open ♔ socialization log

[wynn]

WHO || Everyone! [ota]
WHAT || Shenanigans.
WHERE || Anywhere in the castle, surrounding environs, London, Andres, etc!
WHEN || Any time in March/April
HOW || Actionspam

[ The castle can be a happening place, even on more mundane days. This log is for random interactions over the course of these few months. Because not everyone is into parties, ok. Characters who are not currently squired in may also post, as their characters are living in the castle awaiting their ceremonies.  This takes place after the Knights have returned from Dimitris' wedding. 

You are encouraged to start your own threads and tag around, and feel free to threadjack into any on-going threads that aren't specified as 'closed' in the subject lines since people can enter into rooms even in the middle of what's going on. WE ARE BIG ON THREAD-JACKING HERE. You can also specify 'single thread', meaning you want only one response for all participants, rather than multi-thread, where a number of different scenes/threads can be done as replies to the top prompt.]

On this log:

Section Heads
Failboat Debrief | closed
Scott McCall | Training room/halls
Smith | Training room/various
Hawke | TV room/computer labs/bar/training room/library/bowling alley/various
Risa | library/piano room/training room/parlor
Caroline | library/training room/kitchen/various
Doyle | library
Sweets | Sessions/gym/TV room/piano room/kitchen
Sebastian | training room/his room/pub
Mars | Library/bowling alley
Deryn | halls/woods
Elena & Myri | closed
Ashley | Shooting range, training room / Hoard wing
Sam | Library/outside/shooting range / kitchen
Steve & Wynn | closed
Cora, Abigail, Gus, Isaac | closed
Maggie-May | Various
Lorne | Open Mic Knight
Ashelia | Libraries/Garden
Abbie | Firing range/training room/libraries/grounds/bar
Nick | training room/library/kitchen/bar/TV room
Solas | Arrival + Various
The Janitor | Near the med center/hallways
Felicity | Bar/front desk/firing range/training room/TV room/kitchen/London
Rose | Castle grounds/training room/bars/room in the Hide Wing
#Savegar | closed | MAINPLOT
Gold | Dragon's Fire Library/grounds
Kyomi | Castle grounds/training room
Myri | Light wing/various
Bubblegum | Hoard lab/hallways/kitchen
Dumage | Parlors/her room/bars
Tony | Hoard lab
Rey | Garage/Dragon's Hoard wing
Skye | Training room/various
Will | Kitchen
Alex | Garage/firing range/airfield
Lila | Firing range/kitchen/halls
#Savegar Pt II | closed MAINPLOT
Andrew & Bo | Baby stuff

Comments

[wynn]

Officers were engaged with lethal force. Several of them died, as I hear it.

[doubletake]

[Elena looks between Vi, Archer and Wynn, looking appropriately shocked, bordering on visibly upset. She didn't see any of that happen okay.]

That's far beyond just a simple miscommunication of what non-violent means.

[That's her tactful way of saying wtf.]

[slay]

Now wait a minute.

[ Buffy cranes her head to look at Archer, thinking back on the SURPRISE FIRE MAGIC he was throwing around back there. ]

I don't think anyone here knew Archer was capable of something like that. We don't even know for sure if he was in control of it, especially while being actively shot at. [ She raises her eyebrows, hoping that he ... warrants some of the benefit of the doubt she's giving him here. Since she sure af wasn't the one using lethal force out there on cops, and tbf, she didn't see anyone else doing it because it was chaos. ] Archer?

[isisagent]

For the record, and for the purposes of international law, I would like to remind everyone that was Rick Steel, and not Sterling Archer.

...

[rationalizes]

Archer! [ horrified tbh ] Why don't we start about talking about these... these abilities you used. Where did they come from?

[doubletake]

He has it under control. [Deadpan.] He showed it to me when I was here last, months ago.

[recruited]

So, basically we're back to he burned numerous cops alive with powers he can actually control?

[ At least Tony has self control. And the capacity to give a crap when he kills innocents. ]

Right. [ Steve folds his arms over his chest. ]

[pathology]

[astrid's eyebrows raise like OHHHH SNAP SON STEVE ROGERS KEEPING IT 100.]

[isisagent]

Hey Boyscouts of America, one or two heavily armed enemy combatants - engaged with intent to do myself personal bodily harm - is a far cry from "Numerous Cops". Try not to break your ass stepping off that high horse.

And B - Unless they were in fact, as I detailed in my mission dossier undercover KGB agents, I would really like you to explain your story as to how a literal army of them came out of nowhere in like 10 seconds. Unless there was like a Krispy Kreme around the corner. If they even have those in Slovechnian poverty world.

[recruited]

That's still one or two too goddamn many. [ He's leaned forward in his chair by now. He probably on a high horse, but he doesn't care. They're supposed to be better. ] Ten seconds. Right. I may be the Boyscouts of America, but at least I'm not a sociopathic liability who makes up fake names to disassociate himself from the chaos he causes. [ Fucking Rick Steele. Let's go, Johnny Storm. ]

1/-

[shootfirst]

It's not like we went out of our way to kill anybody. We did what we had to stop them.

2/-

[dragonsclaw]

The police arrived so quickly because they were already on alert from the theft of an ambulance earlier that day. They were patrolling the area looking for it, and when the officer saw it, he radioed for assistance.

3/3

[postergirl]

I'm still curious as to when Archer acquired these powers of his.

[isisagent]

[He lifts a flaming finger to Dumage - not threateningly, just like a fancy "just a minute", and continues to press Steve;]

Oh, but you're on board for inducing a fake heart attack, so we can kidnap and murder a man with a fucking sword, while the rest of us cheer and jeer at him?

I've been involved in assassinations before, but one that completely eschews practicality just to make a show of it? [He dismissively waves Steve's credibility away, and takes another swig of Whiskey]

But go on, continue telling me why I'm the fucking monster sociopath liability hero. At least I'm honest with myself.

[Completely ignoring all of Steve's very real objections. He was 100% on board in Archer's mind, then he turns back to Dumage, his entire tone changing to something more pleasant;]

I took an online course. Some organizations would reward that kind of initiative and self-motivation. Commitment to excellence, and what have you. [He stares pointedly at Wynn.]

[recruited]

[ Steve scoffs when Archer proceeds to do that. Like WHAT THE FUCK THAT IS NOT NECESSARY. YOU ARE JUST SHOWING OFF. ]

You presume to believe that I signed off on that duel. But giving your enemy a weapon to fight back is probably the most honorable way he could have been handled. How he was handled--was right. In combat. We're knights. Practical doesn't come above honor. We're not murderers.

[ He looks downright offended though at Archer calling himself a hero. ]

I shall be everywhere and always the champion of the right and the good against injustice and evil. [ Steve parrots back (wisdom 18) part of the oath. The bit that applies. ] He wasn't evil. You weren't a champion or a hero. You were a menace. Those people you killed don't go home. Their families don't see them again. You did that.

[graveflowers]

[ maybe vi would be more willing to listen to this if it wasn't a fight they've had before, pre-steve. it wasn't exactly a good time for any of them and the word monster was thrown about way too many times. she sighs, shifting the sleeping baby, and the noise is soaked with exhaustion, voice soft but firm,. ]

Practicality does come before honor, in this fight. I'd love to be honorable and I'm genuinely sorry that those people died because of me, but we were trying to make sure that Sarandis made it to the airfield, that was the only objective. [ she holds up a hand to still any argument that may come until she's finished. ] Sarandis, if you've forgotten, who personally tortured three of the people sitting at this table. Who killed Thomas Bancroft and Rose and Kali and Killian. Who murdered Mark's parents and took over his entire country. Who experimented on and tortured hundreds of Shadowkind on Andres, including some of whom are now knights.

You can have your honor and I hope you can keep it, but that is not possible for everyone in this fight and sometimes we have to make the decisions you might not like in order to make sure the fight ends.

[ because ukw, kat blew up a fucking helicopter and probably killed the people inside and vi knows archer will let this roll right off his back, but steve calling them murderers for killing the cops might not roll off kat's back and she doesn't need to have that piled on after she's finally got some closure. ]

We did do that, you're right, and I'm not saying you don't have the right to your opinion, but that's for us, and Wynn, to deal with. [ she shoots archer a look that screams don't you dare say another word or i will get finnick back here just to make you feel bad. ]

[recruited]

I understand what Sarandis has done. That has never been lost on me. I've seen first hand what evil dictators can do to whole countries. [ Hitler anyone? Red Skull? Loki? Ultron? HYDRA? ] War is messy. War has collateral damage. I'm not saying it doesn't, but soldiers don't enjoy the things they have to do. You can't sit there and tell me that he didn't enjoy hurting those men and women doing their job.

[ He screamed "fuck the police" at some point, Vi. It was weird and awkward as hell. Steve's already getting to his feet and pushing his chair back. ]

You didn't. He did. I've made plenty of rough calls in my time. It's never easy. But I'm not condoning what he did. Not even for a second. I'm not gonna sit around and listen to it. [ With that Steve's gonna bounce. Steve Rogers out. ]

[wynn]

Sir Rogers. [ wynn's voice cuts across the room abruptly ] No one is dismissed yet.

[recruited]

[ You're not my real dad!

Steven Grant Rogers is dismissing himself. This wouldn't be the first time he's ignored a superior and right now he's too pissed to give Wynn the respect he knows the man deserves. As he's exiting. ] I'm not staying in the room with him, sir. [ Out into the hallway he goes. Sorry. ]

1/-

[rationalizes]

Steve... [ gar speaks up as he heads towards the door, but it's too late, and she watches with shock and a bit of horror as he just marches out, before turning to look at jack like dO SOMETHING HE WAS YOUR SQUIRE ]

2/-

[shootfirst]

Good riddance, if he's gonna be like that. [ W/E ]

3/3

[wynn]

[ jack starts to get up, but looks back to wynn for an okay and... doesn't get it. instead, wynn motions for him to sit. ] Let him go. I'll deal with him myself, later.

[ he looks around the table, sharply scrutinizing each of them in turn ] What happened in Slovechnia is going to have consequences. Potentially far reaching ones. [ he pulls out his drakenet phone and starts playing an audio file, setting it on the table in front of him.

"--did not establish the identity of the assailants, but several guests were killed, and members of the Slovechnian police department reportedly burned alive by some kind of magic user, who also took down a police helicopter, claiming the lives of two others. Many prominent vocal dissidents of the new line on Shadowkind in the country are already releasing statements, pointing to this as an example of the dangers of magic, and the unpredictable nature of these visitors from another dimension." ]

[slay]

[ Quiet during the conflict, Buffy finds that she can't bring herself to weigh in on a conflict when she doesn't have the moral position to rightfully criticize. While there's nothing excusable about what Archer did—Steve is right, she knows—she also doesn't have a leg to stand on in that department the way he does.

Her hands have just as much blood on them, and for that reason, she keeps her eyes trained on Wynn for the duration: he knows what she reported to him about what happened to Decker, and she doesn't want to allow anything accusatory or too surprised to leak into her gaze by turning it on Elena, wondering how she can pass such vocal judgment on Archer when Buffy and Rose watched her put a bullet in Decker's head to make sure he was dead. She thought they shared that weight, but Elena seems to have no trouble carrying the burden at all, seems to still consider herself in a moral position to decry the way others had gone over the line in a manner of mincing technical differences.

It's all settled by the stunned unease that sweeps through in the wake of Steve's exit. Buffy's eyes press shut, masking a grimace while she swallows her discomfort with it all, just in time to hear the recording play that paints them all clearly accountable for the shift of Shadowkind sentiments in Slovechnia. She leans forward, resting her forearms on the table, and drops her chin. She suspects that Wynn has already begun weighing if it would help or hurt for them to go in there to intervene where possible as the conflicts arise to clean up and take responsibility for the mess they've made of Slovechnia. ]

What about Valentin? Has he made a statement or contacted you?

[littledhampir]

[Rose remains silent throughout. Lips pressed into a thin line, tension radiating through her whole body. Despite the ever growing concern in her eyes, she doesn't speak up. Not even when her jaw tenses at hearing her own death being brandished as part of the argument.

She just raises her hand, partially covering her face as fingers rub against her forehead and she slowly sinks down into her seat, almost like she'd like to be anywhere but here right now.]

[nothingsodivine]

This was bound to happen in a worst case scenario. [Des doesn't even go here, but he's still gonna be the voice of pragmatism.] It was not ideal, and a lot of it shouldn't have happened, but in some cases, what was done was justified and valid. Your people were in danger and the threats were handled with as much finesse as anyone could manage in a stressful situation.

[he crosses his arms.] That said, Archer was way out of line and went beyond just protecting his own. Obviously, my opinion doesn't matter, but from where I stood, things escalated out of control due to a combination of factors. And now we have this.. [he gestures to Wynn's phone.]

It doesn't matter what Archer did or what anyone else did or didn't do, because we're all gonna have to shoulder that, and that's a much harder burden for me to carry than anything else me or many of these people here had to do.