flight ♔ pride can stand a thousand trials

[dragonsclaw]

I'm Kissing You - Des'ree

WHO || Failboat [closed]
WHAT || The Knights return in the wake of the Keijen Blade concert, much worse for the wear
WHERE ||On a plane
WHEN || Directly after the concert
HOW || Actionspam or prose

The mood is darker than it's ever been as the Knights' plane takes off from the blackening skies above Los Angeles, which continue to spread out after them.  They expected a trap, they expected the worst, but what actually happened dwarfed even those dire expectations.

Painful revelations about their teammates themselves, followed by the separation of Vi from the team, and then being forced to watch Blade enact a dark ritual in the concert-hall-turned-dark-temple that culminated in the sacrifice of hundreds, including the deaths of those who had been on the mission back-up team were only the beginning.  Realizing at the last moment that Crombe still had no understanding of what Blade was truly doing, the team made a last minute bid to change his mind and get him to stop the ritual, but it was far too late, and as things escalated quickly, the Nightmare God Malaak'a was freed from his prison, the seal broken with the final step - Nadia's death.  The god himself appeared before them, and Blade stood triumphantly behind him - only to use the dagger soaked in Nadia's blood to plunge into his father, and usurp his power for his own, ascending to some sort of deity-like powers himself.  

This scene lies further and further behind them now, the images forever etched in their minds, and the silent forms of two of their teammates - one mysteriously incapacitated, the other dead, act as haunting reminders on their journey back towards the castle of what has befallen and what may be to come.

Comments

[65]

[he half-smiles and replies in a dry tone:] I've found that persuading people into helping yields better results than threatening.

[he's a ghost of his former self but he is ... trying ... to be a normal person. who acts normally and says normal things. it's hard when everything around you is broken.]

[littledhampir]

I don't know how much you actually remember about me, but that's not really my forte.

[Don't worry Finnick. Five minutes in her presence and you could probably figure that out. :D ]

[65]

Enough. But I still thought I'd suggest it. There are too many times where this group could have benefited from the use of a light touch.

[all of them. literally all of them.]

[littledhampir]

[She can't really argue with him because, too real, but it does see Rose's gaze drift from him back to Myri.

Her expression turns serious once more, worry lines creasing her brow as she looks at her laying there.]

That's why we have Myri. [Voice quiet.]

[65]

[he considers explaining that he meant someone who is skilled at resolving conflicts without punching and not a literal member of the dragon's light, but ... it does fit, actually. in a way. but still:]

She's not a light touch. She's the heart.

[littledhampir]

No, I mean... [She shakes her head, a gentle huff of a chuckle spilling over.]

Most of us are all, hard lines and sharp edges. But Myri, she softens us ya know? She's our balance.

[65]

She is balance. She's gentle. I'm not disagreeing with you. I just don't know if that's enough. Not for this. You can't appeal to the emotions of an enemy that doesn't have any.

[littledhampir]

For this? [She wishes she could disagree but. Nope.]

Half the time I think we get out of these things alive, because they want us to live with the damage they do.

[65]

That would explain a lot.

[like how they keep somehow managing to escape despite their many many failures ... ]

If they killed us all, there would be no more games to play with us. We just have to survive long enough to outsmart them.

[but HOW is the real struggle here. even with their like 10 brain cells put together, how can you outsmart an enemy that can read your mind???? more problems.]

[littledhampir]

Me? I'm a big fan of getting them to turn on each other. I like our odds of outsmarting one super-powered psychopath better than two.

[I mean... that's actually not the dumbest idea, in theory anyway.]

[65]

It seems like we might have won Crombe over. Not that it's much, but it's something.

[littledhampir]

I don't know if we won him over, so much as forced him into a mental breakdown.

[She suspects he'd be a blubbering mess, with or without the Mind Master's help.]

[65]

Yes, well ... [he shrugs. that's all he's got.]

I don't know where we would begin with the others.