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

Vi's visit

[witchwoman]

[It doesn't take much for Myri to fall asleep. Her body and mind are exhausted. And it helps that Finnick stays close by. They fall asleep with him in a nearby chair, fingers intertwined. There's a comfort in the closeness that's helping her, even if there's a lot that still doesn't make sense right now. So in the wee hours of the night, they don't immediately notice a visitor joining them.]

[graveflowers]

[ vi has started to come in earlier, but felicity's resurrection was taking place and she knows how delicate those are so she didn't want to interrupt, deciding to come back once she'd showered and changed and eaten like half a veggie pizza. the pizza was still uneaten on her bed by the time she passed out.

shay's unhappy fussing is what wakes her up, hearing 'auntie' in a plaintive toddler voice. when she asks to see her mommy, well. vi is never going to say no to that. she wakes up lucia, who slumps back to sleep the moment vi picks her up, and reminds shay that mommy might be sleeping because they all had a very long day but of course they can all nap with her. no one is going to kick myri's daughter out of the light wing.

which is what finds vi carrying both girls to myri's bed, setting shayla down to scramble to lay next to her mother, burying her face against myri's belly and clutching at her clothes. ]

Remember to be quiet, tadpole, you don't want to startle Mommy, [ vi whispers.

because myri is settled on one side of the bed, fingers twined with finnick's, which brings its own miasma of emotion, vi decides the rest of the space is for her and she carefully climbs in next to her best friend, snuggling lucia against her own chest between them and leaning over to kiss myri's temple. ] Shayla is here and she is safe.

[witchwoman]

[The weight of her daughter on her stomach doesn't wake her, exactly. But it starts to pull her out of her dreams- dreams where she's flying, chasing the rising sun. East. If she could just go a bit further, she'd surely find--

The kiss to her temple and softly murmured words pull her to consciousness. Myri blinks and turns towards the source. She notices Vi first, then her sleeping niece, but it's only a split second before she reaches down instinctively to gather up Shayla and hold her tight with her free arm. Tears spring to her eyes immediately, feeling like things can make sense for at least this moment, if nothing else.]

I'd say I'm sorry if she woke you, but... I think I needed all of you here more than I realized.

[graveflowers]

I was going to come earlier... but I fell asleep.

[ which is reasonable, considering myri was also sleeping, but vi still offers a weak, sheepish smile, reaching up to push myri's hair back from her face. she'll braid it later to keep it out of her face. ]

It was a bad day.

[ well. that's putting it mildly. ]

[65]

I'll say.

[his voice comes out of nowhere, quiet but rough from waking up. he had to assess the situation -- as he does every time he wakes up now -- figure out what's real and what isn't. myri and violet and lucia and shayla are real. and he's not anyone of import to shayla, but that's okay. he doesn't deserve to be.]

I'm glad you're all right. [to vi, clearly.]

[graveflowers]

I'm glad you're here, [ maybe that's for both of them, but it's definitely directed at finnick this time. lucia stirs from all the talking but she stays asleep for now. ]

Morning, Fish.

[ she doesn't say welcome back because she doesn't... know. morning will do. ]

[witchwoman]

[That moment when you realize Myri has no idea Vi was missing. Oops? But being glad she's safe isn't such a strange concept.

It's odd to have them both in one place, but the strange combination of familiar and unfamiliar mixes in a way that feels... nice. Comforting. It feels like home.]

I don't know if it counts as morning if the sun isn't even up yet. [Shayla burrows her face into Myri's chest while Amaranth shifts where he's curled down by her feet. All the babies getting comfy.]

[65]

I'd say it's good to be back, but ... [well. look at their lives. they put out the fire in the kitchen (myri) but there's even more fire in the living room, master bedroom, and special flammable things storage room (literally everything else).

anyway. myri cuts him off from finishing his thought.]

I think it depends on if we plan on going back to sleep or not.

[graveflowers]

[ their life is fucking spiders, the smile vi gives finnick is an unspoken agreement to what he didn't say. ]

I wouldn't mind an update on what went down when I was gone but also I could make a case for sleep. So whatever you guys want.

[witchwoman]

Gone? [Myri looks s-so confused] Where did you go?

[65]

Keijen didn't — [he can't finish the thought but he's pretty much thinking along the lines of "did keijen blade kidnap you to his nightmare world again or some shit while he was trying to kill the rest of us"??? it ... makes sense ...... ]

[graveflowers]

No, no, they just stuck me in this tiny room with a video screen so I could watch the concert, just not... with you guys. They did let me see Rafael though, for like a second, he's still alive.

It just took me a while to get out and then by the time I did, you guys were gone and I had to hitch my own ride home so I dunno what, like, actually happened.

[ only after she says it does she realize myri might have been out for some of the fighting too. ] I just... I feel like I missed. Everything.

[witchwoman]

They left you there? [She's not really judging. Just kind of surprised?]

I only remember the first few seconds of the actual fight. I tried to cast a spell and it failed. I was going to try to teleport a few of us to the stage, but--

[She shakes her head. No sense dwelling on that. It's done now.]

[65]

We left Wynn, too. None of it was by choice. Everything was falling apart, we had to get out. [he shakes his head. it's so much and he doesn't even want to remember it. his main priority was keeping myri safe, anyway.]

I can tell you what happened, if you want, but I don't know how much there is to say.

[graveflowers]

It was the right choice, [ vi assures them. it was the only choice. but she shakes her head a finnick who obviously doesn't want to rehash it. she doesn't really need to know. ]

It's not important, I guess. We're all... we're mostly all alright. Keijen is a dad murdering piece of shit, Mind Master is still a fucking twat. [ WHAT LANGUAGE IN FRONT OF THE BABIES. ] I get the picture.

[witchwoman]

[Myri also doesn't need all of the details. She knows that there were other lives lost. She can only pray that the stargods (or whichever ones might be listening) will bring Felicity back to them. Beyond that, she can only focus on the fact that the others must be alright. If they weren't, she would have hoped to hear by now.

She goes quiet for a bit, focusing on the sound of Shayla's breathing now that she's fallen back asleep. And in that moment of quiet, she feels that tug inside of her, the same desire she felt when she first came back.]

There's something I need to tell the two of you. But I-- I'm not sure how to describe it, or if I'll just sound crazy.

[65]

[finnick turns his attention toward myri, expression intent.]

You can tell us anything.

[witchwoman]

Do you remember when I've told you about my life on the other side of the Veil? How I traveled East because a voice promised me a family, a home? Well, I... [She takes a deep breath.]

I had a dream. At least, I think it was a dream. There was a lot that happened, but one thing I remember clearly is that the voice returned. And it told me the same thing. Travel East. That I would be safe there, that my family would be safe there.

And that I would find him. I don't know who he is. But following this voice is what brought me to both of you. Which in turn brought these beautiful little girls into my life. I think... I think I need to see where it takes me.

[graveflowers]

[ vi nods, forehead wrinkling up in thought. it doesn't sound like a bad voice, at least, if it brought myri here and gave her this admittedly violent and dangerous but not so bad life. ]

Maybe it was one of the Stargods speaking to you.

[65]

[finnick takes this in, considering. but when she's done, he nods without hesitation.]

If you need to follow it, I'll go with you.

[if she woke up and said "i had a dream i moved to new mexico and started selling strawberries on the side of the road so i'm gonna do that" he'd be like my bag is packed fam, but whatever ok.]

[witchwoman]

I always thought it was them speaking to me before. I didn't think they could reach me here, but maybe they were just quiet because I didn't need to hear them. [She rubs a hand idly over Shayla's back.]

I don't know what to do about it. Maybe it was just a dream.

[graveflowers]

Is anything just a dream with us?

[ nah. ] If you feel like you should listen, then you should listen.

[65]

Considering what other dreams have turned out to be ...

[witchwoman]

In a perfect world, I'd like to see this terrible fight to the end, to make sure that the group makes it out alive, then follow this voice and see where it leads. But... [She sighs] Things rarely go as planned, so I'm not sure how possible that is.

[graveflowers]

Myr, you're going to be thinking of this until you follow through with it. Something is calling to you and you don't owe it to any of us to put off answering that call. You wouldn't have stopped me from going to Arvandor, would you?

[ not that anyone could have stopped her considering she didn't tell anyone, but still. ]