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

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That's much better, and Matilda instinctively holds it close to her chest as if the warmth from the coffee might help the chill she just felt go down her spine.

"That can't be right. If it's still here, there's still hope, right?"

The Wizard gives this little hollow smile, the kind of smile a parent gives a child when they say they want to bring peace to the world or give some other similar impossible dream that's out of reach for even experienced adults. Be hopeful, Matilda, there's nothing stopping thoughts like that.

"Hope for some. If it continues, so does the pain."

“It seems better than apathy.” Matilda snaps, then realized she snapped, and goes back to flushing. And the look she’s getting doesn’t help her feel less like an idiot child, either. She lets out a heavy sigh, pausing in her stride and letting her head drop.

“I don’t get any of this...”

Again, the Wizard thinks of the way Matilda must be thinking. That optimism would hopefully last and not be snuffed out. Perhaps. But she wasn't going to focus on it if it would destroy her to consider.

"Don't let anyone die." She offers the advice. Sure, it was obvious. Why was she giving this advice? Who knew.

“Is that it? The secret? I just have to make sure nobody dies?” She’s almost pleading, tilting her head back up from where it had been previously staring at her shoes. It doesn’t sound like an easy feat. But maybe if she can try hard enough... her hands tighten on the mug.

It's like she's kicking a puppy.

"No." She answers, her voice void of any reassurance or emotion at all.

"There is no secret." She isn't going to lie, sorry Matilda.

It is. Matilda trembles a little, trying not to cry, then gives her head a good shake. “Y-you should have picked a better knight. Someone who would know what to do.” Like Delilah would. “I-I’m going to try, but you’re still here telling me we’re all doomed!”

"You'll live if you try." She answers, the closest to a reassurance she'll get here.

She doesn't address the better knight part, though. She had her reasons but most of all she wasn't answering it because it wasn't important. Matilda could think whatever she wanted of herself, that didn't change reality.

She’ll take what she can get, and she smiles a little wearily. “You’ll try too, won’t you? You could help stop this awful thing. You don’t have to be all alone.” She’s hesitant, but genuine at least.

"I have to die to stop it." She answers flatly, it's a reality she's come to accept over the years. What else would she do with her time if she had to stick around after all this?

Well, that shuts Matilda up quickly. Then her shoulders start to tremble, and she hiccups, and the tears start to well in her eyes.

If Matilda was hoping for any consolation from the Wizard, she's not going to get it. Instead, the Wizard is disengaging here. She turns, slowly walking away from the dog knight.

She'll still be around if Matilda wants to pursue or once she collects herself, but the Wizard isn't going to break her further.

Thankfully, Matilda’s used to having her outbursts ignored. So she just stands there, crying to herself for a while, before she gets it together. Then, after she’s rubbed mascara across her face, she pulls her stupid goggles down, and— pop! She’s teleported after The Wizard.

“Hey. Hey. Wait.” She gasps, as if she didn’t just. instantly catch up with her.

See? Stronger than she thought she was. The Wizard isn't one for reassuring others and this was no exception. The teleportation's a nice touch, and the Wizard turns to look at Matilda now that she's caught up.

"Yes?"

"Can you...make me stronger? To help protect everyone?" Her cheeks are still flushed, and her voice is hesitant, but the goggles seem to give her a little bit of encouragement to bravely ask such a ridiculous question.

"I could." She answers calmly, curiously as she looks Matilda over.

"You could have gigantic muscled arms, able to punch through walls." A pause. "And people."

Matilda’s face turns pale, and she physically recoils at the very suggestion. “N-no! I’ll make the attempts on my own, thank you!”

That reaction is, overall, particularly telling about who Matilda is as a person. She'd found the right buttons to push, here. Could she push further?

"I could make the weapons Cif gives you stronger."

"You could?" Matilda asks, tilting her head to the side. "That might help if I can figure out how to actually use a weapon." Again, with the subtle self-deprecation. But she does peer at the Wizard with a bit of suspiciousness at the offer. No one's nice without strings attached.

"Why would you want me to do that?"

Self-deprecation wasn't really a good look on Matilda, but the Wizard isn't one to tell her as much. It isn't her job to be the supportive helper, that just isn't her jam.

"So you don't die." Her answer comes without any hesitation, but not in an insistent way. Just a telling it how it is way.

"Okay." Matilda says, voice a little hesitant. But with stronger weapons-- she might just stand half a chance. She's positive right now she doesn't. "What do you need me to do?"

"When you ask for your next weapon, ask Cif to make it 'magical'." She answers, turning away from Matilda again, looking up towards the sky.

"That's all."

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Wizard's House

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