wizardseason | Wizard's House

Wizard's House

"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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That just raises so many questions, and Garrot finds himself responding without much of a moment to think.

"I don't know?!" He's calling bullshit on that, Xaljim, and it doesn't help that it sounds condescending. "What don't I know, when I've been here multiple times?!" Tell him, Garrot is all ears, buddy! Xaljim definitely knows something he doesn't, but what? Is it about what makes him different? And what could that even be?!

Just give him the straight facts, Xaljim.

"Every knight chooses a side. There's no such thing as a neutral knight." He answers, bristling with annoyance at how annoyed Garrot is getting. His temper's going to get the better of him here and he doesn't care.

"Even if they're Wizard or Protector at the start, they can be whatever they want by the end. I don't care what my knights decide, I'll help them do whatever they're going to do. They'll die or they'll live but it won't be on me." And suddenly he's got a balled up piece of paper that he plinks off of Garrot's face.

The moment that balled up piece of paper starts to fly, Garrot is already growling. He doesn't care what they do and he's completely detached from whether they live or die. Whether his father lived or died.

"You don't care, even if someone wants to end the world! That'd kill you, you realize that?!" And he's breathing deeper, trying to calm himself down, to stop his claws from cutting into his palms. "Are you like this every year, or am I getting special treatment because I'm different?"

Hell of a way to bring things back around, but okay Garrot. At least he's got his head on straight enough that he's still trying to make progress.

Why did he have to get the frustrating knight!!! Everything Garrot was was frustration! He wishes he had more paper! More ways to vent his own frustration! But he notices when Garrot tries to switch himself, and he can't keep the frustration out of his voice but at least he doesn't throw more paper.

"I didn't ask to exist. I'm here. I do my job. I come back next year. I can't change any of it. I can't change any of it!" He lets out a deep exhale from getting himself riled up, shaking his head.

"I'd help you end the world if you wanted. Fighting or not, I'm on your side."

Xaljim didn't ask for this? Can't change any of it? Garrot's eyes go wide because he feels bad that the only way he got good info was by pissing off his companion. In fact, what he got is also making him feel bad. Garrot pushes off the wall and closes the distance tentatively reaching an arm up to clasp onto the monkey's shoulder.

"But what do you want?" He's sincere about it, an easy shift after years raising troubled kids. His other arm opens a bit, a half step from offering a hug. "We don't have to fight; you could let me help you."

Garrot wants to trust Xaljim, but they're just... they're arguing too much. It's one hell of a secret for someone who keeps throwing paper balls at him.

He immediately turns himself upside down where he's floating in midair, not allowing the hand on his shoulder. The last thing he wants is to get crushed by his knight's frustrations.

Even if it wouldn't actually hurt.

"I'm tired of it. When it ends, I wake up and it's the next year. There's no rest. I want it over with." He answers, eyeing Garrot suspiciously for any indication that he's not taking him seriously.

He's actively considering if he needs to get more balls of paper to fend him off.

Garrot is absolutely taking him seriously. Not just because he sees an in for information that could help them all save the world, but because Xaljim is in pain. And Garrot helps people, he heals them, so his heart is really going out to Xaljim.

"So why can't it end?" His voice is softer, his frustration shifted nearly to pleading. "Why can't we just find a way to keep the world from being in danger every year?"

If Garrot said that, Xaljim might actually start to loosen up. Instead he's tense as he gives his information, his skepticism still very much alive and well.

"Because of whatever they messed up forty years ago, that didn't work and now we're in this stupid... stupid... purgatory! What other word is there for this year after year?!" He suddenly has three paper balls in each hand and he hurls them downwards in frustration, huffing in exasperation as they hit the ground once and poof into nonexistence.

Garrot just sighs, because Xaljim is only getting angrier. He knows what they messed up forty years ago, at least kinda. And he knows it turned the Protector and Wizard against each other.

"But what if there's a way to stop it?" There's a pause, and the doctor raises an eyebrow. "You've been working with Knights for forty years, you had to have learned something, right? Like what they messed up." And he's got a slight little smile, as if to say what if there's a way to fix it? But then the smile gets wider.

"We can toss a baseball around instead of those paper balls, if you want." Garrot is, naturally, very curious about what the deal is with that paper. Do they have writing? Or are they blank? Where are they coming from? Can he use them?

"You'd get hurt if I hit you with your knight weapon baseball." Xaljim's response comes immediately and he folds his arms, slowly rotating in a circle in midair in front of Garrot.

"I've had forty times thirteen days. No off time. No rest of the year." He corrects him, squinting. "And as far as I can tell, they messed up everything."

"Everything. Both of them?" That's not very informative. Garrot brings a hand to stroke at his beard as his eyes track Xaljim's rotations. "You gotta have some more details after five hundred and twenty days." Then he pauses, looking hesitant and vulnerable for a moment before he asks one question with just a hint of a shake in his voice.

"Did... did my father tell you anything he learned?" He's wistful, because Garrot's had to come to terms with the fact that he's both reliving his father's death and memorializing him while he's here. "I bet he and the Protector got along well." Of course he knows nothing about who the Protector is, he's assuming.

Give him anything, Xaljim. Any specific details about why the world is like this and what the Wizard and Protector screwed up.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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."

He sighs, because wow, Xaljim, Garrot didn't expect you to be having such a rough time of all this. Explains the temper, at least.

"After the Wizard first showed up, I started seeing less and less of my father. He was always at work, and my parents made sure I was busy with school and practice and everything else." Garrot looks down, similarly deflating. "It was so annoying."

But then he gets a little smile, like he's got a plan. "We could go talk to the Wizard sometime if you wanted? Or... I could, if you don't want to, and I'll just tell you what I learn." He brings a hand to his beard. "I mean, she's around, but the Protector isn't, unless you could meet the Protector along with my father?"

Does he want to bring Xaljim into the Wizard's dream so they can be on the same page, as equals? Absolutely.

Ugh, Garrot, don't follow up that kind of conversation with a smile. His eyes narrow as he gives his next plan, watching him for some kind of answer to this whole deal.

"I can't meet either of them anywhere unless they're on the island." He clarifies, narrowing his eyes at Garrot to ask a very important question:

"Which space do you have access to?" Protector, or Wizard? Clue him in, buddy, he's starting to have questions here.

"Why can't you just be eager and gullible and tell me whatever I want without asking questions?" The words are groaned, exaggerated, like a displeased teenager. He doesn't mean any of it, but he still pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment. So dramatic, this one.

"You're on my team, so none of this can get out. To anyone!" Garrot is serious, and his arms cross over his chest. His eyes, glaring right at Xaljim's, are less daggers and more... pleading. It's not like he'd hide if he was with the Protector, after all. He'd have told Xaljim immediately! Happily! "Please... If anyone finds out the Wizard's trying to get her claws into me, even though she doesn't have a chance, then I'm in danger and so's my family." As they finally stop dancing around it, Garrot sighs, but there's a shudder to it that's a strong departure from all his confidence and bravado.

The Monkey Knight is genuinely scared.

"Yeah, that's what I said." He reaffirms that he's on Garrot's side. He's almost certain Garrot's a Wizard Knight before he even speaks. The level of trepidation is a dead giveaway, but he waits for Garrot to let it out and then he shakes his head.

"Just tell her no." He says it with this alarming finality, like it's the simplest fact in the universe.

"She can't make you do anything. And don't tell anyone else." Sorry Garrot, this monkey isn't the best for support but he's not going to kick him while he's down. He's here. He's on your side. He won't ditch you.

Edited 2019-04-28 14:49 (UTC)

"Th-thanks." The world didn't end when Garrot was honest about it. He's not dead. He can trust Xaljim. And that lifts a weight off his shoulders. Garrot's not smiling, of course, but there's a shift in his temperament.

"Can... any of the other companions see those papers you're throwing?" He brings a hand to his beard and raises an eyebrow. Garrot's bouncing back, now that he's getting a feel for things. "I could tell you everything I know, and you can write it all down so you're not in the dark anymore." He swallows down his apprehension, because it's obvious that Xaljim's his ally in all this.

"There's something different about this year."

"They can all see them." He answers, tossing a paper ball underhanded towards Garrot. Catch.

"But I can't write on them. You can tell me anyway." He answers, watching Garrot, watching what he's thinking about, and most of all...

"Different because you believe the Wizard or different because you don't?"

Garrot catches the ball, but he lets out a sad little whimper at the news. No chance of a secret library of information. That sucks, but... does it mean the other companions can access everything? Maybe they have some facts tucked away that could help. As tempting as it is to jump on that, Xaljim asks a far more important question.

"Oh- uh...!" Garrot tenses up a bit, the paper ball crunched between his hands, and he's back to being nervous. This is an awkward question, because he can't reveal others, and he's not sure what'll happen if this counts as that (would she appear and kill him?!) but...

"She has four of us with her each night, not two and... she says none of the Knights are going to die this year." A pause. Xaljim might not know the answer, but he'll still ask. "What... what does she mean?" And then he shifts gears to anxiously crunching parts of the paper ball between his claws.

Xaljim's face makes a strange scrunch at the same time Garrot thinks he said the word 'four'. He narrows his eyes, questioning what word was supposed to go there. If Garrot picks up on it and thinks about it, he'll realize that his mouth pronounced the equivalent of a censored sound when he said four but he hadn't heard it when he said it. Xaljim heard the censor, though, but not 'four'.

"And you believe her?" He asks, semi-incredulously.

He raises an eyebrow, registering that something was off with that word. Xaljim would freak out if there were twice as many Wizard knights as Protector knights, because he seems to want to be mad about everything. Hell, Garrot freaked out about it. So something seems real off, and Garrot takes out a hand to start counting.

"So there's me." Pointer finger. "Then that one." Gyre gets the middle finger and a very negative that. "And the that one." Haizea gets the ring finger, and a smiling that. "And the small one." Matilda gets the pinky, because she is small by comparison. Sure, everyone is small compared to Garrot, but it's the principle of it all. At least he didn't drop any names!

"And we all want to believe that nobody's gonna die this year." He sighs, knowing that's still a tall order. Most of them barely know how to fight!

(no subject)

wizardseason - 2019-05-04 03:23 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

daddykong - 2019-05-04 03:34 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only