SEOUL ♔ NOW THE SUN IS UP AND I'M GOING BLIND

[hacker]

delilah - florence + the machine

WHO || Anastasia, Jeanne, Doyle, Skye, Ward, Abbie
WHAT || The Knights are assigned to protect South Korea's President-Elect from assassination attempts.
WHERE || Seoul, South Korea
WHEN || End of April, 2016
HOW || Actionspam

Four days after the briefing, President Kim sends a plane for the team of Knights dispatched by Wynn, and their flight to Seoul—what could have been a grueling 12-hour affair—is spent in the most comfort that can be afforded by a highly regarded politician. The seats are roomy, the staff is attentive, and no one shouts at them to return to their seats.

They're put up in a hotel near the Blue House, the seat of the executive powers of South Korea, where the President-Elect has asked to meet them to go over the security plans for the inauguration.

Comments

[hacker]

She's a member of the Dragon's Light. Means she's either a doctor or a cleric of some kind. [ skye shrugs. ] When I first got here, I did a lot of homework. Knowledge is power.

[leftenants]

Did a lot of homework myself, but I'll admit, a lot of that researched was more focused on whatever's out there. [She gestures vaguely.] Put together some names and faces within the Knights, but it's been tough to get to know everyone. After hopping from one world to another-- guess I wanted to see what sort of nasty surprises might get sprung on us in the form of monsters. Familiar work.

[hacker]

I don't blame you. [ Skye shrugged her shoulders. Then, like an afterthought— ] There's a lot to get used to. I know it took me a while, and my world wasn't even that much different from this one.

[leftenants]

Mine wasn't too far off, either, in a lot of ways, although most people weren't in the know about the mystical stuff.

[Including herself, at least for the first 28 years of her life.]

[hacker]

Oh yeah? How do you hide something like that?

[leftenants]

Not something you have to go out of your way to do, really. People see what they want to see. They ignore what they don't, consciously or otherwise.

[hacker]

Don't most people wish there was something like magic in their lives?

[leftenants]

Maybe some. Feels like that gets talked out of us long before we grow up, though. You stop wishing for things.

[hacker]

Some of us just start doing them ourselves. [ she sighs, relenting, ] But I guess some of those people don't want anyone else to have it easy, and others just give up.

[leftenants]

Others might see something that scares them. Makes them do everything they can to keep themselves from believing.

[She might be speaking from experience on that one.]

Not so sure it's a matter of giving up. If real magic were the stuff Disney tries to peddle, it might be different.

[hacker]

Some of it is; that's the problem, right? Like most real things, it's what you make of it. And some people make it into dangerous garbage instead of into miracles.

[leftenants]

I'd like to believe in the potential for miracles. Just haven't been so lucky. The only magic I've seen is the end-of-days type of mojo.

[hacker]

... Like an apocalypse?

[leftenants]

Exactly like that.

[If she can talk about this openly in any crowd, she knows it has to be the Knights.]

[hacker]

[ Skye whistles low. ]

So ... Wait. Are you friends with Sam? Or ... coworkers, whatever?

[leftenants]

I've got a team, but we don't have a Sam. [In fact, she doesn't think they've even had the opportunity to meet, though she knows there's at least one Sam within the Knights.] I take it he does similar work?

[hacker]

Yeah.

[ She doesn't elaborate. In fact, she looks tense, like she regrets bringing it up. ]

[leftenants]

[She grimaces, wondering whether or not she should pry further-- but really, she can't not.]

If it's supposed to be some kind of secret, don't worry. Not about to blab it to anyone.

[hacker]

It's not. It's not like that, just ... He got in too deep, you know? And we started fighting because of it. I feel like I lost him.

[leftenants]

You started fighting about it because you care.

[Even without the details, it rings familiar. It reminds her of the rift between her and her sister.]

Maybe he'll see that.

[hacker]

Maybe.

[ She grows distant for a moment, her gaze drifting somewhere far away, back to a moment with Sam in the car, back to the field she'd poured out of the passenger side in while panicked. Maybe she could have approached it better. Maybe she could have found some middle ground. But ... it wouldn't have felt right. It wouldn't have been real. ]

Sorry. [ She says it finally, shaking her head as if to dismiss the fog that settled over her. ] I don't mean to ... to drag you into my personal problems.

[leftenants]

It's alright.

[Think of it as team bonding. Hell of a way to get to know each other better, anyway.]

If you need to get it off your chest, I don't have anywhere better to be. Don't mind listening.

[hacker]

It's not mine to vent. Not anymore. [ She slumps her shoulders. ] That's the call I made.

[leftenants]

That mean you aren't even on speaking terms these days?

[That hits a little close to home, too-- too close, maybe.]

[hacker]

[ reluctant to admit it but earnest for understanding, Skye nods silently but vigorously. ]