Wizard's House

[wizardseason]

"Hey"

The Wizard greets the evil-allured knights the same way every night, with the same word, while casually sitting on the steps of the porch outside of her little home. The building looks handmade, like it was built by people who cared about the place they were going to live. Surrounding it on all sides are fields as far as the eye can see. Vegetables of all kinds, with fruit trees and bushes placed throughout the landscape. Closer to the home are bigger trees, willows and others, providing shade from the strange three suns above. Wherever this is, it isn't the world that the knights know.

Plunged into the ground a mere few feet away from the steps leading up to the home is a handwritten sign that states the following:

Knight Rules:
- Tell others if you want
- You can't reveal others
- The world ends this year

Comments

[sustainer]

He nods slowly, letting out a low huff. He just wants this to be easier then it is honestly.

"The next time you hear them, can you ask them? See if they respond then?"

[wizardseason]

Xaljim's on his third rotation at this point, squinting as Garrot does that quick mental math. That's not the important part here. But then Garrot fractures and Xaljim... really doesn't want to share the information. He lets his eyes drift anywhere but Garrot as he answers.

"He went his own way, he sought his own answers." He gives, before switching back to the other topic.

"They made a bunch of us, there are monsters now, the world keeps trying to end, all because they tried some world-saving nonsense." And he folds his arms tightly, looking incredibly grumpy about those facts.

[wizardseason]

At this point, Fen is about to flip onto their back and be belly-up. They stare at Gyre with this utterly perplexed expression.

"I can try but what if it doesn't respond again?"

[daddykong]

"Because this is how it starts." If Garrot's words could cut, those would be like a bonesaw. As fun as eating a raw egg has been, the conversation has gotten serious and so he does the same. He needs to remind them all why they're here.

"She gets us to trust her with, I guess, some crazy stories about the world." He shrugs, and decides to be polite. "Maybe they're true. And maybe she's rewriting history, showing us what she wants us to know so then we sympathize and she can get us to destroy the world."

The Wizard has stated her motives clearly enough over the years, and they'd be idiots not to see everything she does in light of that. That said... "If the Protector was doing this it'd be fine. Then we could just ask you what he's lying about." The paradox is that she might lie about his truths, but. Baby steps.

[daddykong]

He went his own way, sought his own answers? That's more cryptic bullshit, but it sounds like he might not have been too attached to the Protector if he went on his own. But the conversation shifts, and he can't ask more. Not yet.

"Why did they make you?" His brow furrows, and he looks sad at Xaljim's grumpiness. "They're both so powerful, what did they need a bunch of magic animals to do?" They clearly didn't need them to make weapons, because the Wizard has her hammer.

[sustainer]

"That's fine. Tell me so I know."

He takes a moment to pause and think, glancing downwards at his lap. He needs to figure out the best way to phrase his question so they don't get lost in telling him rumors.

"Hmm... did you come here with the wizard? Forty years ago, I mean?"

[wizardseason]

This is a familiar debate. The Wizard knights, throughout the years, frequently had disagreements like this one. One after another, year after year, one would argue for and one would argue against. Rarely, they would both agree, but she wasn't typically lucky enough to have same-minded knights on her side.

"You're giving me too much credit." She offers after a moment, turning her just-barely-there smirk towards Garrot. He's making some particularly wild assumptions here and she wants to go on the record with one of the most true truths there was.

"I'm a terrible liar."

[tropicalstorm]

At Gyre's nose wrinkle, she stares back levelly. "I don't wanna go where it ends, I don't want it to end at all! This yearly game is stupid, but as long as we kill all the monsters then the world keeps on turnin'. If I can do anythin' to make sure that happens then I'm gonna, I got too many people dependin' on me to even think 'bout taking any risks."

When the Wizard finishes speaking though, she sighs. "For what it's worth, I don't actually think you're lying. I just can't care about the truth. It don't matter to me how this started, all that matters is that we live another year."

[wizardseason]

What, does Garrot want Xaljim to badmouth his dad? Like, there're some decisions that just have to be made here and this is one of them. He doesn't want to look Garrot in the eye and badmouth his dad, like, that's awful.

"I don't think they meant to, they barely acknowledge us." He stares, grumpiness plainly evident. "They barely tell us anything, either."

[wizardseason]

Yeah, Fen's belly-up now as Gyre thinks of his next question. They're utterly relaxed in this moment, waiting for the next thing to think about. They feel free from thinking, relaxing here, but it can only last so long.

"Huh, come here?" They question, looking with confusion at Gyre.

"I was always here?"

[daddykong]

Garrot's eyes go wide at all this information, and suddenly he's pissed! "Accidental and neglectful parents?! That's bullshit!" He throws his hands into the air, and they come down to rest at his hips. "I mean, you all are the main reason we can fight! They should respect you!"

As it turns out, he's assuming rather obviously that the powers come from the animals. Makes sense, since they seem to know what the Knights can do. But then he rides the bitchy wave a little farther.

"I mean, they're- they're like your parents." And now he crosses his arms, pouting. "Do you even know anything about them? Or did you learn everything from TV and from your Knights?!" He's clearly not pissed at Xaljim; Garrot is so pissed he looks like he'd be calling Companion Protective Services if he could.

[sustainer]

Gyre looks surprised back, his eyes widening for a moment before he frowns deeply.

"Uh... what? You... What were you before the wizard got here? How long have you been alive...?"

[sustainer]

"Selfish," he growls at Haizea, all the weight of judgment and disgust rumbling in his throat. To think he admired her even for a moment! He can't believe she'd so blatantly say how little she values the people who aren't in her circle. Disgusting!

"She doesnt want us to destroy the world," he says, looking pointedly at Garrot. He feels like he's the only one who listened at all, and the anger is clear in his voice, his expression, the tense way he gestures as he speaks.

"The world is dying, and it's kept... turning by the blood of dozens and dozens of people. The best thing I can see is try to heal it, and we can't do that without knowing how it started."

[wizardseason]

"Nothing? I've always been me?" They slowly start rotating the other way, shifting back onto their side.

"Uh. I'll be 400 tomorrow?" A pause, wait, people usually do years...

"Um, 400 minus... 365...? 1 and... some days left over?"

[scandeled]

Garrot’s tone makes Matilda want to shove her face back into her breakfast, and she stays quiet while the others argue their cases, her face growing more and more heated by the moment. Matilda’s never been one for conflict, preferring to ignore it and carry on to her own drumbeat— but this is too important to ignore.

By the time Gyre’s finished speaking, Matilda’s perfectly manicured nails are cutting into the palms of her hands, her teeth gritted. “He’s right, you know. I want us to live another year too—“ She doubts herself. Pauses. Flounders. And then realized if she doesn’t keep taking now, Garrot or someone else will start talking again, and she’ll miss her chance to be heard. So she pushed away from the table and stand. “But we cant just say no! We cannot bring anything to finality, not without seeing the fountainhead! It gives us the very best chance!”

[wizardseason]

Xaljim's annoyed response comes immediately.

"They're not my parents!" He rears back with another paper ball, preparing to bean Garrot in the face with it. But he deflates after a moment, letting Garrot work through his thoughts before he responds.

"I learn about them from the others, from them when they're around, and from the knights." He offers, clarifying.

"And it sucks."

[sustainer]

WHAT.

"Fen." He brings a hand up to squeeze the bridge of his nose, grumbling for a moment. They can't be a year old?? What absolute nonsense!

"You've been on this island every year for forty years."

[wizardseason]

They finally settle on their side, watching Gyre work through something he's mumbling about. They don't catch it, but they watch him curiously anyway.

"I hope I get all thirteen days this year. Sometimes I don't. One year I only got two days."

[sustainer]

"Thirteen...?" he asks, twitching up straight. Thirteen days? They only got two one year?? He doesn't understand why they're not counting the entire rest of the year, shaking his head in irritation.

"What does that mean?"

[daddykong]

Selfish. The word makes Garrot's blood boil, it makes his claws dig into his palms so hard he draws blood. It makes him think back to the night before, to the conversation he and Gyre had. To dinner with Zafika. As much as he wants to let loose, to wrap his hands around the wild elf's throat and permanently shut it, he knows he shouldn't. He can't.

Garrot has gone out of his way to support the others, to give them no reason to seek out the Wizard. But the four of them, they need to work together and present a united front against The Wizard, so she can't manipulate the ones closest to her.

So Garrot goes silent and closes his eyes.

He can feel Gyre's gaze on him, can hear his plight and then Matilda's. But Garrot can also hear his breathing, loud and deep, as if to muffle the chatter. He focuses on it, on the times he would meditate in the elements, which was much more distracting than an argument between heroes.

"We're all right." Garrot opens his eyes, and while he isn't smiling, he looks gentler. Looks like counting to ten did wonders for his temper. "Our planet is like a patient in a hospital on life support, it can't live on its own." He nods, and then looks to Matilda and gives her a tiny little smile. Garrot won't say it yet, but he's proud that she found her spine.

"We can either keep the life support going for another year," he nods at Haizea, "which is fine. Sometimes things improve! Or we try and do a risky, cutting-edge procedure that might not even work. But maybe it will." And he finally tilts his head towards Gyre. "Neither choice is selfish." Rude, good sir.

"But we can't get a second opinion, and we can't trust her." Finally, he gestures dismissively with one hand towards the Wizard. "If she's a terrible liar, then she wasn't lying when she said her goal is to kill the Protector, which she said would destroy the world, not heal it." And then he ignores the others, and takes a step right towards the Wizard herself. "But as long as we aren't blindly accepting your little home movie, I'm on board." That last remark sounds more like a warning to the others.

[wizardseason]

The knights around her have put on a spectacular show. She looks to each of them as they speak, giving them her full attention so they have no doubts they've been heard. She'd expected them to devolve into shouting, especially because the content-to-observe Matilda joined in as well. But the shout-prone Garrot holds himself back and even encourages cooperation.

More importantly, he'd used an appropriate metaphor for the state of the planet. Haizea had reaffirmed her attachment to this dying world. Matilda had expressed interest in tomorrow's visit. Progress was being made.

"If nothing is done, nothing will improve." She clarifies, looking between Garrot and Gyre.

"He won't improve anything, and it's his life that's keeping this limbo going." She levels her gaze on Garrot as he moves towards her, her voice entirely devoid of even the slightest emotion as she repeats the fact she'd shared before so there's no doubt left whatsoever.

"I'm going to kill the Protector."

[tropicalstorm]

"You see!" Haizea exclaims, throwing a hand in the air for emphasis. "The Wizard's not lyin', but she wants to kill the Protector, and if the Protector dies then the world ends! Y'all can talk big 'bout tryin' to heal the world, but if we go along with her we're just workin' towards a plan for mass euthanasia. If we had any hint that healin' the planet was even possible that'd be one thing, but as it is all the info we got oughta lead us to believe that this shit is terminal, the only variable is when the death date is." She's angry, but doing her best to keep her cool and make her points calmly. Her hackles are still pretty raised from the tone Gyre used with her earlier though.

"I don't care if this is limbo, I don't care if the world shoulda ended long ago. All I know for sure is that everyone alive right now should keep livin'. I'm responsible for too many people to even take a chance on that," she sighs and gestures towards the Wizard. "Y'all kept it goin' this long and I'm gonna make sure you keep it up. I wish things weren't like this, I wish you could rest, but if you bein' sleepless means my kids get to grow up, then I'll keep you awake myself if I gotta." She cracks her knuckles before clenching her fists and releasing them a few times, feeling the adrenaline from confrontation.

"If that makes me selfish, then I'll be the greediest bitch alive."

[wizardseason]

"When the last day is up with you, the next day will be the next knight." They answer, watching his confusion. They don't understand what he's asking them at all.

But they think they answered his question?

[sustainer]

They did now. Finally. There's an extremely long silence here while he processes what that means. That uh sounds like hell? He shakes his head very slightly, this sudden deep pity in his voice.

"You don't get to live the rest of the year? This is all you know?"

[wizardseason]

"Yes?" They answer, questioning, trying to figure out what he's thinking.

"Why?" They can't find anything specific to pin a question with so they just ask a general one. Cue them in, Gyre, they've lost you.