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

[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. ]

[leftenants]

[Abbie frowns a little, sympathetic.]

Been through that myself. I'm sorry.

[Not a fun place to be.]

[hacker]

He wasn't the person I thought he was. Or, if he ever was, he ... let something change him. I guess I should have seen it coming.

[leftenants]

That kind of thing is hard to predict, don't you think?

[hacker]

It wasn't the first time a guy hasn't been who I thought he was. After enough of it, you start wondering why you're what it all has in common, and how to stop it from happening again.

[leftenants]

[She frowns again, brows knitting together slightly.]

It makes it hard to trust. I know.

[hacker]

Hard to trust other people isn't the part that really sucks. It's how it gets hard to trust yourself, your own judgment.

[leftenants]

[She knows how that feels, too.]

It's never easy, feeling like you have to constantly second-guess yourself.

[hacker]

Was yours before you came here, or ...?

[leftenants]

[She nods, confirming.]

Most of my time here has been with the Knights. I'm lucky in that my experiences here have been mostly positive, so far, but back home-- I had a lot of reasons to start second-guessing myself. There were people I thought I knew that it turned out I'd never known at all, and others I should have given a chance must sooner. Always thought I was such a good judge of character, but sometimes that judgement can get muddied.

[hacker]

[ she nods, as if it strikes an all-too-familiar cord with her. ]

But Wynn, he's usually pretty good at it, right? It seems like he's got this sixth sense, when he talks to you, like he's ... [ she shudders. ] You know?

[leftenants]

Yeah. He knows what he's doing.

[He'd made that impression quite strongly when she'd first met him. He had the sort of presence that quietly demanded respect, and he hadn't given her any reason to second-guess him so far.]

Hard to put your finger on, isn't it? But he's just got that kind of weight to him.

[hacker]

It's something about not knowing how old he is that makes him seem really crusty and really wise.

[leftenants]

The ageless types are always like that. [She smirks, just a little.] Got that 'old world' presence to them.

[hacker]

You'd be surprised how many manage to keep their youthful glow.

[leftenants]

After spending two hundred years in the ground, my partner back home is miraculously fresh as a daisy. [For the most part.] But I'm sure the fact that most of them are something more than human helps.

[hacker]

Like ... back to life? I didn't think anyone could be rezzed after that long unless it's necromancy.

[leftenants]

There was definitely magic involved. Not sure it's right to say he was resurrected. More like-- he never died? It's like he was asleep-- preserved.

[hacker]

Ew. [ the most mature reaction ever. ]

[leftenants]

You'd think, wouldn't you? He turned up topside in pretty good shape, all things considered.