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

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?"

If Nine has noticed the hoops that Luka is jumping through, she doesn't mention it. Instead she files the 'he is not me' comment in the back of her thoughts to talk about later.

"He defends all the switches. And yes, when you pull the last one he'll be gone." She answers, wondering if that will help motivate Luka or something else. Bad Luka did need to be removed from the picture, though, so this had to happen.

If Luka steps through the door, wind and rain will slap him right in the face as he enters into the bad weather. Specifically the bad weather on a high cliff overlooking the Faridian shorelines. What brought Luka here? Where would bad Luka be?

And most importantly: Where would a switch be in a location like that?

"Ugh." He sighs in frustration as he imagines having to deal with that guy four more times. "He's so annoying. Was I that annoying?"

Luka reaches the next door and pauses for a moment of peace, savoring the pleasant sounds of the crashing waves.

"That's rhetorical by the way. Don't answer." He clarifies to Nine before taking the plunge through the next doorway.

The Faridian coastline is instantly recognizable. He can picture this location well in his mind, one of his clearest memories from when he was still sighted. There was perhaps no location which he could have conjured that he'd rather find himself in. If it weren't for the looming threat of clone Luka, of course.

Everything is exactly as he'd recalled - including the merciless wind that obfuscated most other sounds.

"IT'S FARIDA!" He shouts over the roaring wind with a childish glee. Hopefully, Nine can hear him. "But... we're outside? You see anything out of place? A structure or something?"

!!!

Of all the ways Nine expected Luka to respond in this place, excitement was absolutely not one of them! She watches him in silence for a few moments before realizing that he's waiting on her!

"Sorry, looking." She returns, beginning to focus on her search.

If Luka starts wandering around, he'll eventually step in what feels like a pile of spilled jello. Why would someone have spilled jello out here near the coast?

It takes several minutes for Nine to chime in again, and honestly she's not sure that she should even say what she's about to say!

"Um." She starts smoothly.

"It's on the side of the cliff straight ahead of you. About twice your height up the wall." Sorry for the bad news, Luka! Who would put a switch up the side of the rock wall anyway? How was he going to get to it? There were rocks, sure, he could climb, sure, but it was all wet. At least Nine would help Luka make sure he was climbing towards it, but geez, this was mean.

Well, the pile of jello is concerning.

Normally, Luka might assume it was some poor jellyfish washed ashore. It would be a normal sight on the beach itself - but not up here on the cliffside.

Then there is, of course, the matter of the other Luka being made up of this stuff (and himself, apparently, too?). Had the other Luka had been here already, and was destroyed? But by what, or who?

Luka kneels down and gingerly touches the goo, perhaps against his better judgement.

"Hmm." He's still distracted by the pile when Nine announces her discovery.

"Well... fuck." Luka rises to a stand again, but makes no movement toward the cliff ahead. "Which way does it need to be flipped? We could try dropping something onto it."

Unfortunately for Luka, it was, in fact, bad Luka that was splattered on the ground. Whatever had splattered him did it quickly and abruptly! Either that or he thought he could face off against it.

"Down. Is there something you can drop? Oh, or that. " Nine reacts to something that the water washes up and deposits at Luka's feet.

It looks like a treasure chest, and it has handles-- wait.

Was the water up to Luka's feet before? It definitely wasn't, was the water rising...? (The water was totally rising with every wave that came in.)

The pile of jello remains concerning. Perhaps doubly so now, if Luka knew its exact origin. But Luka doesn't have a moment to spare for those particular concerns as even more pressing ones seem to be arising.

"No way. Seawater...? Up here?" He jumps back in surprise when the ocean waves reach him, depositing something heavy up on the cliffside sands.

He investigates the object with a few tentative kicks - discerning that it's some kind of container - before he tries to open it.

"Why is this dumb cube so intent on tainting my memories?" He says, an annoyed urgency to his tone as he tries the latch on the treasure chest. "You should make better cubes. Ones that don't try to kill you."

The water continues to rise! As Luka examines the treasure chest, he'll hear the vague scraping sounds of water bringing various wooden boxes and scraps up on land and then leaving them there as the waves retract. Each new wave brings more water, more wooden things, and lifts up all the bits that have washed up before dropping them again.

Inside the chest are the DVDs that Four was selling. The signed copies. There's a paper announcement, printed, and a braille announcement, both detailing the full 12-day-set of DVDs that would eventually come out to catalogue year 40 up to its dramatic conclusion.

"I didn't put Four's things here. These are from your memory, the cube copied from you." Nine offers, clarifying. The only reason that the cube was trying to kill Luka was because Luka clearly had some things he hadn't confronted yet!

...Also no one was perfect and no one would take being erased from existence without a fight so... it made sense why bad Luka was trying to stop Luka. He was living a pretty posh life in this cube before Luka came along! The man had only his best memories in here! What a deal!

Luka stops and kneels down to carefully examine the chests contents, despite the ocean waves continuously licking at his feet. He recognizes the items as Four's, with the announcement and Nine's comment only confirming his suspicions.

"It's a lot easier to blame the cube, though, isn't it?" He sighs, turning the signed DVD in his hands. He's unsure what he's meant to do with it, if anything.

"Did you know Four very well?" He sits himself on a rock underneath the switch, feeling the ocean water pooling at his feet. At least it was a pleasant place to wait. "You think they'd be mad?"

The water! Continues! To rise! Hopefully Luka likes having wet feet. And ankles. And soon: Knees.

"They were nice." Nine answers, dodging the first question about knowing them very well as if she was dodging a baseball.

"I don't think they would be mad. And I'm going to get them back." She answers, with as much determination as voice-to-text could afford in those words.

At the same time as she's answering, something long, coiling, and heavy gets washed up against Luka's feet. A snake? No, a rope! And there's a hook on the end? How convenient!

If Luka grabs the rope, he'll hear the roaring woosh of approaching waves a few seconds after. Surely that's nothing!

Luka doesn't particularly like having wet feet, or ankles, or knees! But the rising water doesn't give him much choice, even if he scrambles further up the rocks.

He's quiet for a moment after Nine answers, considering her choice of words carefully and making a mental note on them for later.

"Yeah... they didn't seem like the type to be. Even when it was happening." He sighs as he recalls the grim memory, and his own misplaced confidence in his choices at the time. "Well, when you get them back, we'll see. Five's mad enough for the both of them, anyway."

He perks up when he feels something new and unusual wash up beside him, and he pulls the heavy rope from the ground until he reaches the hooked end.

"Hey, you think this can reach the switch...?" He asks, though he doesn't wait for an answer before he's already winding up an attempt.

The Weather

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