible little cubes again. Luka remains motionless on the dusty bar floor, surrounded now by broken glass and whatever gelatinous matter the copy was composed of.

"Nine..." He starts softly when he manages to gather himself. He reaches to his face to feel the cut, and his fingers notably pass over the same distinct strange substance that now covered the floor. "What do you mean, 'which' me?"

If Luka is looking for answers...

He's about to get them!

"He said he didn't know Four." She starts to explain, analyzing Luka for any other injuries as she continues.

"So is he from the first few days or is he from before you came here?" She follows, pausing for several long moments as she realizes that she probably needs more of an explanation than that.

"You've changed since you arrived. If you have regrets from before, he might be all of them. There are bandages in the bar drawer." She explains and then offers Luka an opportunity to deal with his new face cut. It wasn't perfect, but it was something! Hopefully her explanation made some kind of sense to him because it made sense to her.

Its a relief to get some kind of explanation, even if it makes little sense to him.

"He is not me." He replies indignantly, sitting up from the floor. "I think your cube really is broken. I'm not like that."

Luka can't accept that any part of him was quite so... extreme. Certainly not murderous! Well, except Four. Kind of weird how he keeps having to make that exception?

He makes no movement to deal with the cut, instead righting himself and heading back toward the stage.

"If I leave here, he's going to come back again." He says, hesitating before advancing further. "Will pulling all these switches get rid of him? Is that what we're here to do?"

The Weather

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