knightsoflegend | andres ♔ but life is for living

Entry tags:

andres ♔ but life is for living

WHO || Everyone
WHAT || With Andres Isle reclaimed, the Knights deal with the aftermath of their battle to save its people
WHERE || Andres Isle, and various
WHEN || September 20th, 2014 - October 20th, 2014 [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam

When the sun rises on Andres Isle the next morning, and the smoke and rubble clears, it is impossible to call the battle anything less than a victory, in terms of freeing the people from Sarandis' hateful regime.

But all victories come with their costs.

Sir Zatara's team easily accomplished their goal, shutting down the power station that allowed Sir Trinall's team to wrest control of Isle communications, although Emma Swan was grievously injured in the process and Faye Chamberlain found herself facing an unexpected temptation when she got her hands on Jordan Reeves' genie bottle. Sir Wellington and Carpenter led an assault on the prison base, that succeeded in freeing all of the captured Shadowkind and putting a halt to the hideous experimentation going on there - at the cost of Sir Maxwell Briggard's life. (And Nathan Young's... but he got better. Twice.) Even Myrilandel's familiar, Amaranth, was found, but when Lan turned violent on a bank of computers in a fit of hatred for the machines and all they represented, a targeting system was activated that released all the mind-controlled Shadowkind hybrids from the facility, on a dread path of destruction for the castle, ready to kill anything in their path.

Meanwhile, Sir O'Rourke's team had managed to locate the love potion that Dimitris Sarandis was using to control Kat Samcelot's behavior, and made it impossible for the next dose to be administered on time. Sir Hathaway's team likewise made it into the castle, after following a set of clues that indicated Sir Elena Gilbert and the doppelganger Kyp had killed a guard and stolen their identity, heading into the palace proper. Eavesdropping within its walls, they learned that the Prime Minister had been shot, and that the woman responsible was being held in a tower. This, however, proved to be a cruel trick of Dimitris' ally, the powerful psion known as the Mind Master. Forcing Elena to shapeshift into Dimitris, she mentally dominated Elena, and made her sit outside the empty tower cell, where Rose, Will, and Dean found her. Having been approached by Kyp, who had been separated from Elena and feared for her life, a grudging alliance was formed, and the doppelganger approached "Dimitris" alone. Despite her attempt to drop hints to her real identity, the situation escalated - until the Mind Master made Elena wrest Kyp's gun from him, and shoot him right between the eyes.

In the meantime, Sir Yassin's team had blown an entrance for Prince Marcus Andres to lead his group into the castle through the tunnels below it. Dimitris had, however, expected something like this, and filled the tunnels with all manner of monster and creation designed to stop them. With exceptional teamwork, they bypassed all threats and made it within, where they were shocked to discover the real Chad Becksworth was in fact a prisoner here, and that Draken Crombe, leader of the Church of the Lord's Humanity had been impersonating him with the aid of the Mind Master, for access to NOVA Records' resources, for years. They also discovered the bones of former Dragon's Claw Sir Ellison, Tia's father, and helped lay his spirit to final rest.

Knights around the Island struggled to halt the hybrid creatures from charging into the palace and ruining the internal team's chance to save Kat and Thomas and stop Dimitris. Wynn led his own team to hold the line between the forest and the castle, but the brutal creatures they faced were overwhelming, and even with back-up arriving, creatures broke through. Wynn sent Sir La Krail and Francesca, whose team had secured the guardhouse, to stop several driders who had passed, while he chased down a chemical golem that crashed right through the palace doors.

Dimitris had already sprung his trap, however, sealing Marcus and friends in a room below the palace pumped with poisonous gas, while he asked Kat Samcelot for her hand in marriage on a screen for them to watch. At that moment, however, the love potion wore off, and she stabbed him in the dick, and helped free the others below. Myri teleported several of the Knights up to the main floor to save Kat, who faced the guards alone and weaponless, but the arrival of the chemical golem provided enough of a distraction for Dimitris to make a break for the throne room.

Elsewhere on the Isle, Sir Koraith's team had been gathering allies among the Shadow Village, to face an attack that they had been warned about, by soldiers seeking the location of Rocket, who had escaped the Shadow prison after attempting to assassinate the Prime Minister. Koraith led those who could not fight towards the boats, while the others remained to hold the line and take out not only the soldiers, but also the clockwork creations called nimblewrights, robots whose construction Failboat had learned was based on some kind of demonic creature held in Dimitris' basement. The battle was brutal, and Sir Riddick fell to the clockwork soldiers' assault. The fate of Sir Jaina Solo and a Shadowkind villager named Indra Crestrage remains unknown, as they were also grievously injured in the assault.

Sir Edain's team had secured various boats to transport villagers off the Isle, but also discovered a sinister shack where body parts were created up for export to Japan. In the battle that followed to hold the docks, Hook lost his entire arm, but managed to hold onto his life.

Back in the palace, several Knights joined Wynn in taking down the chemical golem, as Marcus and company moved to confront Dimitris and the Mind Master in the throne room. The Prime Minister was unrepentant for his crimes, and revealed that after capturing Kat, he had had the Dragon's Claw Thomas Bancroft killed, dumping his body off a balcony for them to see. Enraged, Kat ran to attack Dimitris, and was nearly killed by his bodyguard, Asha, but Fred Jr. intervened, sacrificing himself to save her. Des murdered Asha instantly, while the Mind Master teleported herself and Dimitris away, leaving the guards willing to surrender, and the Knights frustrated by the hollow victory.

A search of the Isle revealed no trace of where the two had gone, but it also meant that Andres was free of Sarandis' influence. Sir Banks' team had managed to gather all the wealthy human elite of the Island together inside a country club under the guise of a gas leak, and when Emma Frost appealed to the humanity of Sergeant Alastair Stone, a local police officer, he assisted them in routing out potential supporters of Dimitris, and separating them from the others, so that they might be shown the truth about what had been happening on the Island, right underneath their noses, in the form of a video of the prison laboratory provided by Logan and Nathan.

Most of the natives were shocked by what they saw, but had already been distrustful of Sarandis' true motives. Hearing that the true heir to the throne had returned has given the people of Andres a real sense of hope that things can change, but the road will not be an easy one.

Rather than pull out and head home the next day, Wynn has asked as many Knights as possible to remain and help with reconstruction. There are families to reunite, injured to tend to, homes to rebuild, a palace to remodel, and much more. This post is for things following directly in the aftermath of the Battle for Andres, especially for things happening on the Island itself. More posts will go up in the near future to backdate less immediate events. Characters are free to go back and forth to the castle as they please, but also have accommodations provided in the city or palace on Andres Isle.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ She's not a gopher, she's a companion. She has been well and truly recruited. Deal with it. ]

Did you find that thing?

"Yup! One thing, successfully acquired." She grins as she approaches, practically skipping as she reaches him and slaps the thing into his hand. What's the thing? Well, it's an important thing, definitely. With her task completed, Willow leans her elbow against the table and rests her chin in her hand.

"Need anything else?"

He has a proper think about that question, all screwed up face and frowning.

"Well probably. I mean it would be a bit weird if I never needed anything else. Maybe a pencil. People need pencils. Or a multipack of mini boxes of cereal. Good for energy on the go, those."

"Uhm..." She glances around. "Pencils, I can probably do. Not so sure on the cereal. This place doesn't exactly scream...variety pack fun breakfast times." It's just her observation. "But...if you're hungry, I can find something probably?"

It takes him a moment, an expression that twists from relaxed to confused as it dawns on him.

"Willow... are you doing all this for me?" He's just thought she was bored and wanted to fetch stuff. He's probably suggested about five things by this point.

"You're not just... looking for things to do?"

She looks a little sheepish, like she isn't sure what the right answer to the question is. She worries at her bottom lip and gives a quick shrug.

"Both? I'm not exactly going to be able to... build houses or anything. And we were a pretty good team before, so I just thought..." She trails off and looks down at her shoes, very young and very much wanting to be helpful.

"Hey hey hey," the Doctor says gently, shushing her before he even lets her get started on that idea.

"Being useful comes in more ways than being able to build houses or fight battles. It comes in the small things. In conversations and smiles, and in hopes and ideas. Trust me, I know when I see someone who's extra special, Willow. I've never got that wrong before. And you? Well you're special."

He offers her the smallest of smiles, warm, as he nods. "And yes we were. We were a great team, Willow." He's missed that. Missed having a friend at his side, even if its to tell him he's ridiculous.

"Really?" It's not that she doesn't think that she's special. She's aware of her strengths and how not everyone can do some of those things. But she's also not Slayer special, so she tends to forget that other people also appreciate books smarts like hers.

"I mean- thank you." She looks a little bashful. "So... what should we do today on the John and Willow show?" She swings her arms, trying to switch gears to hide her embarrassment further.

Oh there it is, that name again. It doesn't fit him, and even less now than before. He'd tried to wear it, but it was always like a hand me down, a jacket that never quite sat on his shoulders right.

With a slow breath, he shakes his head. The only person he's really revealed himself to is Wynn, none of the Knights. Not yet. But he likes Willow. She reminds him of so many of his friends.

He'd like to start as he means to go on.

"I'm not... My name's not John."

She looks incredibly confused by that, but she can tell that he's being very serious about it. Brow scrunched, she steps closer and tilts her head.

"It's not? Okay, well... I mean John Smith was kind of a boring name. Unless... it's like your middle name or something." She snaps her mouth shut before she gets a chance to shove her foot in there further.

It makes him smile, that sort of almost awkward bumbling way she has. She reminds him of himself, in a way.

"It's not," he confirms softly.

"I lied to you, but I needed to. For a while, I needed to. And yes it is boring, but I thought boring was good. I thought boring was what I needed. But it's not. Boring's rubbish. Boring's... well... boring, isn't it? And I'm not. Or at least I don't think I want to be."

Ramble.

Willow speaks fluent ramble, it's okay.

"It's okay! I mean... I get it. Wanting to be something you're not, more or less or... just different. But-- you're not boring. At all. I mean you were able to shut down that generator so easily. It was so cool!" This is not at all the point but she feels like she needs to tell him.

Edited 2015-01-05 01:37 (UTC)

He's all but about to dismiss that comment when... he doesn't. Instead, he smiles a bit, slowly, the expression creeping over him bit by bit.

"It was cool, wasn't it?" he agrees.

"We should do that sort of thing a bit more, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah?" She perks a little. "I mean, yeah! We should. I'd like that." John's pretty great in her opinion. It's like if Xander's goofy humor and Giles' brain had a baby and... Oh no. That sort of describes her ideal man.

And now she's blushing.

While the Doctor might see her blushing, it doesn't register as anything to him. Missing the obvious as he has a habit of doing (no really, he crit failed the sense motive). So he just smiles at her instead.

"Good, then that's what we'll do. You and me. Ooh it's just like old times. Well my old times, not your old times. Things are always a bit better when you do them with a friend. Rubbish on your own. I tell you what, Willow, everybody needs a hand to hold when they run, sometimes."

She can't stop grinning as he talks, practically bouncing on her heels. Suddenly, she stops.

"Wait- you said your name isn't John Smith. What is it then?"

He doesn't answer straight away, like it's somehow difficult to speak the words. If he starts telling people now, there's not really any going back. He's told Wynn, but he has no doubt if he asked then it would still remain a secret.

But other people? Well that's a big leap. He takes a breath and nods just a little before making the decision to proceed.

"The Doctor. I'm the Doctor."

The answer isn't really an answer, as far as Willow is concerned. She scrunches up her nose and studies him, as if waiting for him to continue, to fill in the blank somehow. But he doesn't, so she finally just leans in.

"Doctor who?"

There are moments in life that are memorable. Moments that when you think of a person you recall with a grin on your face. Moments that signal the start of something.

This is one of those moments.

A smile spreads wide across the Doctor's face, though by all rights it has no purpose there. She hasn't said anything to cause it, or least not that most people would see. But to him? Those two immortal words have always meant something. Now? With the decisions he's made and the steps he's taken? Maybe they mean more than ever.

"Exactly!" he repeats, not really expecting to make much sense. Hopefully she'll get used to that.

She just blinks, not really sure what it is she said to warrant that reaction, but it seems good??

"Oh! Uhm... okay?" He's so excitable, though. And that enthusiasm is catching. "So I guess we're all re-introduced now. Anything other big surprises I don't know about you?"

"Oh probably. But then they wouldn't be surprises if I told you, now would they?"

And where would be the fun if she found out everything straight away?

It doesn't explain anything but then it feels like plenty of an answer. So she just grins at him and nods.

"Guess you're right." She has a feeling this is the beginning of something bigger. She doesn't know what, but he just doesn't seem like the type to do anything small.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

andres ♔ but life is for living

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject