chapter five ♔ it'll be a day like this one when the sky falls down

[eldritchweaver]

the blues - switchfoot

WHO || The Knights
WHAT || Failboat returns from the disaster in LA as the Knighthood goes on lockdown
WHERE || The castle, London
WHEN || Directly after this, Fall 2017
HOW || Actionspam

Hasmed's announcement does not brook any rebuttal: all Knights are recalled to the Castle, where they must remain until the Section Heads and Jack Chessing have spoken about the events in Los Angeles that have left the Knighthood without their usual leader.  

The entire Los Angeles area is now covered with a dark miasma that has interfered with any signals that might be sent out from phones, etc., leaving the whole world wondering what exactly is happening down there.  Final images showed horrendous monsters, a panic of citizens, looting and violence from humans and Shadowkind alike.  

Hasmed has warned of extra magical wards on the castle, and anyone arriving will immediately take notice of one very prominent one: above the entire roof of the excessively large building hovers a black and red sigil in the air, a pentagram in a circle surrounded by runes or words in an unknown language, stretching for miles.  

[ This is the social log for post-LA lockdown.  Failboat must complete the top log before being allowed to tag outside of it. ]

Comments

[anthophobia]

[That catches her by surprise, her eyes widening a bit as she lets that sink in.]

You have a kid?

[Welcome to one of the things she said she'd never do. That hasn't really changed since coming here; she can barely handle her own shit, let alone a tiny like person's. She'd ruin them.]

Why would you do that?

[65]

I know, I know. [the thought of having children back home and knowing they could end up in the games was horrifying, and what he thinks she's referring to.] But we hadn't planned on having kids. It just happened. I haven't even met her. She was born while I was gone. But I've seen pictures. She's beautiful.

[anthophobia]

[She pauses; It just happened.

More reasons to never get involved with anyone ever, honestly.

Still, she can't entirely help her curiosity.]

Do you have any of them with you?

[65]

[i rolled for the likelihood that finnick asked myri to text him some of the pictures she showed him on the plane and rolled high, so that happened ok. it's fine.]

Yeah, um, a couple. Hold on. [he pulls out his phone and navigates over to a pic of shayla. there's a resemblance; she has the same bronzish blonde hair as him, and green eyes, but hers are brighter. she's a cutie.] Her name's Shayla.

[anthophobia]

[She moves in a little closer, peering down at his phone, taking in the sight of this small child.

Her reaction is likely a little unexpected, considering she seems almost afraid and in awe at the same time.]

She looks like you. [There's a long stretch of silence before she adds, quietly.] ...She's beautiful.

[65]

[i mean that's kind of where finnick is too. katniss is really lucky he rolled a high will save and isn't crying right now. (he's been doing a lot of crying so it's probably just because he's dehydrated.)]

I know. I'm almost — I'm afraid to meet her. She's been fine without me. What if I do something wrong?

[anthophobia]

[His concerns perfectly echo hers when it comes to having kids someday. She doesn't consider herself qualified for that kind of thing, not to mention she'd be bringing a kid into this potentially. The Games had been even worse, but this wasn't exactly great.

In Finnick's case, it was a little late for that.]

She's your responsibility, though. [Even if he's worried, abandoning the problem he created isn't really an option.] The world's going to hell, Finnick. You're going to regret it if you don't get to know her and suddenly it's too late.

[65]

You're right. [he nods, but it's more to himself.] Who knows how much time any of us have left, with the way things are.

[anthophobia]

What about your wife? What's she like?

[And why hasn't she introduced you to your kid, Finnick?]

[65]

[it's only by the grace of god (aka dehydration) that finnick doesn't instantly start crying again at the mention of myri.] She's amazing. Her name is Myri, she's a healer. She's kind, and gentle, and patient. She only wants to see the best in everything and everyone. [trying s-so hard to keep it together] The mission I just went on was the first time I'd seen her since ... since I couldn't take things around here anymore. She showed me the pictures, told me about Shayla. Wanted me to meet her. But while we were on the mission, things went ... wrong. And now she's in some kind of magical coma that the clerics haven't been able to figure out. If she doesn't wake up, I don't -- I can't --

[anthophobia]

[His answer starts out okay, but then quickly starts to devolve as they so often do. She knows what that's like, the downward spiral.

She reaches out, placing her palms on his arms, trying to catch his gaze.]

Hey. You still with me?

[Maybe trying to get him to focus on her will snap him out of it before it gets too bad.]

[65]

[at least he was still ... in this reality mentally ... even though he was panicking. he takes a deep breath when katniss snaps him out of it.]

I'm here. I'm okay. [questionably. he shakes his head.] I just don't know what to do.

[anthophobia]

You don't have to. It's not like the Games anymore. You've got an entire castle of people who can help.

[She releases his arms then, letting her own fall to her sides.]

We don't have to deal with all our crap all alone anymore.

[Katniss still chose to, most of the time, but the fact that she didn't have to still helped.]

[65]

I know that. I know. [boy does he ever.] I just wish I were more ... together. Better. [he knows he was never that well off mentally, even before the mind master wrecked him.] Not that any of it matters much anymore.

[anthophobia]

You and me both.

[She's never met the Mind Master, her baggage is all just her, so she get it.]

But we're never gonna be normal. That doesn't mean nothing matters.

[65]

When I first arrived here, I thought maybe I could be normal. It was a game I played, a facade I put on. It didn't last incredibly long. Some things went wrong. But for awhile I thought maybe ... maybe I could get back to that point. Back to when it was easy. But even if I could, somehow ... the world is ending, Katniss. And I honestly don't know how much we can do to stop it.

[anthophobia]

You seemed pretty good at it. Better than me.

[Maybe it had caught up with him while she was dealing with hers.]

It's not ending. We're still here. If there's one thing we are good at, it's surviving.

[65]

I was good for a little while, but ... [he shakes his head. the facade was exhausting.] Nothing last forever. Including our lucky streak with survival. You didn't see it. This is bigger than us.

[anthophobia]

[Her brows furrow.]

Bullshit. If it's the end of the world, then we either fight back or we die. That's all there is to it. Seems pretty simple to me.

[65]

If we fight back, we'll die. If we don't, we'll die anyway. There's no way good for this to end. I want to hope for more, but ...

[but man they just walked away from some fucking brutal shit tbh.]

[anthophobia]

You said it yourself. I don't know about you, but I'd rather die fighting. Otherwise, what's the point?

[65]

[katniss is doing her Inspirational Thing again and finnick trying very hard to fight it because he's still like nah fam i choose life. IT'S HARD.]

I don't know ... the line between bravery and stupidity is very, very thin. I just can't help but feel that it's not our fight to be fought.

[anthophobia]

Then whose fight is it? If we're not fighting for ourselves, who's left to fight for us?

[She doesn't understand why this is hard. Stupid or brave doesn't matter if it's the only option left, and laying down and waiting to die isn't an option for her.]

You have a kid, Finnick. If you can't fight for yourself, fight for her. I'm not saying you have to go throw yourself into the line of fire, but do something.

[65]

[short with her (because she's right):] I will, all right? I'll do something. I just have to ... figure out what something is.

[anthophobia]

[That's good enough for her. She nods almost awkwardly as if that took every bit of social energy she had in her and now she's just depleted.]

Good. [A beat.] For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here.

[He's probably one of the only people even remotely capable of really understanding her.]