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

[wizardseason]

The only information Garrot receives is that, rather than having a spine with a smaller number of vertebrae, the Wizard's current body has a truly absurd volume of them. For what purpose, no one knows, but there are far more in there than there should be in an existence of her size.

"Every story needs a good guy and a bad guy." She was getting to her answer here, but Garrot's temper is so easy to touch on.

"I wonder who's who." She delivers it deadpan again, looking with her tired eyes at Garrot.

[daddykong]

Garrot does not enjoy the information he receives, as it is both biologically and logistically unsettling. But alas, he has it. The deadpan words seem to get to Garrot, though, because he doesn't look happy!

"It probably depends on who you ask," and then he rolls his eyes, "but you're probably the bad guy. Girl." But that does give him another idea.

"Why do you come back in a different body every year?" And then he raises a shushing finger! "Not because you died, I mean why not just come back with the same body every time?"

[wizardseason]

Benefits of being a weird wizard, weird anatomy. She's got more anatomical surprises than that, but that would be for someone else to discover later. She'll give him some insights here, it's something she's answered before.

"A magic disguise only lasts so long" She offers, her little smirk staying put.

"A year is long enough to look at a face that isn't mine." A pause, and: "This one isn't bad, though"

[daddykong]

Fuckin' creepy, of course it's not her true form! About what he should expect from the literal devil. But he raises an eyebrow at the information.

"Why not just reuse the disguise? Or are you just trying to..." Insert cringe here. "...find your favorite look?"

Garrot can appreciate the effort at least, it took him a while to get a style that fit well with his body!

[wizardseason]

Of course it's not her true form. Also that's an insult to the devil, she was far less cool and far less powerful than they were. They'd had tea once, it was great for everyone.

"Something like that." She answers, amused. Time to see about pushing Garrot's buttons to see what he'd do. Since he's focused on her look:

"Do you not like it?"

[daddykong]

"I'd hate you no matter what you looked like." His tone is deadpan- restrained. He's been putting more effort into keeping his emotions in check than he thought possible.

"Does the Protector change what he looks like?" He probably has to die for that like she does, but. Worth asking.

[wizardseason]

"He does." She nods, confirming, leaving his comment about hating her completely unanswered. There wasn't any point in confronting him on it. That's what she was for, anyway.

[daddykong]

"Can he do it without dying?" He squints at her, smelling something fishy. "Or does this mean you've both died before?"

That would be troubling, because the Protector's death would have destroyed the planet. Even though the planet is fine.

[wizardseason]

"He can." She confirms again, leaving the answer to that second question unanswered because she knows he can fill in the blank there. She answered the important half of it.

[daddykong]

"...can you?" He raises an eyebrow. He's been doing that a lot. Good workout for those muscles at least! "And, well, which of your true forms is uglier?"

The way he sees it, if both of them can change their appearance, they've probably got something to hide. And after that Spine Thing, it's probably something unsightly.

[wizardseason]

Keep that up, Garrot, and those eyebrows are going to flutter off like little birds. At his words, though, the tiniest amusement makes it into the corners of her smirk.

"I can. But he was always the better looking one." She's wondering what sort of insult he'll put together with that information. He seemed intent on being a bit rude.

[daddykong]

"You can look like whatever you want," he sounds skeptical of that still, "and you're going to just let him look better? Yeah, okay." And then he rolls his eyes. Get some confidence, Wizard!

"I mean, his powers have higher limits than yours, he looks better, and he's called the Protector." And he starts to smirk! "Are you sure you're not just jealous that the planet likes him more and always will?"

[wizardseason]

She lets him have his jab, she knew it was coming. There was an arrogance to his suggestion that she really didn't care about. Perhaps he'd take note of it, or perhaps he'd dismiss it as nothing. He seemed the sort for details so it was surprising to see him this way.

"You can believe that if you want to." She offers, not faltering in the face of all his assumptions. Have fun, Garrot.

[daddykong]

That is not the reaction he wanted to get! In fact, it's the worst one possible, because she's not defensive. She's not anything! The sight of her makes his blood want to boil and she sounds like she barely cares about anything. It's patronizing, it's annoying, it's-

"Ugh." He rolls his eyes, conceding defeat and shifting gears to a question that matters. "So if you and the Protector weren't connected until your little plan forty years ago, why'd it work out this way?" He brings a hand to his chin, trying to choose his words. "Why aren't you the Protector, and why isn't he the Wizard? Are-" He stutters for a moment. "Are the limits on your powers stopping you from doing whatever he's doing to Protect the planet?"

[wizardseason]

Unfortunately while he takes it as patronizing, she means it in earnest. It wasn't a priority in her life, categorizing herself against others. She simply provided the information as a matter-of-fact observation. He was always more focused on his appearance, more focused on his looks, so of course he'd be the better looker.

He wore makeup in every form, after all.

"Coincidence." She answers, moving herself to walk away from him. Seems like she's planning on ending this conversation. Sorry Garrot.

"He would have to change something for me to try." She adds with her back turned.

[daddykong]

Garrot will always try to get the last word, especially now that he'll be seeing the Wizard every damn night! She didn't clearly answer what the coincidence was, but he sure has a hunch: she could've been the Protector this whole time instead. If she's telling the truth about this, if it's actually possible, then-

"Then we convince him to change something!" He sounds earnest, desperate, hurt. It seems like there's a glimmer of hope, of... compassion. "Maybe you don't both have to die and take the world with you!" Is he just entertaining this for the sake of the rest of the planet? Maybe. He's not sure anymore. "When was the last time you actually had a conversation with him without trying to kill him?"

Ever the optimist, even in the face of his sworn enemy. Because... maybe she doesn't have to be the world's enemy.

[wizardseason]

"Let me know what you find out." She answers, still walking away... until she pauses, turning back towards him. Her smirk is gone but she doesn't sound any less detached than usual.

"He strikes first. I need you, don't let him kill you." And she watches for any reaction he might have, turning away again. In three steps, she's gone. Back to the steps. Away from this conversation.